Shay A

9.3

This is just a killer Syrah blend. It’s really good as a pop and pour, but explodes with even just 30mins of air. It’s ripe, savory, juicy and smoky all at once. Fresh squeezed blackberries, raspberry pie, cherry pipe tobacco and grilled plum dominate the nose. Not as heavy or dense as expected on the palate, showing a bit of lift with some bacon fat, graphite, and even some more delicate notes of potpourri. At around $50/bottle, this is drinking above that price point right now. — 6 days ago

Sean Herriott

9.3

Fantastic QPR! Beautiful notes of cherry, pipe tobacco, vanilla bean, and cocoa! — 6 days ago

Shay A

9.4

Stuart Spoto and his wife spent some time visiting TX for a few days and put on a nice tasting at Classic. Talk about micro production, they only do around 500 cases of wine total across their 5-7 wines. Kind and salt of the earth type people.

The flagship wine from Spoto, this ‘15 vintage is already spectacular, and tastes better young than the big and structured ‘13 I had a year or two ago. I was actually shocked, in a good way, at how good this was. This is all To-Kalon fruit and you can taste it to the core. There is power all over this, yet an elegance and balance. Sweet cardamom, cocoa dusted dates, ripe black cherry, and cherry pipe tobacco dominate the nose. It is dense and balanced all the way on the palate...oak and nutmeg spice start it off before it turns savory and herbal on the mid palate. The finish has baked black cherry pie and some dust to it. Really great. — 3 days ago

"Odedi"

9.2

Dark ruby in color with a purplish rim.

Pronounce nose of blackberries, sweet cherries, black currants, cedar, earth, vanilla, licorice, spices, chocolates, tobacco, mocha, coke, earth, light vegetables, pencil lead and peppercorn.

Full bodied and bold with medium acidity and long long legs.

Dry and very fruity on the palate with blackberries, black currants, sweet cherries, raisins, vanilla, cedar, licorice, cloves, cola, earth, chocolates, tobacco, spices, mocha, vegetables, leather and peppercorn.

Long spicy finish with round tannins and tangy cherries.

A beautiful Monastrell blend from the house of Juan Gil. Showing nice complexity and balance with a great mouthfeel. Big bold and grippy.

Good by itself or with food. Good right out of the bottle and better as it opens up and shows some tannins.

I love anything Gil makes, and this is a delicious example.

Still young and could use a few more years in the bottle to mature, but already drinking very nicely.

I paired it with Brie cheese, almonds and crackers.

A blend of 60% Monastrell, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Syrah. Aged separately for 18 months in French and American oak barrels.

16.5% alcohol by volume (watch out)

92 points.

$32. — 14 days ago

Jason Gelman

9.5

the entire lineup from a recent trevallon tasting. the standouts were the 01 and 12 which were both exceptional heavenly and perfect.

09 and 10 were a bit tight and need more time to open up. 2007 and 2015 were great.

the whites were very interesting and eclectic , the 16 was way too young though. — 25 days ago

Severn Goodwin

9.4

Left Bank Bordeaux, likely blinded this is what is I'd tell you, yet a stunning bottle of beautifully aged WA Cabernet sits in front of me. We almost opened a Saint-Émilion (Right Bank) tonight, and so glad we opted for this particular bottle.

Nose has very tarry cherry, fresh violets, canned black olive, licorice, pencil lead (light), crushed blackberry and a touch of heat from the alcohol (14.6%).

Palate has ripe black currant, coffee, ripe blackberry, beautiful silky dark chocolate, light cedar box and fully resolved tannins. Drink now (2019) or hold for 2-3 more years.

77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 1% Carmenere.

Paired this along side an experimental beef course. Usually with more expensive cuts we go with the tried and true preparation, but tonight we strayed. Grass fed beef ribeyes mostly cooked sous vide, then finished on the grill. We cooked to 125°F in the water bath, then hit the grill at 550°F for about 6-7 minutes. Perfection on the plate, beautifully medium-rare. The only downside is that the grill temps render the fat to moisten the beef, and do add some flavor, which wasn't fully achieved in this process. A little more grill time, next time around, won't do any harm. — 9 days ago

Kimberly Anderson

9.0

Dark as night in color. Lovely scents of violet, lavender, and dark chocolate. Cherries, anise and espresso. Would love for this wine to have a bit more weight to it. High ABV at 14.9 — 2 days ago

with Chad

Ron Siegel

9.4

Ordered off their list. This vintage may be one of their best ever, very polished with good balance & length showing black & blueberry fruits, mocha, graphite, leather, tobacco & spice. — 5 days ago

"Odedi"

9.3

Time for my #FridayCabernetfix . Here's a beautiful one from Israel.

Dark ruby in color with a short reddish rim.

Nice nose of black currants, blackberries, cherries, vanilla, earth, wood, vegetables, dark coffee, herbs, tobacco leaf, spices, graphite and peppercorn.

Full bodied and smooth with medium acidity and long legs.

Dry on the palate with blackberries, black currants, plums, bell pepper, cherries, oak, vanilla, licorice, cloves, herbs, dark chocolates, coffee, peppercorn, earth, black tea and spices.

Long finish with fine tannins and tangy raspberries.

This Israeli Cabernet Sauvignon is always enjoyable. Nicely balanced with a nice mouthfeel and nice complexity. Tastes like a blend of old world and new world.

Needs 3 hours to open up properly and show its tannins and complexity, but good right out of the bottle also.

Wine Enthusiasts 90 points.

This 6 year old is very tasty now, and will age nicely in the next 5 to 7 years.

Grapes are grown at a high elevation and aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. Kosher for Passover.

14.5 % alcohol by volume.

93 points.

$35. — 3 days ago

Mark Flesher

9.1

To me this did not taste like it came from the Napa Valley. this is a very fruit forward wine, and I think the youthfulness of this sort of crushes some of the delicacies that might come out in the mid palate after a few years. Red and black fruit dominated wine. Really just kind of has one focus, but does that one thing extremely well. This was not decanted really much at all, as the focus was for the person who opened it to recork and enjoy later that night. I bet it was doing much better then. The back end has a lot of roasted cedar type tannin, which I think will soften and make this one shine quite a bit more in the years to come. If you have this bottle, I would certainly hold it. — 2 days ago