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Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Éloge 2010

Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards Éloge 2010

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Éloge 2010 is drinking beautifully, there are no hard edges in this substantive and baritone blend. Even the nose feels weighty, laden in steeped ripe blackberries, blackcurrants, black cherries, violets, anise and dried mint. The palate is big, encompassing, saturating, and glossy, edged in ripe tannins, and the perception of bottomlessness—Alice […]

Brooks Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2015

Brooks Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2015

A stunning value from Brooks, their 2015 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is packed with enticing aromas. Sweet pie cherries, strawberry compote, and a suggestion of black raspberry are overlaid by classic Willamette Valley descriptors: forest floor, rose petal, lavender, and dried mushroom. It’s silky and fine boned on entry, with enough acidity to ensure that […]

Cardinale 1997

Cardinale Red 1997

Cardinale’s Proprietary Red Wine is less evolved than some of the other 1997 Napa Cabs tasted in this particular lineup—a palate-saturating blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Merlot is showing extraordinary range of savory tertiary notes—black olive, sun dried tomato, sweet tobacco and an umami-like soy quality, all of which glides over plum compote […]

Robert Mondavi To Kalon Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Robert Mondavi To Kalon Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Another heavy hitter from a lineup spanning four decades of Napa Cabs. The 2013 Robert Mondavi To Kalon Vineyard Reserve Cabernet is still quite primary. It’s opaque, with a bold magenta rim. Structurally, opulent—the core furnished with juicy black fruit, ripe, glossy tannins and a hint of how it will evolve—a palate pleasing melange of […]

Inglenook Niebaum-Coppola Rubicon Estate 1997

Niebaum Coppola Rubicon 1997

Classic Rutherford dust twining a startling degree of freshness. At 20 years on, the Niebaum Coppola Rubicon 1997 is opaque and ruby-robed, with a watery rim. 1997 was a watershed year in Napa, marking a shift toward extended hang times and higher alcohols, here it’s at 14.1% and generously fruited with mulberries, black currants, anise […]

Beaulieu Vineyard Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1975

Beaulieu Vineyard (BV) Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1975

Tasted in a lineup of Napa Cabs spanning four decades, and led by wine icon Kevin Zraly, the BV Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1975 is quite evolved at this stage. We were lucky enough to sample a wine direct from the winery’s own library, where storage conditions have been perfect. It’s brickish and translucent save […]

Beringer Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1986

Beringer Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1986

Beringer’s 1986 Mature, Beringer’s Napa Valley presented plum sauce, beef jerky, and leather followed by more ethereal notes of spearmint, sarsaparilla and dried flowers. With a mantle that is decidedly garnet, it is still round and generously fruited with fine, well defined mid-and-fore palate tannins effortlessly twining flavors of black currants, black tea, and cracked […]

Opus One 2006

Opus One 2006

Sampled at the 2017 Wine Writers Symposium, while a dinner with the charming Karen MacNeil seated directly across from me, and legends Bill Harlan and Andrea Robinson at the table behind me. The Opus One 2006 sang—one long, melodic, satiny chord drenched in wild blueberries, steeped blackberries, and black raspberry. It unfurls slowly, releasing a […]

Frog’s Leap Heritage Blend 2013

Frog's Leap Heritage Blend 2013

This bottle was gifted to me on arrival at Meadowood Resort in Napa, a nice way to kickoff the 2017 Wine Writers Symposium. My first time tasting Frog’s Leap, it’s young and primary. Juicy blackberries, blackcurrants, kirsch, and camphor tumble from the glass. It’s very structured with chalky, grippy tannins neatly encasing a tooth-staining core […]

Abacela Reserve Tempranillo 2009

Abacela Reserve Tempranillo 2009

Tempranillo grown in Southern Oregon, in this case Umpqua Valley, shows great promise, as Abacela has demonstrated time and again through their bottlings of this earthy, Spanish queen. The 2009 Reserve Tempranillo is resplendent in an earthy mantle of dried blood, brick dust, roasted black cherries, and plums. The balance on the palate is spot […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com