Tyler Felous

9.4

For 21, this was ready to go. Nice blend seemingly made to drink early - totally delivered alongside other heavy hitters — 2 months ago

Paul J

8.9

2022 Wine Tasting!! They were very close in ratings but here is how I think they shook out:

1) Clos Du Val
2) Arietta
3) Vino Cobos
4) Chateau Monbosquet
5) Cayuse Syrah Armada

Super fun afternoon!! — 4 years ago

with Brooke and Geoff

Shay A

9.4

Arietta Wines lunch with owner Fritz. We were able to taste through some current releases as well as some reserve wines Fritz brought with him personally. A treat to enjoy these Andy Erickson wines!

In the running for my favorite red out of the flight. Basically a copy of the normal Hudson merlot but wrapped in a velvet like structure. Glycerin and elixir like in how plush and sexy it is. Added density and heft. Built really big but lots of restraint. Would love to try this again in 10yrs. — 7 years ago

Isaac Pirolo

9.3

Leviathan is the creation of husband and wife team Andy Erickson and Annie Favia-Erickson. They also collaborate on their Favia label, each bringing a resume boasting serious cult winery experience. Andy has spent time as winemaker at Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Ovid, Dancing Hares and Arietta, with prior work at Harlan and Staglin, while Annie got her start with John Kongsgaard and Cathy Corison, before spending more than a decade as a viticulturist with David Abreu. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Jon Bonné said about the Ericksons, “Together they could probably create a 98-point wine in their sleep.” Their 2012 Leviathan is a blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc, 16% Merlot, and 14% Syrah all coming from Northern California, and mostly from Napa. There’s no dispute that this is rich and extracted, but there’s an underlying savoriness that balances out this fruit bomb. Blackberry, black cherry, licorice, mocha, cigar box, crème de cassis, and sweet tannins that carry with them that savory herbaceousness. — 8 years ago

Mark S.

8.9

Color:raisin, Aroma:raisin, First Impression:raisin, Taste:still with acid and tannin. It should be kept for 5 years. Now I understood this. This is made of merlot rich with Syrah. @, Popina, 170611 — 9 years ago

Scott Wren

9.0

This is sav blanc and semillon from Napa. There's a fair amount of oak and med to full weight but it's well integrated with a basil cumin spice profile that is compelling. — 10 years ago

with Jeff

Steve Anderson

9.2

@miles raymond Get over it....this is great F*ing Merlot. — 11 years ago

Ed Chin

9.2

I’m not a big fan of SB, though the amount of semilliion makes it more pleasurable for sure. The grassy note is minuscule. Need a bit of air to blow off. — a year ago

Pooneet K

9.2

Krug is always most welcome, and Valentine’s Day is no exception. This is edition 169. A bit more yeasty and slightly less acidic than previous versions, to my taste. But if you like the Krug style - which we do very much - it hits the spot per usual.

My wife used to work with Fritz Hatton, proprietor of Arietta wines and auctioneer for Zachys. Fritz always says to have a half bottle of champagne waiting in the fridge in case you need a “midnight snack”, and I have to agree with him! — 5 years ago

Brian S

9.2

From a 500mL, big blue fruits, softer red fruit, chocolate, coffee, leather, eucalyptus, medium tannins, medium minus acidity. — 8 years ago

Robert Yett

10

Wow!!! Tasted this years ago at industry tasting at Chateau Boswell in Napa: it’s better than I remember. Arietta, Bevan, Barbour, Realm...you name it, they were there. I thought CORRA was the “Best of Show”!!! — 9 years ago

Pete Talala

9.4

Beautiful, smooth, dark, long finish. Life is too short for crappy Cabernet. — 9 years ago

Joe Lucca

9.3

Super rich. Spends a full extra year in barrel. Semillon and SB. The nose is perfumed with honeysuckle, orange blossom, crystallized honey, and apricot. The palate is dense with mandarin, beeswax, roasted nuts, dried apricot, Meyer lemon, and some petrol. Really nice. — 9 years ago

with Frank, Bob and 2 others

Pooneet K

9.0

Excellent white blend from Arietta, with what is probably the right amount of age. Amber in the glass, deep and mouth filling, fat, but not oaky. Very nice. — 11 years ago

Pooneet K

9.2

Opened at the last minute after a corked dolcetto. Odd coming off of a corked Ridge Pinot from last night too. Bad luck weekend.

This was nice. No one would mistake it for old world - it has too much roundness for that. But it’s nice and aromatic on the nose with great fruit that really carries through. A nice one from the fine folks at Arietta. Great pairing with chicken thighs marinated in soy and hoisin, miso broccoli, and coconut rice. — 3 years ago

Cathy Corison

Owner/Winemaker Corison Winery

9.2

In a nice spot. — 5 years ago

David Walser

9.2

Nice wine but probably would had tasted better a few years ago. Tasted side by side with Arietta Merlot. — 6 years ago

Isaac Pirolo

9.0

Curiosity got the best of me. Steve Mnuchin and Jared Kushner bro’d out over a bottle of this 2015 Arbalest on Sunday. Apparently it’s newsworthy when a wealthy politician brings a ‘cheap’ ($22) bottle of wine to a bro out. I wonder what price gets the ‘politician drinks expensive bottle’ story (see Paul Ryan at Bistro Bis in 2011). No matter, it’s brilliant product placement — I’m surprised Trump didn’t tweet about it... “Did everyone see Poor Stevie’s wine? So Sad. My 2015 Meritage is So Much Better.”

The wine is made by Benoit Touquette. Here’s his background courtesy of critic Jeb Dunnuck, “Born in Lyon France and gaining his education from the University of Bordeaux, Benoit worked at numerous French wineries before getting a job (with the help of his friend and mentor Michel Rolland) in Napa Valley with Andy Erickson. He consulted for the likes of Screaming Eagle, Ovid and Arietta. Today, Benoit is the winemaker for Realm Cellars, Hartwell, and Kata, as well as numerous other labels, including his own project Fait-Main.” Who wouldn’t want to try a $22 bottle of wine from a winemaker with that kind of resume??

Dunnuck also scored the wine 91 points, calling it “Full-bodied, ripe and rounded, with a sexy, opulent style, lots of mid-palate depth, and a great finish, it's well worth your time and money and is a smoking deal at 20 bucks.”

The blend is 82% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot. It needed about an hour to fully open up... one of my fellow tasters called it soapy... which I think was because of its noticeable herbaceousness. Focused black cherry, pipe tobacco, clove. Juicy, but dry, with lots of grip. I’m not doing backflips over it, but you could do much worse at $22. 90+ — 8 years ago

Joe Roth

9.6

Wonderful! — 9 years ago

with Michael

Julia Weinberg

9.3

This is an inarguably great wine. And all the more impressive to me that it is stylistically not my typical leanings. Serious power, depth, balance - still so young - and I'll be damned if this wine isn't mindblowing in 10 years. Bravo @Fritz Hatton — 10 years ago