This is starting to come around nicely, especially since I had it two years ago. Not as coiled up and standoff-ish as my previous encounter. Black and blue core fruit, blueberry, blackberry, black…
A stunning and utterly classy bottle of wine, with a sophisticated rolling thunder attack of exquisite red and black currant, black cherry, dark plum, earth, coffee grounds, tobacco, aged leather,…
Barrel sample. Explosive notes of blackberry, blueberry, dark soil/earth, black cherry syrup, baking spices, crushed flowers, and wet cedar. Some subtle chocolate notes on the back end. Much more…
Take a PnP 2014 Cliff Lede BTK, breed it with a PnP 2014 Cliff Lede Scarlet Love, and you've got yourself a 2014 Poetry. Pulverized granite meets crunchy, bitter blackberry. It kinda tastes like…
A wine that offers more cerebral interest than it does any type of readily identifiable signature flavor profile associated with the varietal. This is more of a reductive sherry-Champagne hybrid than…
High-toned red berry fruit, with notes of black and red currant, red and black cherry, cassis, limestone, spice, and some alcohol. The fruit had a lot of drive initially, but was clipped by hits of…
A medium-bodied, black fruit driven animal, with a decent amount of drive for such a seemingly dark wine. Blackberry, black soil/earth, bitter chocolate, black currant, cedar, and dark spice. Quite a…
A friendly enough SB that kicks out light-hearted flavors of white melon and yellow citrus fruit, quince, pebbles, and some grass. Light-to-medium bodied, with a graceful glide across the palate.…
Barrel sample. Explosive and attention-grabbing notes of blackberry, fresh blueberry pie crust, Amarena black cherry syrup, cassis, black currant, unripe purple plum, black igneous rock, wet river…
Barrel sample. This is the flagship blend from Crane, LPV, Weitz, and Oakville. Sporting a gorgeous mouthfeel, with the perfect balance of concentration and weight distribution on the palate, this…
Barrel sample. A gorgeous example of a domestic Sauvignon Blanc. Quite possibly one of the best examples of the varietal I've ever had. Notes of lemon and yellow citrus, tropical fruit, grass,…
Barrel sample. A stunning example of LPV, and the best MM wine I've had. Concentrated and powerful, while simultaneously perfectly balanced and seamless. Shows a great personality, with swirling…
An easy, simple ground-pounder when you're looking for something to pair with ribs and BBQ beans. Nothing too intellectual here, and a little out of place amongst the behemoth Beckstoffer wines. Some…
Barrel sample. A slap-yo-mama-silly kinda wine that hits the palate from every angle imaginable. A total stunner, with notes of blackberry, black raspberry liqueur, Amarena cherry syrup, deep cassis,…
My favorite of the 2014 Janzen wines, notably besting its BTK and MH siblings, especially on the initial attack and with its mid-palate depth. A tremendous amount of drive and concentration, pushing…
"Actually quite good," was the first entry into my notes on this wine. As Cristal2000 mentioned, this was a nice surprise. As soon as our host mentioned it was Lewelling Vineyard, I instantly became…
An easy-going Cab that delivers some notable dark red and black core fruit flavors. Some dark spice (clove) and cedar elements provided a little extra lift. Medium-bodied overall, but a nice…
Deliberate and delineated POWER is the name of the game here with this wine...but not brutish in any way. The flavors hit you with a 'skydiving without a parachute' type of velocity that grab ahold…
A bit too fruity and plumy for my taste. A fun red meat pasta at Olive Garden type of wine, but that's about it. A red cherry note competed with an alcohol-covered spice flavor that thinned out the…
Barrel sample. It's not every day that you find a 100% Cab Franc that is as utterly awesome as this '16 Dr. Crane. Yes, it is a barrel sample. Yes, barrel samples can be deceiving in terms of their…
We killed another .375 to see if it would perform any different than the previous night. It was a bit of a futile effort, as the Vice Versa wines dominated and wouldn't let any other wine stand in…
My previous notes from 10/3/2017 still apply. Wonderfull black, Oakville soil-driven core fruit; black raspberry, black and red currant, clove, espresso, black soil, and scorched earth. As noted…
Barrel sample. Blasts of dark and jammy black core fruit, spice, and earth. Chewy tannins, with a boozy, jammy attack that washes over the palate like a Mavericks crashing wave of wild, soil-driven…
Beautiful and elegant in its display of flavors, the '15 VV "standard" Crane brought a bit of romance to the party. Sexy and seductive notes of black, dark red core fruit. Blackberry, boysenberry,…
