All previous notes apply. A little more muted than the last bottle. Grossly improper stemware is likely to blame for that. Drinking fine now otherwise.
Hey man...all I can say is that I'm a fan. PnP is right now, ready to go. A few minutes of alcohol on the initial pull, but otherwise its delivery was fun, filling, vivacious, and concentrated. It's…
Another Coravin pour. Seems to have moved along to a riper stage with some air. I had a Coravin issue with a Quivet LPV at the same time last week when I hit this bottle too; so, maybe there was some…
Pretty prune-ridden and over-ripe. I'm guessing a Coravin malfunction from last week? Bummer. Note to self: Just PnP in about 1.5 years and not bother with trusting "technology" to screw up an…
Everyone loves Ms. Scarlett. This intense femme fatale delivers with wonderfully sassy concentration and sex appeal. PnP with around 15 minutes in the glass brought about her buxom flair and…
All previous notes apply. Smooth and accessible on PnP. Served next to a '14 Scarlett, which had a little more concentration and intensity. Drink the Myriad now or hold with confidence for a couple…
These adorable little .375s make it too easy to grab-and-go with one when you're headed to a restaurant and want a crazy ace up your sleeve during dinner. This wine is bringing all sorts of fun with…
Previous notes apply. Everyone at the table was surprised this was a Merlot with a decade of age on it. Drank great as a PnP and maintained its beautiful profile over the course of a couple of hours.…
Same notes as before. An hour+ of air brought out some really nice boysenberry and bitter dark chocolate notes. A wine I should leave alone for another year or two. 95-96+ points.
All previous notes apply. A truly awesome expression of Stags Leap, seamlessly gushing with dark, black berry core fruit; dark chocolate, asphalt, black/blue river rock, scorched earth, and clove…
Coravin pour. As others have noted, this needs 2-3 more years to get its full act together. Enticing notes of black core fruit, black licorice, black mulch, asphalt, and some river rock.
Coravin pour. Black core fruit, with charcoal, burnt embers, obsidian, black asphalt, scorched earth, and some clove. A little alcohol on the back end nudged its way in. Overall weight was…
Bottle finished. Previous notes apply. Nearly four hours of decanted air at 54 degrees made for a more seamless display of flavors. This still needs a couple of years to chill out. Plan on 2020.
Another Coravin pour. Same notes as before. Started to show more layers and depth over an hour of consumption. Needs time, but definite promise in a couple of years.
Previous note applies. Another Coravin pour. Pretty wild and crazy. It couldn't fully shed itself of a confection/saccharine vanilla aftertaste. Air helped some, but not enough. Fruit seems pure, but…
Previous notes apply. Finished the bottle. Definitely in need of time in the bottle to develop a better sense of seamlessness. Swirling with ripe, chocolatey, oak-influenced flavors, this is akin to…
Thick, dark, chewy, and rich. This wine epitomizes hedonism in Napa Cabernet. Previous notes apply, as the Ardore maintained its seriously intense flavor profile throughout a few hours of…
BIGTUNA and WINEPT have this wine pegged. A wine-by-the-glass at a bar that doesn't specialize in wine kind of wine. It is tolerable and will pass the time as you skulkingly peer across the room…
This was a tough one for me. It came off as a simpleton that seemed displaced from any affiliation with the Araujo label. "Second wine" or not, this was a seemingly willowy example. Higher toned, red…
Previous notes from two months ago apply. I have to admit I'm really loving this wine right now. It's not as good as some of the SVDs, but dammit if I don't find this to be a really fine example of a…
Notes of black and red cherry, barely ripe purple plum, vanilla alcohol, cassis, and some stone. An ok representation of the CF varietal, but somewhat pedestrian for my palate; lacking layers and…
Flawed indeed... Cedar, alcohol, black currant. The best part was the Twilight Zone experience that I had just after I took a sip (and a whiff) of this "wine"... As soon as I ended up taking my first…
Holy behemoth wine of the Seven Seas! A massive, massive wine at this stage, with a steroid-ridden attack of black raspberry and black cherry liqueur, red and black licorice, cassis, black currant,…
Same as my previous notes from September 2017. For a wine that's progressed a decade from vintage, and as a domestic Merlot...aaanndd a Bevan Merlot to boot...I am shocked at how youthful, powerful,…
Coravin pour. Dark and powerful, with a grab-hold-of-ya, palate-gripping intensity that pumps waves of youthful dark fruit from its initial attack. Dark black raspberry, black cherry, blackberry,…
