A trio of winners from Napa- Larkmead, Robert Craig, Clos Du Val

No formal notes but some impressions from 3 wines opened yesterday to kick off the NFL season. Even though it’s still pretty warm in Florida, Loren’s post and pics on his 2013 Cabs on Saturday night put me in the Cab mood for opening day.

2009 Larkmead Cabernet- This starts off a little slow but after 30 minutes in the decanter it starts to hit its stride. It continued to open in the glass and improved over the hour or so I was able to follow it. Its still a baby. Dark in color with a wonderful nose of black fruit. Medium bodied, it shows deep dark fruit with currant and a touch of dusty spice on the palate. The tannin’s are slightly firm and peak out ever so slightly but indicate this still good use some cellar time or a longer decant. Larkmead has always been a cross between classic old and new Napa. Loved it, excellent wine.

2011 Robert Craig Mt Veeder- I’ve posted a few times on RC being one of my new fav’s and they’ve made some great wines in the last few vintages and could be considered a Napa qpr. I really like the 11 Howell Mtn and count me as a fan of the 11’s I’ve had from the mountains( yes, i do believe they are better than most from the valley floor). Beautiful deep dark ruby in color. Huge nose of blue and black fruit that kept opening and expanding, Medium bodied with blueberry and cassis with some earth and a touch of spice and nice acid. This was great on its own but will pair the next with food as it should shine even more. It has some nice supporting tannin’s as it developed in the glass. This is still very young and will be a 2011 to let sleep a bit. Excellent wine and more affirmation of why RC has taken so many cellar slots from my former favorites.

2013 Clos Du Val- needed something else before switching to bourbon and cigars for the group. I know I had one earlier in the year but didn’t take any notes. I thought enough of it to buy 6 more and glad I did. Perhaps I got one of the good ones but the wine was terrific. Huge nose of pure dark Cab. It unfolded in the glass and showed layers of black fruit and tobacco. Firm but silky tannin’s. This definitely leans toward a classically styled Napa cab and at 14.1% it won’t over power you. This is obviously a baby but showed very well. I would have really liked to follow it over a couple of hours. I saved about a glass to try so will see what today holds. This had some tough comparisons with the 2 prior wines and it came very close in catching them. I believe this bottle with a few more years will be every bit as good if not better. Very good to excellent and just a silly qpr under $30. I’ll be buying quite a bit more.

Cheers
Fred

Interesting, Fred, and thanks. Interesting because I agree on the Larkmead and the R. Craig, but not the CDV, which I think is a dog, or at least, I just do not get it. Larkmead has done really good cabs for a long time, but getting a bit out of hand price wise. R. Craig does offer a lot of qpr, and yes, even their 2011s ( I am not a 2011 fan in general) were good wines. CDV- I have read the raves here, and gone back and tried it a few times. PNP, decant, come back to it on days 2 and 3, and I find no pleasure in that wine. Very lean, to me. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Wish I would have seen your note yesterday. Was at my local retailer and had the 2013 Clos du Val in my hand at $32, ended up putting it back! Prolly need to grab a couple.

Robert- I think you’ll like that wine and your favorite store in Tarpon Springs has it for a great price. They also have the 2012 Produttori Normale on sale at a great price. Not sure if you are a Neb fan though ?

Jim- RC has basically taken the place in current vintages for Larkmead based on pricing. It is interesting the different experiences folks have had with CDV. I’ll probably open another bottle before I load up on more.

cheers

Wow, thanks on both fronts. The Clos du Val is $5 bucks cheaper and I do like the Produttori Normale.

Win.

With 4 kids in college…I should stock up on the CDV for sure…and really been meaning to hit B-21 for sometime…though I guess they do ship across the bay too

Of the 7 bottles of CdV over had, 5 were fantastic with the two others being slightly unbalanced. I’ll buy it all day.

I hear you Kevin. We’re in the same boat. Wine budget must be cut !

Hope all is well.

Why? Because you could use intravenous alcohol drips , or because you expect financial blood-lettings , all during those college years? Or both.

Nice notes, Fred. We went to a wine pick-up party last Saturday at Robert Craig as guests of friends of ours, who are Club members. They were pouring some of their '13 Cabs. The Affinity and Howell Mountain were both excellent, with the Howell Mountain being exceptionally polished already. I liked it much more than the '13 Spring Mountain. Agree with you on the CDV for the price. We have been finding it for less than $25 at Costco.


Thanks,
Ed

Hi Ed- funny but the RC Spring has always been the laggard for me. I have been a consistent buyer of the Affinity, HM, Veeder and recently the Diamond Mountain which was outstanding in 13.

That’s a great price on the CDV. Wish our Costco had better wines.

cheers

I am in the same boat on the CDV. I have tasted twice from two different retailers in the Boston area. Underwhelmed. Perhaps there is quality differences between the bottling lots???

We had some friends over to help plan their Napa trip and open up a few wines. It was the perfect oppty to open another 13 CDV and compare to the bottle I posted on above. This time the wine was decanted for 2 hours and I tasted it blind compared to a 2010 Trespass Cabernet( St Helena).

There is bottle variation for sure with this wine. It was fine but not nearly as attractive as the prior bottle. It had a similar dark fruit and tobacco profile but it had none of the supporting structure and depth of flavor. At times it seemed a bit thin with a heat note occasionally peaking out. The prior bottle more than held’s its own against tough competition. This time it got smoked by the Trespass and a 12 Robert Craig Affinity. Interestingly, no one but myself went back for a 2nd taste.

The bottle was not off nor did it really appear shut down from decanting. I’m hoping my other ones mirror my first experience.

cheers
Fred