Barrel sample. Beautiful dark black and deeply pitched red core fruit, with chocolate, oak char, and tar; a lot of power and push right now, but with a notable depth and body that speak well to where…
Good intensity and push of flavors; tropical fruit, quince, grass, lemon rind, and some subtle graphite. Best when served cold; as it warmed up in the glass, it lost some focus. Still, the flavors…
A massively powerful and intense wine, packed with black core fruit. Burnt embers, scorched earth, black soil, river rock, pulverized granite, black pen ink, and some dark cassis. The front end is an…
Displaying a wonderful amount of energy and intensity, the 2015 Tench has a captivating pop of black cherry, red and black currant, black raspberry, cassis, bitter chocolate, and some spice. A little…
All previous notes apply. Very compelling blue and black core fruit, with subtle streaks of black asphalt and river rock. A straightforward 2014 type of delivery and execution, medium complexity,…
Similar to my previous notes last year. Dominated by popcorn and vanilla oak. A nice texture and mouthfeel, with yellow citrus, lemon curd, butter, and some glycol filling out the overall profile.…
Plum, black cherry, spice, soil, and some bourbon booze. The flavor profile hinted at a tiered delivery initially, but it became a little jammy on the mid-palate. A little wonky at this stage,…
Subtle tropical fruit notes, with some grass, gravel, and hay flavors hitting the mid-palate with medium acidity and weight. A balanced SB, with a lighter overall effect than Bevan SBs of the past…
Similar to last year. Great dark core fruit flavors and purity. More medium bodied and even-keeled than some of Bevan's more intense creations. Tapered off a little on the back end after some air.…
Same as last year. Still needs some time. Purple and red berry fruit. Furry tannins that still require unraveling a bit more. I'd say after 2020+ is best for a revisit. Decanting for a couple of…
In reading my notes on this wine 2 years ago, I can't say I have much to add except that this was amazingly captivating juice. So well made on every front. Even deeper and darker than I remember.…
Same as 4 months ago. All previous notes apply. The front end is full of fruit and spice. Served next to a Wren Hop Witch's Ladder, which was much more herbal and "cooler" feeling in its delivery. I…
Sonoma County · Green Valley of Russian River Valley
1.5 years since I last had this wine. Very good focus and delineation of flavor. More of a straight shot in terms of delivery, with wonderful underbrush and rosemary notes drilling though the black…
Same notes as last year. One of the top wines of the night. Even better on day 2, which leads me to believe a couple of years will suit this wine even better. Great black/blue/red fruit. Some nice…
This wine wiped the floor over the other wines at the table. In its class, it and a '14 Bevan Ontogeny were the WOTN. Powerful and concentrated, awesome black core fruit flavors, with black rock and…
A great showing with this wine. Open for business and displaying wonderfully focused and flavorful blue and black fruit, blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, black asphalt, tar, black currant,…
Previous notes apply. Though this could use 6-12 months to settle in a bit more, it's starting to operate on a solid level. I bumped this up a point from 93 because the body of the core fruit is…
Previous notes from last month apply. Medium bodied and middle of the pack amongst other wines at the table. Nice black and some blue core fruit. Similar profile to a '14 Buoncristiani Cab. Drink now…
Similar to previous notes. By itself, this is a fine wine. However, comparatively with the others, this fell behind the leaders in the pack. Toward the middle/rear in terms of overall performance.…
Previous notes apply. Against the competiton of other Napa Cabs, this was the middle of the pack. Likely one of the most focused of the wines at the table, but a little linear across the board. Some…
Attempted to finish the rest of this Coravin'd bottle. Decanted, aerated, swirled, coaxed, massaged, heavy-petted, counseled, read a goodnight sorry to, given a Millennial honorable mention trophy,…
It's been a year since I last had this wine. It still needs some time to fully settle in, but it is certainly on a righteous road to perfection. As others have noted, this wine couldn't fully shed…