Reviews

B Cellars Cabernet Franc Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

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…

Bacio Divino Pazzo

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…

B Cellars Cabernet Franc Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

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…

Maybach Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Materium

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…

Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

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…

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

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…

Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

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,…

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard

Barrel sample. Gobs of Bootsy Collins funkafied fruit, interwoven with a meaty, gamey core of blackberry cobbler, blackberry and raspberry liqueur, cherry syrup, absinthe salami, smoked BBQ ribs,…

Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon BBS Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

I remember when a 4.0 GPA actually meant a perfect "straight A" average. Now there's 4.5s, 4.8s, and even 5.0 GPAs?! A perfect of the perfect of the perfect?! Whatever a kid has to do to get into…

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Ehrlich Vineyard

Definitely a tick or two more advanced than the Blend 26 tasted just before it, the Ehrlich displayed some nice black and blue/red core fruit that held up through the mid-palate and into the finish.…

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard

This reminded me of a more regal version of a 2014 Myriad GIII, almost what I'd imagine the Empyrean to be like if Mike Smith produced a 2014 bottling of it. Finessed, elegant, but still pumping…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Elysian Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Previous notes apply. This Elysian is a textural, silky dream, with wonderful purity of fruit and a finish that really provides a long-distance running feel on the back end. What a glide! Black, red,…

B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

For a wine that was just bottled a week ago, this showed a nice sophistication and beautiful, seamless delivery of flavor across the palate. Deep, but not exceptionally so just yet, this BTK had a…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Previous notes apply. This showed a little bit of a crunchier, rustic side when compared to some of the other wines at the table. Still wonderfully giving in the fruit department, and super powerful,…

Bacio Divino Cabernet Sauvignon Janzen Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

Barrel Sample from a Taransaud T5 barrique. An absolute bad a** example of the BTK site. Tons of power and concentration, but with a textural superiority that seldom graces such bombastic fruit…

Realm Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

A generous delivery of black and blue core fruit. Blackberry, blueberry, ripe red raspberry, fresh vanilla bean, dark (rich) chocolate, baking spice, and some scorched earth. Less of the floral…

Bacio Divino Cabernet Sauvignon Janzen Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard

Barrel sample. Not surprisingly, this 2016 is essentially the 2014 MH on steroids...like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando type of steroids. Big and rich, with hefty doses of black, purple, and blue…

Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard

Previous notes from December still apply. A beautiful display of dark fruit flavors, if not lacking just a bit on the concentration side of things. Veers toward a more simple delivery of flavors, but…

Buoncristiani Chardonnay

This Chardonnay strikes a nice balance between the plushness of a domestic white and the restraint of a more classical version of the varietal. Fresh and fairly lively, with decent energy and lift to…

Maybach Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Materium

Specific notes of dark candied black raspberry, black and red cherry, cassis, blackberry, fresh vanilla bean, dark chocolate, and some subtle grey river rock (adding a bit of cut through the…

Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon Teucer Vineyard

Much like the 2014 version of this wine, the 2015 Teucer explodes with dark, rich berry fruit and earth flavors. A full-frontal, velvet glove type of attack, with blackberry, black raspberry, red and…

Alpha Omega Cabernet Sauvignon Stagecoach Vineyard

Barrel sample. The most low-toned wine in the '16 AO line-up, with dark, black core fruit, fresh black soil, espresso, bitter chocolate, char, clove, fresh vanilla bean, and obsidian. The dark spice…

MacDonald Cabernet Sauvignon

Bam! Pow! Clench! Grip! Acid! Fruit! Rock! Spice! ...Like a Wham! Blam! comic strip page getting torn out of a magazine, crumpled up, and thrown in your face. The initial delivery of this wine was…

AJ Pearce Cabernet Sauvignon Massoumi Vineyard

Previous notes apply. This wine is certainly higher registering on the acid and structure spectrums, but has enough flavor (though somewhat restrained and classical in its delivery) to hold interest.…

Alpha Omega Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

Barrel sample. Not atypical of the BTK site, this wine displayed hallmark black core fruit, with black raspberry, blackberry, truffle, soil, char, and spice. Plenty of push mid-palate to move the…