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Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Marqués de Casa Concha 2015

Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Marqués de Casa Concha 2015

Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Marqués de Casa Concha 2015″ width=”200″ height=”200″ /></a>A solid Chilean Cabernet, Concha Y Toro’s Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 is crafted from fruit sourced from a stony alluvial bench in the Maipo Valley. Classic aromas of black currant and blackberry rest well beneath layers of potting soil and […]

Lubanzi Red Blend 2015

Lubanzi Red Blend 2015

This is a new brand—yet to be released, and one that I see as part of the growing trend combining wine and philanthropy. Cape Venture was founded by two young men who fell in love with South Africa’s rugged wine scene. They have pledged to give 50% of the winery’s profits to back the Pebbles […]

Square Peg Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2014

Square Peg Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2014

Lovely purity of fruit in Square Peg’s 2014 Estate Block 8 Dry Farmed Pinot Noir from Green Valley. Grown at an 800′ elevation a mere eight miles from the Pacific Ocean—winemaker William Knuttel has coaxed red berries from this cool climate Pinot along with nuanced aromas of underbrush, rose petal, dried orange peel, and baking […]

Abacela Reserve Tempranillo 2005

Abacela Barrel Select Tempranillo 2005

Abacela’s 2005 Reserve Tempranillo is opaque, with only the oxblood-rim belying age. It’s mature now, but has a long drinking window ahead of it, perhaps another 5-8 years. The nose is rich and complex, a melange of black cherries and plums, Christmas cake, leather, and dusty earth. The attack reveals mouth coating, grippy tannins and […]

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 […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com