Reviews

The Grade Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Winfield Vineyard

Same as previous notes. I feel as though I rushed through it this time around. 93-95 points. An excellent wine, especially for the price-point, but I should've taken some more time to follow it…

D.R. Stephens Chardonnay Star Vineyard

PnP with beautiful notes of yellow citrus, lemon curd, vanilla bean, white bread center, and light honey. Creamy and giving, with an immediate accessibility that draws you in with each sip. Medium…

Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon The Grand Daddy Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

Previous notes apply. Three hours of air in the decanter helped immensely. Excellent bottle of juice. Ideally, worth waiting a year or two. 95-96+ points

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Previous notes apply. This rescued us from an otherwise abysmal wine consumption lineup earlier in the evening. 93+ points. Some short term (6 months) cellaring is probably best, but it performed…

Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

A messy diaper performance; wonky, fruity, and pretty mushy. Not much focus, with a one-note pile of ripe, flabby fruit. Sorta like taking a spoonful of raw Bisquick drop biscuit dough and plopping…

Honig Cabernet Sauvignon

Lithe, cedar-laced black and red currant, tan bark, and dry dirt. A little stemmy, with a limited display of flavor. Thin mid-palate. Bitter on the back end. Weak.

Buccella Merlot

Pretty shut down overall this go-around. Some red and light black fruit flavors, but otherwise not much excitement going on here. Some vanilla and alcohol-laced cassis on the back end; showing lithe…

Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Peterson Family Vineyard

PnP was a tad tight and linear, but after a few hours of stretchy-time, it stopped being a wallflower and its flavors started to arrive to the party. A wine for those that don't necessarily gravitate…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

All previous notes apply. Last minute pull this time. Served in crappy stemware with lackluster food. Luckily this wine was a nice reprieve from an otherwise challenging dinner service. 92+ points.…

Outpost Cabernet Sauvignon

Same as previous notes. Not a sin to pop the cork presently, but giving it a couple of years to fill out completely would be most prudent. Ideally wait until 2019+. QPR is pretty darn good on this…

Bevan Cellars EE Cuvée

It's been over a year since my last bottle. Same as all of my previous notes on this wine except it really showed well from start to finish, with no tannic or heat issues at all. Performed good as a…

Shafer Relentless

Same as before. A solid red over the course of two days. A little tight on PnP and in need of some air throughout consumption. Ultimately, I'd recommend a short decant (2+ hours) or hold for another…

The Grade Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Winfield Vineyard

Same as previous notes. Held up nicely over two days. Best after a couple hour decant after PnP. 93-94 points. Likely to level out at this point and start to gracefully age. Has plenty of life left…

Becklyn Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

PnP was a blast of an assortment of wild flavors. Rich cassis, sweet Amarena black cherry, purple plum, black raspberry, IHOP boysenberry syrup, cocoa, Milk Duds, vanilla bean, red and black…

Rivers-Marie Cabernet Sauvignon Lore Vineyard

Looks like I'm the outlier this time around, as this wine didn't deliver the way I had hoped it would, even in its youth. At best for me, it was in that 90-92 point bracket, and honestly that's being…

Rivers-Marie Cabernet Sauvignon Lore Vineyard

Same as previous notes, except that this never fully came around to anything that provided any real pleasure for me. I get the potential, but it is something that I cannot foresee delivering in a way…

Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Eighteen Seventy-Three Napa Valley

This score is based on Day 2. The first day it was a hot, alcohol-ridden, acidic mess. Day 2 it finally came around...a bit. Still, the booze was apparent; it never fully quit, on the back end…

Kobalt Cabernet Sauvignon

This essentially took 2 days of air before it really started to show its potential. Day 1 was a little hot, but still displayed a big, powerful core fruit that was certainly pleasurable (if not a…

Bacio Divino Cabernet Sauvignon Janzen Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard

Revisited this after a Coravin pour the previous week. PnP with about an hour of air did this wine some good. Favored by most over a 2015 Bevan Ontogeny served alongside it. Decent depth and some…

Scarlett Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Same as my notes from earlier this month. Wild and concentrated flavors, with a mid-palate that is incredibly intense. This and a '13 Tusk were tied for WOTN. The Tusk was much smoother (after about…

D.R. Stephens Noble Block Moose Valley Vineyard

No formal notes. This paired well with pumpkin cheese cake, apple cinnamon cake, and pumpkin pie! Nothing too exciting about the wine in particular given its intended purpose, but it delivered as…

Tusk Estates Cabernet Sauvignon

An excellent showing this go-around. Previous notes apply. This needed about 2 hours before it really started to find its glide. There was some decent grip and tension swirling around the deeper core…

Hourglass Cabernet Sauvignon Blueline

PnP was a little tight, but it only took about 20 minutes of air to start performing. This is what I would categorize as a fairly standard example of what's coming out of Napa from the 2014 vintage.…

Bevan Cellars Ontogeny

Same as previous notes. This wine performed best after about 20 minutes of air. However, after a couple of hours, it flattened out on the attack and faded on the finish. It also got a little pummeled…

Buoncristiani Cabernet Sauvignon

Same as previous notes. On PnP, it was a little tight, with some restrained black cherry notes dominating. But after about two hours of air, it blossomed. Deep, dark chocolate, black raspberry, ripe…