Reviews

Bevan Cellars Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard

In a beautiful drinking window currently, with ripe black cherry, plum, chocolate, and some faint spice notes. Decanted for a couple of hours and served <54 degrees. Though PnP was just fine, the…

Realm Cellars The Falstaff

Exquisitely framed flavors of perfectly ripened black cherry, dark cassis, plum skin, black raspberry, dark chocolate, dehydrated blueberries, and some subtle sweet oak char. There is a floral note…

Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Three Kings Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

A beautiful wine that took a few hours in the decanter to unfurl and shed just a bit of excess cassis liqueur and alcohol to unveil an array of deeper purple, red, and black fruit flavors. Some tasty…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard

After a couple of Coravin evolutions, the remaining juice from this bottle was PnP'd and consumed within 30 minutes. Great flavors and energy during this volley.

Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown Napa Valley

Currant, black cherry, gravel, and earth notes lead the way, with a notable grippy minerality that elevates this wine beyond just being your average throwdown NV. Medium weight mid-palate, with a…

Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Fruity and flat on the attack, with a hollow mid-palate that stumbled its way to a hot, booze-ridden finish. No real grip or frame aside from the distracting alcohol sensation on the back end.

Scarlett Wines Cabernet Sauvignon

Last minute pull. It's been about a year since my last dance with the Scarlett. This showed less "ultra-modern" than last time, which I appreciated. A somewhat medium and pleasantly flavorful attack,…

Hourglass Cabernet Sauvignon Blueline

A beautifully rich and smooth attack of dark berry fruit, with dark chocolate and graphite notes that add interest. Mid-palate depth is notable, with enough acid and grip to corral the ripe core and…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Elysian Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Day 1: Great Gotham Gobs of Candied Cassis Boy Wonder! The first sips from this harlot worked the palate the same way Kim Basinger worked a bottle of honey bear honey in 9 1/2 Weeks. Good God man!…

Maybach Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Amoenus

Exhibiting beautifully brooding and complex flavors of black, purple, and dark red core fruit, the 2015 Amoenus kicks out notes of deep, dark black cherry, wild blackberry, black soil, black olive,…

Pott Wine Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Similar to last month. Like an agreeable friend-hug with someone you've kinda hung out with a time or two. No romance, but a decent "It's just lunch" type of wine. Drink now.

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Elysian Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Finished the bottle. Holding for a few years is still recommended. I poured this into a decanter and kept it at <52 degrees in an attempt to control the air influence (giving it air, but hoping…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard

Coravin pour. Same as before. It's fun. It's flavorful. It's not going to win any Nobel Peace Prizes or ever make it as an answer on Jeopardy, but this is solid juice served with a smile all day…

Bevan Cellars Ontogeny

Previous notes apply. Another fantastic showing from this "base" model Cabernet. The mid-palate and complexity are indeed notable from this sub-$100 wine. Punches above its weight class for sure.…

Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Bergfeld

Previous notes apply. Showed more complexity than its 2014 Hall Howell peer that was served the day before, but didn't do a ton to really show that it belongs in the upper echelons of Napa Cabernets.…

Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Same as previous notes. A decent amount of mid-palate concentration (though more on the elegant side of things overall), with some black mineral-laced fruit that added interest throughout…

Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

Same as last month. Last bottle. Won't miss it. Pass.

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Elysian Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Smaller Coravin pour, with little opportunity to thoroughly evaluate, but enough time to know that this wine is going to need a few years to fully come together. Much less seamless in its current…

Fuse Wines Cabernet Sauvignon

Medium-to-light flavors of diluted black cherry, red and black currant, and some subtle earthy spice. Mid-palate is medium in weight and somewhat decent considering the price-point here, but its…

Celani Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Ardore

Same notes as in April. Rich, chewy, and black. Chocolate chunk meets blackberry and dark black raspberry core fruit. A touch heavy and thick, but delivers high on the flavor scale. Drink now and…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard

Previous notes apply. Super smooth and agreeable. A little round and plush this time around, with a fruity finish that was certainly flavorful. An easy gulper at this stage.

Aubert Chardonnay Sugar Shack

Highly expressive and currently flaunting it's sexy domestic vanillin oak and creamy buttered popcorn profile that I associate with and appreciate about Sugar Shack. Viscous and oily in the mouth,…

Buccella Cabernet Sauvignon

Similar to my experience with this wine a few months ago, though after a couple of hours in the glass, it really opened up and started to show some wonderful black fruit flavors. Some nice dark earth…

Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Weitz Vineyard

It has been two years since I last had this wine. This go-around, PnP was strikingly similar to my last encounter with it. Balled-up, fairly acidic, and clenching the palate like Wile E. Coyote…

Pott Wine Cabernet Sauvignon Turf War Bisagno Vineyard

Raspberry coulis, red cherry preserve/compote, purple plum, cassis, and some subtle minerality. Drinking surprisingly well on a PnP, with just a little swirling in the glass needed to coax out…