Tom Garland

9.4

Franklin Barbeque (Austin, TX) brisket and Abreu tonight!!

2 hour decant(decent fine/cloudy sediment). A superb dark magenta color. On the nose: Intoxicating notes of stewed dark fruit, espresso, balsamic, worn leather. Taste: creamy, rich, mouthcoating wine with dark cherry, dark chocolate, earth, pepper, and a cedar-leather long finish with a touch of heat. YUM! drinks well with the decant and more time to go. — a month ago

with Brenda

Donald Williams

9.2

Uneven quality from bottle to bottle. This was a nice one. — 8 months ago

with Bonnie

Norman Gennaro

9.5

Solid 9.5. Did not match up to the Maybach/Abreu/SQN last night but still excellent. Much lighter on the palate even less than than an Aubert Pinot, great aromatics, classic Cab flavors but not the rich, dark, deep flavors of last night. — 2 years ago

with Nicholas

George Hesse

9.4

Excellent. Fitting tribute to what may be our last dinner at CYC. — a month ago

with Jennifer

Tom Garland

9.4

Inspire Napa Valley Sat. afternoon tasting with Antonio Galloni. Panel includes:
Brad Grimes - winemaker Abreu
Helen Keplinger- Keplinger wine
Mary Maher - Silverado farming
Francois Peschon -accendo, vine hill ranch
Jason Smith- MS

WINES
2018 BV George de Latour
2019 Stags Leap SLV
2018 DVO Napa Valley Red
2017 Bond Quella
2019 Lingua Franca estate chardonnay
2019 Domaine de Bichery brut champagne

Each panel member picked a wine that had an impact on them. — 5 months ago

with Brenda

Tom Garland

9.3

Fruit from Abreu Madrona and Thorevilos vineyards.

Decant for sediment (lots of chunky/fine sediment). A startling purplish reddish magenta color. On the nose: plum, creme de cassis, smoked meat, mint, vanilla nuts. Taste: This Songbook is singing! A smooth, velvety, balanced medium body wine with blueberry, bitter chocolate, red currants, spice, tar, and a minerally cedar semi dry finish. Nice start to the weekend! — 2 years ago

with Brenda

leon egozi

9.6

WOTN number 2 — 2 months ago

Vino Joe

9.8

Phenomenal! This was an amazing wine. Very powerful and notable even from the small tasting pour. This was ready out of the blocks. It zipped immediately. Fruit was bursting but it was also soooo long. Structure and depth. It has a very nice weight and lingered beautifully. The alcohol is muted and the bouquet is all fruit. Fleshy fruit some tea notes on back end but subtle. This was an impressive wine. — 3 months ago

Tom Garland

9.3

Cliff Lede Winery cage match tonight. All wines decanted 2 hours.
2012 Cliff Lede Poetry..Stags Leap Vineyard
2012 Cliff Lede Songbook...Abreu Madrona/Thorevilos vineyard.
2012 Cliff Lede...Beckstoffer To Kalon vineyard

Poetry(9.3). Wine to drink now. Subdued nose. Taste: smooth, velvety, soften tannins, dark cherry, cedar, spice, orange rind, dark chocolate.

Lede To Kalon (9.2). Very expressive nose. Taste: smooth, soft, velvety, red and blue fruit, cedar, cinnamon, spice, smokey oak.

Songbook(9.1). Wine I would like to drink with 5 more years on it and might move to top score. Subdued nose. Taste: smooth, red fruit, cedar, spice, cassis, charcoal, touch of heat on the end and some still there kicken tannins — 10 months ago

with Brenda and Jill

I S

10

Religious experience. First expensive (for me) wine that I've had. My wallet was disappointed to learn that there are wines worth the price. I feel I can write an essay about it, but I'll just say it is the first wine I've ever had where the smell and the taste were equally impressive. — 2 years ago