Steve Ess

10

Tempt fate, and fate tempts you back — a month ago

with Laura

Omar Gomes Bravio

9.0

Soft & easy — 2 years ago

Severn Goodwin

9.2

Nose has ripe plum, crushed dark chocolate, moist fig, slight vanilla and dried violets.

Palate has dried blackberry, eucalyptus, ripe plum, blueberry/cinnamon, dehydrated cherry with mostly resolved tannins. Long finish.

Decanted +4H at the time of notes, but improving with more time...a delicious bottle still.

Paired with Chuck Eye steaks from Kinderhook Farm (Valatie, NY); honestly the best (local) beef source in the Berkshire (MA) / Columbia (NY) County areas. Grilled in a mere 12m to perfect 135° centers. I think the Chuck cut for a steak is quite under rated; it's incredibly moist and tender with it's incorporated fats that just fall apart under high heat.

I fell to the same fate on this bottle as the prior a few years back, perfectly clean cork but extracted in 3/4 & 1/4 status. Should use the Durand for subsequent bottles. — 3 years ago

Troy Dupuis

9.0

Yes a California Tempranillo — 4 years ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

I know I’ve posted a number of Kerr’s lately as I tasted there two-weeks ago. They didn’t pour this 2019 regular Cabernet at my tasting. But as fate would have it, this was at my Costco the following week for $58 and the winery sells it at $80.

I believe this is a blend of sites. Fermented in 85% new French oak for 22 months.

This is 92 which is stretching to 93. I brought this and coravined the bottle last weekend to try with friends and am finishing it with a 16oz Allen Brothers Ribeye. Bought three more to cellar today.

Looking forward to trying in again in 6-8 years…thinking it squeezes out another 1-2 points then.

I’m glad I found this as I’m looking for a Napa Phelps replacement. Since LVMH bought Phelps, it is now a $100 from the winery and you don’t see it in Costco anymore where I last bought the 2019 for $59 or $65. That is what corporations do. Especially, LVMH. They buy wineries and squeeze everything they can after purchasing them. They renamed & relabeled the Phelps Pinots that sold for $65-$80 and now are $225. I am not aware of any fruit source change.

After decanting an hour and half, the nose comes alive. It is a bit funky and dull immediately after pouring out of bottle. The fruits grow darker, some tarriness builds. It’s round and lush; blackberries, black raspberries, black plum skin, plum, dark cherries, hues of purple & blue fruits. Tar, anise, bramble, dark melted chocolate, faint caramel, black licorice, baking soda again, dark spice, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, wood shavings, dry tobacco & leather, withering; dark, red flowers set in violets & lavender.

The palate loads, thick, lush & rich. Good viscosity. The tannins are, round, supple, soft but meaty. It has stuffing unlike their higher end wines which are more feminine. The fruits are perfectly ripe; blackberries, black raspberries, black plum skin, plum, dark cherries, purple & blue fruits. Tar, anise, bramble, dark melted chocolate, caramel notes, black licorice, baking soda, dark spice that lifts and then presses into the palate w/ a fair amount of heat, dry herbaceous notes-Sage/Thyme, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, wood shavings, dry tobacco & leather, crushed volcanic rock powder w/ dry top soil, withering; dark, red flowers set in violets & lavender. Excellent round acidity, well structured, tensioned, balanced with a long finish that lasts minutes falling onto soft earth & minerality, dark spice with heat.

Be interesting to compare this 19 with a 19 Napa Phelps in fifteen years. See how the evolution measures up.

Happy SuperBowl weekend. 🏈 GO NINERS! — 2 months ago

Bobby Gilbane

8.9

Was decent but succumbing to the unfortunate fate of the ‘97 vintage. Too ripe and more porty than desirable. Compared to ‘95 & ‘96, this is a distant 3rd place. — 3 years ago

Annabel Danchuk

9.1

So smooth and easy to drink on it's own. — 3 years ago

michael pandolfo

9.3

Every time I try this wine it amazes me. Just beautiful. — 7 months ago

Aaron Tan

9.5

Boah! This was brilliant (and even more so with our top notch dim sum lunch!). Wish I had more time to see it unfold further, but alas such was the fate of a wine so delicious - gone too soon. Started off toasty, citrussy, and nutty, but as the bubble dissipated, notes of red fruits, hot cross buns, and floral nuances revealed themselves. Only in the last sip did the mineral notes peek through. Concentrated, vinous, and very long on the palate. I would even call it rich, but never tiring courtesy of the lively acids. Ah, such energy! A wine that falls into the coveted category of “power without weight” for me. — 2 years ago

Alder Yarrow

Wine Blogger Vinography

9.2

If there’s one type of wine I might know more about than any other it’s Weiner Gemischter Satz. Just one of those strange quirks of vinous fate combined with the mildly obsessive tendencies of a serious wine geek. Search out my article on it in World of Fine Wine if you want all 8000 words. For now let’s just enjoy the fruits of wunderkind Jutta Ambrositch, who got tired of sitting behind a computer all day and wandered into the vineyards of Vienna, where she still wanders to this day, making the traditional field blends that are both responsible for and symbolic of Vienna’s urban wine scene. Her early efforts were excellent, and her latest wines, like this one, demonstrate a level of refinement and mastery that is quite impressive. This wine comes from 5 different vineyards in Vienna on both sides of the Danube planted with a dizzying array of grape varieties, some of which haven’t been fully identified yet. Call it roughly 30 different grape varieties, including Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc, Zierfandler, Frühroter, Chardonnay, etc. etc. tastes of stone fruit and citrus, crushed stones and herbs. Snappy, with fantastic acidity and quite elegant and lean for Gemischter Satz, which can, if picked later, be more weighty. This is simply a delight to drink.
.⁣ — 3 years ago