2015 Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon La Verdad Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (38) Avg Score: 98.1 points

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  3/25/2023 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Celebrating age (FermentedBeast's Lair): Nose of ripe and dark red fruits blended with earth.
  
  Flavors of refined dark red fruits, earthened minerals, and a soft and subtle darkness in its flavor profile.
  
  Still good but more refined now that it has some age. Definitely no more creamy and macerated fruits like when I first enjoyed this a few years ago. I sometimes wonder how these will eventually be with 10-15 years under its belt and how I will enjoy them. Makes me think if Carter wines are wines that you would wanna consume now instead of 10-15 years.

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  3/8/2023 - msuwine wrote: 95 Points

  This wine has still got it, but the "it" is different than when the wine topped out my scale five years ago (2/18 - 100 points). Has the wine changed? Yes, as it now seems more integrated but also more saturated. Have my expectations changed? Yes, as I hope for more development and nuance from a wine in its eighth year as opposed to its third. Have I changed? Yes, as I find myself (cliche alert!) looking for more purity and freshness, even in my valley floor Napa Cabernets. Should I stop asking myself questions and describe the wine? Yes, yes, indeed.
  
  Dark purple in color and full in body, the wine offers heady aromas - so thick it's almost like a fog - with notes of blackberry, milk chocolate, cherry liqueur, and pencil lead. The flavors are similarly fulsome, tasting of black cherry, mocha, and cedar, with a sweet and viscous finish. 14.9% alcohol. Maybe wait another year or two, but - after having four of these over the years - I predict that this will be a full-throttle wine until the moment it turns into vinegar.
  
  This wine has not broken down, but I'm not sure it's developed, either. It's almost like running into a good friend from high school who never left town: five years later, he is still nice and engaging, but he's still doing the same things in the same place. Like some kind of Peter Pan, this wine seems stuck in a youthful and joyous posture - fruit, power, repeat - but it is still quite tasty and quite impressive. Perhaps Neverland isn't so bad of a place to be after all…

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  7/17/2021 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 98 Points

  Nose: [58°-60°+] Damp tree bark, fresh dark ripe red fruits (much refined from my last tasting over a year ago), deep damp earth and spiced dried wood chips.
  
  Palate: [58°-62°+] A tamed deep pitch of black and dark red fruit, deep damp earth, dulled dark graphite, dark minerals and steeped tea. A finish of spiced wood, deep red plum (not dried or aged), and a mix of earth and minerals. [64°+] The acidity gets dampened as the temp rises. The flavors are still there but it's not as lively.
  
  Attributes: Clear dark ruby. Dry with medium-plus amounts of fine, grainy tannin. Medium body with medium acidity (if more, it's well integrated). Good finish of at least 16-18 seconds.
  
  Thoughts: Crazy what one year can do for a wine, great refinement with time. I miss the creamy fruits but the sophistication in place of that is just as remarkable. Great integration of all flavors here; picking each one individually is not to say they're separate but rather what flavors you're getting as a whole. Great richness with great layers of flavors. It's hard for me to say if this is near or at its peak. If you have a few more of these, I think start enjoying now or soon over the next 3-4 years. This seemed to have lightened in weight since I last had it but I do not mean that in a bad way. I imagine if the flavors are to integrate even more, the richness might start to die down a bit, as well as the body. This is amazing for what you pay for.
  
  Other notes: Bordeaux glass. Poured one glass, emptied rest of bottle into a decanter at cellar temp ~55° for the duration of consumption of ~4.5 hours. Recommend serving ~56°-64° and decant for 4-5 hours at cellar temp.

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  3/15/2021 - River Rat Likes this wine:

  Wow, this was incredible. Popped and poured a glass at noon and let it sit until dinner around 6:30. We blew through the bottle in light speed. Great concentration of fruit with impeccable balance. This wine is why we spend $150 and up for Napa Cab. Saved one glass for after guests went home to sit down and ponder. My wife was cleaning up dishes and poured it out! Ugh.
  Next up is The Three Kings.

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  10/16/2020 - greg@newsomehh.com Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Incredible

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