Jane Nuss

9.0

Medium ruby with aromas of ripe black cherry, plum, strawberry, blackberry, vanilla, spices, licorice, and mint. Juicy palate with medium body, medium-plus acidity, and chalky tannins that add texture. Medium-plus finish. Maybe a touch overpriced, but still a well-rounded and satisfying Napa Valley Merlot. — a month ago

Mark Farrell

9.5

Deep ruby in color with slight brick color on the rim. Nose is quite pleasing with berry compote, lavender, and dark chocolate. Also a bit of earthiness. Wow. A great mouthfeel on this wine. Well balanced with tannins still a bit heavy. That said, I like my wines with a bit more tannic backbone. These notes are from pop and pour taste. Will let it open up a bit and will update if it changes significantly. — 2 days ago

RobS

9.5

Elegant and bold without being over the top; very, very nice. — a month ago

Paul J

9.4

Same as previous note. Very nice! Went well with the burger. Also had the ‘96 Spottswoode and ‘13 Nickel & Nickel CC Ranch Cab. — 14 days ago

with Brooke

"Odedi"

9.3

It's time for my #FridayCabernetfix.

Deep ruby in color with a reddish rim.

Fruity nose with black fruits, chocolates, cedar, licorice, light vanilla, tobacco and peppercorn.

Full-bodied with medium acidity and long legs.

Dry and fruit forward on the palate with black currants, cooked plums, cedar, peppercorn, earth, herbs, chocolates, tobacco leaf and black tea.

Long finish with fine grained tannins and cherries.

This is a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Elegant and rich. Complex and entertaining. Fruit forward and easy drinking.

This 13 year old Cabernet Sauvignon from the great 2012 vintage, is drinking beautifully now, and will continue to age nicely in the next 10 years.

A good quality wine, with nice complexity and mouthfeel. Well balanced and elegant.

I've enjoyed many different vintages of this wine over the years, from older to younger, and it never fails to deliver.

Good by itself as a sipping wine, and will also pair nicely with a big piece of steak.

A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Merlot. Aged in ( 75% new) French Oak barrels.

14.5% alcohol by volume.

93 points.

$300. — 15 days ago

James Robertson

9.1

Pretty nice. Great with a Nutty Buddy. I think it’s pretty stellar. More later. — 11 days ago

Eric Halim

9.2

Wine is Ruby red
On nose its cherries, raspberry, floral, campor, italian herbs.

On palate, Fine tannis, medium acidity, wine is accessible, drinkable, its fruity. Its lighter style compare to 2020, with more elegant and finese structure. Cheers! — a month ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

1989 vintage. Opened but not decanted. Just got a (generous) side sample of this as I was entrenched with the weekly wine rep tastings. Tasted after 30 mins and one hour after opening. Definitely bretty (as expected) for the first tastes but that mostly dissipated by the end of the glass. Light-medium body with mostly bowed tannins initially. Longer it remained in the glass, the more the tannins came out to frolic. Still plenty of structure, fruit and front-palate intrigue (usually hidden/buried by tannins). Not improving at this point but-depending on storage and/or bottle size-still more than viable and deserving of massive respect. 01.29.25. — 3 days ago

Jay Kline

9.7

Of all the American red wines that participated in the Judgement of Paris, it could be argued that Monte Bello has shown the greatest propensity to age. In fact, I would go as far as it requires lengthy cellaring to extract its best. I’ve had the good fortune to drink a number of tremendous vintages of Monte Bello over the last several years and this one has got to be at or near the top of the lot.

Opened and poured into a decanter about an hour prior to service and enjoyed over the course of a few hours. The 1991 Monte Bello pours a deep ruby/purple color with an opaque core moving out towards a light ruby rim; medium+ viscosity with moderate staining of the tears and some signs of sediment. On the nose, the wine is developing (still!) with gorgeous notes of ripe and tart black currants, mixed bramble fruit, tobacco, some purple flowers, dill, mint, leather, earth, vanilla and associated baking spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. The structure remains tremendous which again, seems to indicate youth. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is super long and immensely satisfying. This is one of those wines that will outlive most humans. Drinking well now with a short decant but this has the gas to see 2061 with ease. — 14 days ago

Ericsson

9.2

This wine needs time. Time in the bottle, in a decanter, or time in the glass at the very least (it gets more approachable by the minute, trust me). This is big, bold and bountiful; with the fruit, the body, the tannins and even the finish. Just pair with something just as big. — 4 days ago