Reviews

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville

Served side-by-side with a 2016 B Cellars Star Cabernet, which was much more fruit driven and showed less up-front structure and acid than the Oakville. Previous notes apply on the Oakville, with…

MacDonald Cabernet Sauvignon

Opened around 11AM, double-decanted, and remained re-corked in the bottle until 7PM. Re-opened, decanted, and followed over the course of a few hours. After the first hour of open air exposure in the…

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Heritage Beckstoffer

As before, the Heritage took on much of its overall profile from the characteristics injected from the Missouri Hopper site. A hefty amount of meaty and earthy fruit, with a chewy charcuterie element…

Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

Barrel samples of the BTK, Crane, and LPV.

Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Barrel samples of the BTK, Crane, and LPV.

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Star Vineyard

Served side-by-side with the 2016 B Cellars Oakville. Previous notes apply, with a near-identical experience to my last. Redder fruit and "fruitier" than the nicely structured Oakville. The Star has…

B Cellars Cabernet Franc Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Black cherry, cassis, red and black raspberry, vanilla bean, baking spices, and a huge bouquet of violets thrown in your face with the force of an ex-wife with a restraining order.

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

Up there with the B Cellars BTK and Crane Cabernet Sauvignon, the Las Piedras delivers with gorgeous black fruit, signature black asphalt, charcoal, and black rock notes, as well as supplementary…

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

The best showing from this wine to date. Previous notes apply; but with this go-around, it was displaying even more power and intensity than the sample I had last month. Yet, even with all of that…

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel Selection Beckstoffer Bourn Vineyard

A tad darker and more plush than the 2015, the B Cellars 2016 Bourn shows a bit of reticence at the moment, sauntering up on its attack with a more medium-bodied delivery overall. Mid-palate was…

Cliff Lede Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

From a comparative side-by-side BTK tasting with this Cliff Lede, a '16 MACDONALD, and a '15 Purlieu BTK (which ended up being an off-bottle it seemed).

Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

This arrived on-stage with a dull, fruity "pffffud" on the palate, with strawberry water, red currant, and red beet juice. Some earth on the back end, with crippled fruit flavors muddling their ways…

Aratas Petite Sirah

Previous notes apply. Resolved and likely as integrated as it will get before it starts to move into the later stages of its evolution. Black and purple fruits dominate. PnP was good service. Drink…

Pott Wine Cabernet Sauvignon The Arsenal Greer Vineyard

First bottle was a wet dog flawed mess.

Pott Wine Cabernet Sauvignon The Arsenal Greer Vineyard

Another flawed bottle of the Arsenal. Wet newspaper and dog-left-out-in-the-rain mustiness. Fruit was blown and flat, with a bitter, astringent delivery overall.

Grieve Family Winery Sauvignon Blanc

Lime zest, fresh lime and lemon juice, guava, limestone, fresh cut dry grass, and alkaline. Nicely balanced energy on the front end, with a mid-palate texture that is both lively and silky. The lime…

Grieve Family Winery Double Eagle

Flavors of black and red currrant, cedar, tree bark, dust, and grandma's couch. Bony dry and bitter on the back end.

Fisher Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Lamb Vineyard

Black currant, plum, and some black raspberry core fruit. Earth, wet cedar, and Nesquik chocolate powder. notes also emerge. Medium bodied, with a back end that finishes on a slightly bitter,…

Pott Wine Viognier 20m3

Previous notes from last month still apply. Some air helped to round-out the texture and provide additional depth of flavor. By hour two it was delivering an especially gorgeous mix of creamy, ripe…

Accendo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

Black and red currant, blackberry jam, black and red cherry, sandalwood, chocolate chunk, and some spice. A slight floral note appeared on the tail end briefly, but got washed over with a tiny tannic…

Joseph Phelps Insignia

Black cherry, currant, unripe plum, and some faint leather on the back end. Notes of vanilla, incense, and cedar struggled to make a showing as well, but were somewhat overpowered by an alcoholic…

Villa Del Lago Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine is going to be a wonderful expression of Pritchard Hill........but only after we set up a space station on Saturn's rings and Ex Machina ballerinas rule the world.

Gandona Cabernet Sauvignon

Powerful but fairly tight on initial PnP. Day 1 was much less giving than 24 hours later. Initially, this Gandona spit out some black cherry, cranberry, bitter chocolate, vanilla alcohol, and some…

Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon Martinez Vineyard

The most accessible and giving of the other three Pritchard Hill wines tasted beside it. More black cherry fruit, with hints of bitter chocolate. Strongest in the mid-palate depth. Still a bit…

TOR Cabernet Sauvignon Melanson Vineyard

Previous notes apply. This was only pulled for purposes of a Pritchard Hill taste-off. Like all of the wines tasted, the Tor needs time. 3+ years minimum. I felt it was a little flat on its delivery…