| Wine Type | Vintage Name Variety Locale | Date Posted Score Helpful Comments More... |
|---|---|---|
| Red |
2021 Cakebread Cellars Cabernet FrancNapa Valley more |
4/2/2024 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 90 points3 hour decant then drank over 3 hours. A surprisingly red fruited Napa Cab Franc. Medium body with raspberry notes. Kinda of reminded me of a Spanish Tempranillo. Young, so it evolved somewhat over time. Enjoyable and offers a nice change of pace from the typical higher end Cabernets I usually drink. 90 now with maybe a point or two higher with age. HMC |
| Red |
2018 Detert Family Vineyards Cabernet Franc Oakvillemore |
3/14/2024 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 95 pointsPNP then drank over 2 hours. Fairly dense, well balanced, delicious modern styled Cab Franc. Opens with a nose of fresh cherries and florals. As it warmed and got air it settled into a beautiful black cherry flavored wine with great acidity and freshness with a slight spicey note. 5 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1) |
| Red |
2016 Jones Family Cabernet Sauvignon ANV Barrel Auction Lot #256Napa Valley more |
2/23/2024 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 97 points1 hour decant. Then drank over 2 hours. Ripe and ready right out the gate. Big, balanced classic cab in every way. Luscious mouth feel. Delicious cassis and blackberry fruit. Well integrated round in the mouth tannins. Decent finish. Probably the second-best wine I've had this year. 97+ and peaking. HMC Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comments (2) |
| Red |
2018 Mending Wall Cabernet Sauvignon Tournahu VineyardSt. Helena more |
2/21/2024 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 93 pointsOpened for dinner with Mark1npt. Tried an experiment with an ultrasonic aerator. On opening shut down a bit. Not particularly tannic but kind of non-expressive. As it got some air and after aeration it opened up to finally achieve a 93+ rating. If I had more, I'd still hold and see if improves. HMC |
| Red |
2016 Venge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon DLCVOakville more |
2/15/2024 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 97 pointsPicked this up off just some random guy in Napa on latest trip. He had this and a few other wines stored in his garage. So, storage was very suspect. |
| Red |
2019 Zakin Estates Cabernet SauvignonNapa Valley more |
2/1/2024 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 94 pointsAll day decant, drank over 3 hours at a tasting with JimAronson and Mark1NPT. Really nice classic cab Nose of Cassis with a hint of dry hay. Well resolved on the palette with a decent amount of dry tannins. 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1) |
| Red |
2005 Levy & McClellan RedNapa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon more |
1/8/2024 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 97 pointsBrought to Prime Rib Dinner at our house by Mark1NPT. 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1) |
| Red |
2019 Feudo Maccari MahârisSicilia Syrah more |
11/19/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 91 pointsAfter quick this wine was medium bodied, red hued and red fruit dominated. Pleasant but would never guess it was a Syrah. After several hours of air it darkened amazingly and became a meaty, olive and fat Syrah. Just an amazing transformation. I kind of liked it more early on to tell the truth. All in all a nice wine from a region I dont usually explore. 91 HMC |
| Red |
2019 Envy Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Calistoga EstateNapa Valley more |
11/8/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 92 pointsHad this opened for me at a local wine store then took home to finish. On PNP I thought it a little thin and sour but after 4 hours of air it improved quite a bit. Didn't take notes but in the end, it was medium full bodied, fairly fruit forward with decent balance. A pleasant napa cabernet though still young tempered, and a good QPR buy at 45 bucks. Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comments (3) |
| Red |
2019 Venge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville 360 Vineyardmore |
10/9/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 93 pointsDecanted for several hours via slow ox then 2 hrs in decanter. Sweet fruit forward and a little primary at first. Maybe 91-92. After several hours it improved in complexity and finished up a 93- 94. Very pleasant wine in the end if you like Kirk's style. HMC |
| White |
2021 Shafer Chardonnay Red Shoulder RanchCarneros more |
9/15/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 94 pointsVery nice wine and an excellent pairing with the Crab and Lobster at Chops in Naples with Marknpt1 and Spouse. This wine had excellent minerality, light citrus fruit flavors and a light touch of Oak. More crisp than creamy which helps it pair well with rich seafood and sauces. Easy 94 for me tonight. MNC |
| Red |
2019 Clos du Val YettalilStags Leap District Red Bordeaux Blend more |
8/13/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 93 pointsTook this over to a dinner at Mark1NPTs house. Got this at deep discount from local vendor. Very well-made wine. 2 hour decant prior to dinner. Markedly smooth and refined. Medium weight. Typical Napa color though it seems more polished in appearance than most. Restrained nose and dark cherry fruit which faded after decanting. Some sage was noted by tasters. Seemed to improve with time which bodes well for the future. |
| Red |
2020 Stipulation Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountainmore |
7/26/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 92 pointsPretty impressed that you can buy a Howell Mtn AVA wine for under 40 bucks at Costco. And this one is pretty good. Tasty dark fruits, decent nose though not overly expressive. Some wood notes but it is young and that will likely integrate better with time in the bottle. Good acid and decent balance for a youngster. MarkNPT1 gave it a 94+ on initial try. |
| Red |
2019 Bacio Divino Cabernet Sauvignon Janzen Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper VineyardOakville more |
7/3/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 94 pointsTonight, I'm watching the new Apple series - Drops of God and I wanted to drink a wine I had never tasted while I watched. I selected this 19 MH from Janzen. A little sorry Mark and Carol are not with me to enjoy this experience. Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comments (1) |
| Red |
2018 Broken Earth Winery Cabernet Sauvignon CVPaso Robles more |
6/18/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 91 pointsDecanted for 4 hours and enjoyed with MarkNPT1 along with a few nice Napa Cabs Mark brought over. This wine was fruit forward but not oversaturated with mostly red and some blue fruit noted. It was well balanced and very drinkable. It did lack a little structure and it was only medium bodied so when compared to a good Napa Cab it rates a few points lower. I enjoyed this wine and thought it had good QPR. 91 pts HMC |
| Red |
2020 King Family Vineyards MeritageMonticello Red Bordeaux Blend more |
6/5/2023 - HowellMountainCru wrote: 82 pointsVisiting my son In Virginia and near his house are quite a few very nice Wineries. Having lived in VA for 35 years I'm pretty familiar with the VA wine scene. On this day, we travelled out to a polo match at King Family and while all in our group were enjoying whites I, with some trepidation, dove into their highest quality red. |
| Red |
2016 Selah Cabernet SauvignonHowell Mountain more |
5/25/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 94 pointsThis TRB made wine from a 5-acre site on Howell Mountain is a dark fruited concentrated and well-balanced Cabernet that is aging well. This wine is transitioning to a more mellow and mature, smooth and well-integrated place but it still retains wonderful black fruit characteristics. Joe Blanton is a wonderful host and this is a recommended visit. 94-95 in its current phase. HMC |
| Red |
2019 Maybach Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon MateriumOakville more |
5/8/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 97 pointsJust a wow wine. Right out of the bottle intense, viscous huge and overwhelmingly fruit forward. After an hour or two it settles down into a awesome modern Napa cult legend. I've recently had a few really fantastic realm wines and this one IMO blows those away. 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1) |
| Red |
2020 Matchbook Giguiere Estate Pillars of HerculesDunnigan Hills Red Blend more |
5/1/2023 - HowellMountainCru wrote: 85 pointsRather simple, primary red blend. Pleasant enough but its lack of complexity has me losing interest after a single glass. There's a reason it's 13 bucks at Costco. 85 HMC |
| Red |
2019 Venge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Family ReserveOakville more |
4/15/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 95 pointsPNP as I needed a second bottle after a Carter Haze cab. Pretty impressive and ready to go. This was a nice contrast to the Carter. It was just a tad brighter and lighter giving it an impression of class. Good but not over the top dark reddish fruit and a decent nose however I didn't really give it much opportunity to blossom. The tasters split on their favorite but I preferred this Venge as I found it well balanced and almost savory and with a better finish. 95 now and a point or two higher with bottle time and proper air. HMC |
| Red |
2018 Realm Cellars The BardNapa Valley Red Bordeaux Blend more |
4/11/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 95 pointsMicro ox'd this in a cooler for 18 hours prior to serving out of a decanter for a prime rib dinner for Marknpt1 and spouse. Big and juicy, full of lush black fruit. Notes of fruit and French oak dominate. Super well-structured, just a bit tannic at first but opens well and drinks great after a few hours. Still hasn't reached its prime IMO 95 HMC 9 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (8) |
| Red |
2018 Zakin Estates Cabernet SauvignonNapa Valley more |
3/22/2023 - HowellMountainCru wrote: 92 points4 hour decant then drank as a part of a multi wine tasting over 3 hours. 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (2) |
| Red |
2019 Gagnon-Kennedy Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Missouri HopperOakville more |
3/18/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 96 pointsPNP and drank over the next 2 hours. Third wine of the night with Mr. Ms Mark1npt. The first 2, both Cabs , 18 Hillside Select and a 16 Saunter were both excellent and in the 94-95 range for me. So I was surprised I enjoyed this wine so much. What was striking about it was the pure strong wild berry fruit that just floated my boat. I didn't get a lot of that bloody meat character I always like in MS fruit and the nose wasn't particularly expressive or this would have scored even higher. It's possible that may have arisen with more air but alas it didn't last. This was a well-balanced, fruit forward modern napa cab that I really loved. HMC |
| Red |
2020 VGS Syrah SouthPaso Robles more |
2/26/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 90 pointsSecond bottle of this wine. Both similar - given 6 plus hours of air then finished on the second day. My impression is that this is a young wine, big, fruit forward, primary, and almost cab like. There are some Syrah notes like bacon fat, plus chocolatey barrel influences and just a touch of dusty herbs. A good value wine but more a cellar defender type IMO. 90-91 HMC |
| Red |
2015 Realm Cellars MoonracerStags Leap District Red Bordeaux Blend more |
2/8/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 96 pointsPNP and drank over 3 hours. VG out of the bottle but got better with air till gone. Ultra smooth, well balanced, modern napa cab. Black and blue fruited and towards the end very floral perfumed. An excellent Realm - but quite pricey. Thanks, Gerry, for sharing. HMC easy 96 and given more time maybe higher. 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1) |
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- Tasting notes: 259 notes on 223 wines
