"Odedi"

9.3

It is time for some Merlot on this #MerlotThursday. Let's bring Merlot back!

Dark inky in color with a reddish rim.

Very pretty nose with black fruits, cedar, licorice, light vanilla, tobacco, chocolates, coffee, Indian spices, cola and light black tea.

Full-bodied with medium acidity and long legs.

Dry on the palate with sweet raspberries, plums, cooked cherries, cedar, chocolates, toast, light vanilla, dark coffee, Indian spices, light cola licorice and peppercorn.

Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy cherries.

This is a delicious 9 year old Merlot from Columbia Valley. Rich and extracted. Spicy and entertaining.

Peaking now and will continue to drink nicely in the next 5 years.

Good right out of the bottle, and better after 3 hours of airtime.

Nicely balanced with a soft mouthfeel. Smooth and elegant. Fruit forward and tangy. The high alcohol is well integrated by now.

Good by itself as a sipping wine.

A blend of 75% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot. Aged for 22 months in (85% new) French Oak barrels.

14.9% alcohol by volume.

93 points.

$75. — 9 days ago

Ira Schwartz

9.2

A high quality champagne just not the style of DP I seek out. I found this vintage hedonistic versus serious. Obviously very young. I wish I had the skill set to speculate on how this will turn out with time. — 3 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Medium deep ruby , quite wide ruby rim . Bit more wood spice on the nose , touch of herbal cassis , blackberry. On the palate quite rigid dark fruits , with a touch of vanilla , blackcurrant and blackberry . Quite grippy tannins with quite good acidity. Decent length with a bit more grafite and tobacco . This probably needs a little time to round out the rather grippy tannins , so better in 5 years and will last well a further 10-15 — 9 months ago

Jae Cho

9.2

First time tasting the ‘19 vintage, and the Produttori edged out one of my fave under the radar barolistas this early on. Maybe because it released sooner? Both red fruited with sour cherries and elegant tamed tannin/acid, but the Produttori had another gear of sweet incense and hard candy. The vintage does remind me of a more approachable’13 from a tannin perspective. — 10 months ago

Kurt Schuster

9.0

Start out incredibly rich and concentrated, and with tongue coating tans, but after a couple of hours really opened up to show some delicate fruit and savory flavors. The nose also started out incredibly intense and a little jammy, but cleared with time to become something much more delicate and lovely with flowers and cold fruits and Deliciousness.  — 25 days ago

with Denise

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

2017 vintage. Lemon zest and saline nose with toasty oak hovering about. Medium body with striking, brilliant yellow Chartreuse color. Initially and throughout, the wine was as taut as piano wire. Decanted 5 minutes after opening and tasted 30 mins after the decant. That toasty oak char came to play along with plenty of acidity. Quite the mouthful of wine currently. A tad tempestuous and in definite need of a mandatory, half-decade time out before being allowed to participate at recess again. 12.09.24. — 2 months ago

Tom Garland

9.3

Decant and pour. They broke out the Giant glass.....black cherry, leather, tobacco, pepper, dried herbs, cedar, and tannic. Should round out over time. YUM! Super Tuscan tonight to start our Napa weekend...who woulda thunk. — 9 months ago

with Brenda

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.6

2002 vintage. Nice fill, good cork. Decanted with a respectable amount of powdery sed. Smelled great during decanting. Tasted 1.5 hours after opening/decanting. Expected light body with delicate tendrils. Medium body with a light palate footprint. Holy shazzbaat. This was absolutely firing. Like top of the pops, straight up to number one. Exceptional knitting and in a perfect spot now. Go all the way back to the inaugural 1982 vintage with this winery’s cabernet…thought my all-time fave was the 1991 altho the 1986 and 1987 were special. The 2020, picked early, thus avoiding the fires, is phenomenal as well. This was on another level and have had approx 150 bottles of Spottswoode Cab in the last three + decades. It was probably the best out of all of them. Difficult to imagine Napa Cab better than this. Power and finesse on display. Not improving but can hold this intensity for another 4-5 years. 12.24.24. — a month ago

"Odedi"

9.2

It is time for my #FridayCabernetfix.

Ruby in color with a wide reddish rim and medium intensity.

Pretty nose of red fruits with light wood, chocolates, sweet tobacco, and Indian spices.

Medium-plus in body and elegant with medium acidity.

Dry on the palate with sweet raspberries, cherries, plums, light oak, licorice, chocolates, tobacco, herbs, spices, peppercorn and light earth.

Nice length on the finish with fine-grained tannins and tangy raspberries.

This 8-year-old Napa Cabernet is drinking very nicely now. Soft and smooth.

Good right out of the bottle, and better after 2 hours in the decanter.

Complex with good structure and mouthfeel. Spicy and fruit-forward. Delicious and interesting.

Wine Advocate 93 points.

I've had a few vintages of this wine, and it is always tasty.

Easy drinking and good by itself or with food. I paired it with cheeses and crackers.

A blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot. Aged in (60% new) French oak barrels for 24 months.

14.6% alcohol by volume.

92 points.

$110 (at release). — 2 months ago

Steve Belmonte

9.5

Excellent as always. Smooth right out of the bottle. Gets better over time — 9 months ago

with Connii