Reviews

Morlet Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Cour de Vallée

Fuller and richer than the Mon Chevalier and Passionnment, this suave debutante impresses for its plush black cherry liqueur core that gratifies the palate from stem to stern. Notably balanced with…

Morlet Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Passionnément

The spice trade is alive and well in the 2012 Passionnement, with all sorts of Indian spices and black pepper swarming around the black raspberry and black cherry core. Finishes dry (not as dry as…

Morlet Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Mon Chevalier

A Bordeaux lookalike from Knights Valley that offers up some old school flavors of red and black currant, black and red cherry, tobacco, underbrush, and some leather. Finishes with an herbaceous…

Morlet Family Vineyards Pinot Noir En Famille

Red cherry, earth, spice, and a floral emlement that adds lift. Pure and clean on entry, with rhubarb and red raspberry picking up the rear and adding to an even more complete execution of complex…

12c Cabernet Sauvignon G3 Reserve Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard

Red fruit driven with deeply pitched red raspberry and cassis notes. Finishes sweet and savory, with red currant and cedar flavors adding nuance. 91-92 points.

Quivet Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

Not completely unlike the 2018 in that it showed some nice black mineral elements to counterbalance the fruit core, but it certainly is a bit of a tricky comparison when having the vintages…

Becklyn Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper

Massive chocolatey and meaty fruit on the attack, with sweet gobs of black and red raspberry, cassis, licorice, and charcuterie on the front end. Quite the bitter bite on the tail at the moment.

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Elysian Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

So.Much.Cassis.. and black cherry liqueur on the front of this wine right now. This sample was all about the frontal push of heavy gobs of cherry, cherry, cherry. It's like a bulldog with its…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Peterson Family

As chewy and fruit-driven as the 2018 Myriad Crane, the Peterson rides a little higher than the Crane in terms of overall depth, but notably fills the palate with a gorgeous saturation of sweet…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard

Showing even more ripeness than when I last sampled it in August, the 2018 GIII shows the familiar ripeness of the Myriad GIII fruit vintage after vintage; round, ready, and fairly sweet. An…

Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Gobs of ripe fruit, sweet cassis, and red/purple licorice. A dark stallion kind of wine at its core, but encompassed by the typical Mike Smith-meets-Crane rounded ripeness and succulence. Beautifully…

Quivet Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

Blackberry, oak char, burnt embers, asphalt, seriously dark cassis, and a fistful of enticing minerality make for another sexy-gothic bottle juice. The 2018 Quivet LPV is indeed the jet-black haired…

Château de la Maltroye Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Boudriotte Rouge

Simple and flat. Primary and linear to the point it has little sense of focus and direction. It is just kind of "there" on the palate. Some cherry flavors are....um... 'noticed,' I suppose, but they…

Domaine Bart Bourgogne

Rough. Pretty wonky execution of flavors, with some red berry dragging its feet behind medicinal and stemmy plum notes. An accident that found a place to happen.

Podere Sapaio Volpolo

Ok, so for starters, if you're paying <$25-30 bucks for this wine, consider yourself a happy bargain hunter, cuz this little guy overdelivers as far as I'm concerned. You're not asking it to take…

Melka Métisse Martinez Vineyard Pritchard Hill

From the first sip, anyone who is familiar with Pritchard Hill knows that this wine speaks loud and clear about its roots. Tension-driven and nervy; high on acid and higher-toned aromatics on the…

Melka Mekerra

Cabernet Franc-heavy on the front end of the attack, with black and red cherry, embers, and violets kicking off the initial push. The mid and back seem to grab better hold of the Merlot component,…

Château de la Charrière Pommard Les Vignots

Black and red cherry, dark pomegranate, muddled strawberry, and some earth. PnP was super tight. After a couple of hours in the glass, it opened up nicely and deepened quite a bit more. Fairly simple…

Melka Syrah Majestique Paderewski Vineyard

Perfumed and floral, the front end of this purple popper follows up with notes of blackberry, blueberry, red/purple plum, and a hit of charcuterie. A Cote Rotie interpretation from the famed…

Christopher Tynan Wines Syrah Judge Family Vineyard

A massive blackberry monster on ice skates, with iron, rock, sanguine, and a little roast beef poking out of the furry blueberry and blackberry core. Huge tannins and grip, but all the while…

Memento Mori Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

If the VHR wasn't enough to slap me silly with the possession of a thousand fun-filled flavors, the Crane offered little help in the exorcism from the continuing onslaught of savor-the-flavor palate…

Christopher Tynan Wines Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena Reserve

As Cristal2000 mentioned, this wine was a definite surprise of the tasting. The 2012 Saint Helena Reserve punches WAY above its division; I personally thought this had all the complexity and flavor…

Memento Mori Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch

A gorgeous array of fruit flavors pop out of this wine like Jenna Jameson in a twenty-layered whipped cream birthday cake. Purple, blue, black, red.all just gushing out all over the palate. And just…

Christopher Tynan Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Old Vines Meleagris Gallopavo

The nose hits you pretty quickly with ripe blackberry and poblano chili, letting you know almost immediately that this is definitely hailing from the cooler, wetter 2011 vintage. First sips confirm…

Arkenstone Syrah

I loved this sample. Super meaty and viscous, like chewing on a bacon-wrapped date that was dipped in the most flavorful tar you could lap up from dragging your tongue across I-5 on a late August…