2016 Dana Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Helms Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 95.5 points

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  6/17/2019 - Cailles wrote: 95 Points

  22x Dana Estates 2013-2016: Once-in-a-lifetime tasting with winemaker Chris Cooney. We tasted the past 4 vintages (2013- 2016) of all their wines. Conclusions: 1) Incredibly high level: 93 as lowest score, many 95/96s and one 98 point wine (I rarely go so high in such broad tastings where you can't follow the wine over 5h). 2) Main reasons: weightless structure (not many Napa wines achieve that level), very elegant, high aromatic intensity, complexity and precision, perfect ripeness. 3) "Entry-level" wines (Vaso - great in 13/16, Onda - always a bit too fat) are very good but do not have the length or elegance (Onda) of the big 3, which each have a distinctive profile: Helms is probably the most purely perfumed (but overall a tad behind the others), Lotus is the most hedonistic and dense wine, Hershey the most complex, intellectual wine. 4) Wine of the Night? Probably the Lotus 2014. But others might likely surpass it one day (Hershey 13/16, Lotus 16). The 3 big wines got a 2-4 hour decant (which did good), all others PnPed.
  
  TN: Dana’s Helms wines are marked by its pure fruit expression, are very perfumed. In terms of complexity and hedonistic pleasure a tad behind Lotus and Hershey in all vintages. All wines share, however, the very fine structure, the weightless frame hardly seen to that (consistent) degree in Napa Valley wines. No heavy bombs, no dense sweet wines. Same as in the 2015, the tannins still show some rough edges but one can see that this will not be an issue. The quality is very high. Very cool expression with pure blue and black fruit and some minerality. Not on par with the Lotus ’16 and the Hershey ’16 which show more complex already at this young stage. Nevertheless, great! 95-96 points.

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  6/13/2019 - sirpat00 Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Dana estate vertical and horizontal 2013-16 (Restaurant Löwen, Meilen): Dana Estates vertical / horizontal – I am trying to coin "vertizontal" – with 22 wines in Zurich. The line-up included all vintages 2013-16 for all estates (including Vaso) and two vintages of the Sauvignon Blanc. The consistency I encountered here was amazing. Powerful yet elegant and light on the palate is a description that worked for almost all vintages and estates (including the Vaso). Of these vintages the 2016 stood out as exceptional, but I was also quite fond of the (controversial) 2013. In terms of estates Lotus and Hershey are playing in a league of their own. The "budget" Vaso is punching on par with Onda and Helms and hence offers great value for money. See the tasting story for more background and winemaker comments.
  
  Tasting note:
  A pure fruit, maybe best described as crispy. Sweet oak flavours, hints of vanilla and baking spices. Well structured, multi-layered on the palate. Signature lightness, sweet fruit and minerality. Probably the best Helms in the 2013-16 line-up.

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