Horsepower Vineyards
Cosentino Winery
CE2V Secret Clone Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
A perfect wine? Perhaps. Not many Napa wines can have this kind of horsepower at 19 years old (I was always told Napa wines fall apart after 15 years). I’ve never had Screaming Eagle or Grace Family or any of the new “premier cru” wines. What I will say, though, is that I have a hard time imagining a wine being better than this. Plush, with a solid core. Very little fade. Let it breathe, but it was drinkable right out of the bottle, rich with refined tannins, so much fruit, so much pleasure. The oak is now seamless with the wine, not an addition, but a part of it. If you had told me this was a more recent vintage, I would have believed you. This was Cosentino’s top of the line and what a top it was. Age has allowed for more complexity (I did taste this when it was newly bottled) and development, but this is a young wine, still. Nothing out of place. It is one of the best wines I’ve ever tasted. Quintessential Napa, the best the valley has to offer. I forget the story of “the secret clone” but knowing what all the steps are in making great wine, having this clone was just one of the many right choices in making this. This one may outlive me. It is in its prime with no end in sight. Perfect? I’m not sure. But I’ve not had better. — 8 months ago
Reynvaan Family Vineyards
In the Rocks Syrah 2016
Very minimal funk in comparison to the cayuse/horsepower but the minerality is nice. Great wine. Bacon fat, floral, gravely. — 3 years ago
Gargantua Wine
California Syrah 2019
Phenomenal. Horsepower and Reyevaan esque. Strawberry and blackberry jam nose. Pepper and leather. Rhone like elegance. — 7 months ago
Lodi Native
m2 Wines Zinfandel 2020
Wow! Jammy Fruit bomb, pure deliciousness. 14.3 horsepower — a year ago
Colgin Cellars
Cariad Napa Valley Red Blend 2009
The heat from the vintage has bowed out of the fight, giving way to the vibrancy and horsepower of fruit these vineyards are known for. I tasted David Abreu’s 2009 Madrona Ranch at Vinous’ Napa in the City two years ago and am being reminded once again how magical of a vineyard site Madrona and Thorevilos are. — a year ago
Nellcôte
500 Chevaux Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
Stand it up for a week Major sediment Winery notes, composition
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
aging
21 months in 75% new French oak
cooperage
Treuil, Sylvain, Remond, Orion, Alain Fouquet
500 Chevaux is an automobile racing term; French for “500 horsepower.” Nellcôte founder and vintner Tyler Olbres is an avid car-racing fan, and has himself driven in the Monaco Rallye for Classic Cars. This wine is a high-horsepower Cabernet, meant to be sleek, powerful, and fully able to go the distance.
LAST BOTTLE Notes,
Nellcote was an uber-pricey luxury Cab that recently closed its doors, and, after extensive tasting through all the brilliant, incredibly fine-tuned Cabernets early last year, that none other than Phillip Titus (yep, THAT Phillip Titus, the legend behind CHAPPELLET and others!) made,
— 3 years ago
Henschke
Keyneton Euphonium Barossa Shiraz Blend 2001
Been reading reviews and I have to laugh. Drink up in 2014? Ha. Some definite brickishness on the edges, but like a good Barossa wine, this has horsepower to spare even 22 years later. Kept in my cellar. Color is still a deep ruby color (with fade). Had out of a Riedel red glass. Nose has some cigar box, mostly sweet red fruit still, some caramel, at one point there was a line of green (!) that came through, which was especially odd for a Barossa wine. Shortbread, cassis…a pinch of briar (the green streak evolves). Don’t get any of the funk some reviewers talked about. On the palate this is a full red, the oak has mostly disappeared, there are very fine tannins. Very little in the way of legs. This is a Shiraz, but the other grapes come through. This is an easy drinking wine, now. Probably its best days are behind it, but it’s a graceful, slow descent. The Barossa Shiraz shines through, keeping a nice, long finish. It may have been more “serious” a few years ago, but it’s great for sitting on the deck on a summer night. Delicious still. My date has never had good wine before and now she has. — a year ago
AEL
Great, but the 2018 better - a little more horsepower. — 2 months ago