Received a letter from Macdonald that the 2011’s will soon be released. Does anyone have notes?
Price?
We saw Graeme last weekend and he told us he had just finished the letter. We have not received it as of yesterday’s mail but I’m sure it is coming soon.
1 Like
No price or allocations listed
Letter came in the mail yesterday. No indication of release date, allocation or price. I put in $90 last year. I have the '10 on deck for tonight to make a decision. Decanted at 9am, just went back in bottle and bringing back down to cellar temp - will decant again in a couple of hours and track over the evening.
Please post notes
Steve, I put the cork back in this and stuck it in the fridge because even 12 hours of air wasn’t doing this justice. I have to admit, I was skeptical about the ‘24 hour’ decant, but this wine was markedly different between hours 11 and 12.
The first 11 hours, this was giving up very little. It came across as shut down, and monolithic. What I could decern on the nose was black fruit, cassis but little else. This was light wieght, rather lithe. In the twelfth hour, a remarkable change occurred. This moved decidedly into the red fruit spectrum, with floral notes and a strong mineral character. What was most interesting, is that at this point, the tannin emerged. A nice powdery tannin, but in such copious amount it is clear that the tannin is what’s keeping this bound up so tight. What is odd, is that there is no sense of this tannin during the ‘shutdown’ phase.
I’m not sure what to make of this. It’s definitely a wine that requires a days planning, or much time in the cellar. A pop and pour really is a disservice to this wine. Im looking forward to revisiting tomorrow. I can say at this point that a wine like this is only for those who have the space to cellar many vintages to allow this to age properly, and/or can plan their wine drinking a day in advance.
Saving my bottles for my late 60s, now I just have to get there!
Really love what the MacDonald brothers are doing and feel they truly have one of the best vineyard sites in Napa. I’m a huge fan of the 2010, having had it twice. Phenomenal depth and purity to the fruit and extremely long silky tannins. I know eveyone always says that, “long, silky tannins”, but this wine separates itself from that pack. Quite remarkable.
I have been fortunate to have the 2011 cab on two occasions, once last April with a 2 hour decant, and once in July, with a 4 hour decant. I posted my note from April here and will repost it below. In July, I feel the 2011 performed even better than April, a bit more polished. Alex and Graeme had commented on how they felt that 4 hours of air was ideal to get this wine to start showing what it could do, whereas they recommend 24 hours of air for the 2010. Perhaps this was due to vintage specific differences, but the 2011 is also 100% 40 yr old vines, and I think the 2010 was more of the 20 year old vines (IIRC), so that also may play a role. Either way, this wine is a knockout.
MacDonald 2011- 4 hrs decant (July 2014)
Beautiful nose of dark cherry, blackberry, iodine, stones, hint of olive, cacao. Super soft entry, broad palate, super silky tannins, long long finish. Wow. 96 points.
MacDonald 2011 (April 2014)
This was only a 2 hour decant so it was very tight at first, opened up a bit more by the end of the tasting. My immediate note was Huge Tannins, which I was not expecting given the vintage. Nose was similar to the 10, with black/blue fruit, olives, hint of tar. big mouthcoating tannins with good acidity. Long finish. This didn’t feel like a clipped version of 2010 in any way, just needs more time. Great wine. 95 points.
I was wrong, I paid $150 for this, the $90 is current secondary value.
This is more interesting on day two. Even more red fruit and florals. The tannin is even more prominent, giving this additional length on day 2. Still about medium bodied. I have to make choices though, and at this price point, I think I’m keeping the VHR over this. If you’ve got the budget bandwidth, I can’t imagine anyone regretting having this in their cellar.
1 Like
Wasn’t this the wine last year people were falling over themselves to get a place on the list?
Sure doesn’t seem to be much interest this year?
All the big players have moved their money over to Becklyn.
Maybe if they steal our $$ and never deliver wines despite yanking our collective chains via email & social media.
I’m 20 pages on that.
1 Like
After having plenty of Mike Smith wines in the past, I can say fairly confidently that Mike Smith’s winemaking style is not similar to style of the MacDonald cab. So in that sense, maybe not an entirely accurate statement with regard to Becklyn.
1 Like
I was just joking about the WB “Napa cab of the moment” trends.
The iodine/stone flavors mentioned above were also present during my tasting as well - truly a remarkably elegant wine. I don’t know if there is a true “slump” in interest on this board (or maybe people are just keeping quiet in hopes of mailing list turnover), but I know that I’ll be buying for sure!
1 Like
I’d be curious, Justin,
How would you characterize the differences?
Definitely true nowadays, but ironically, when I was thinking of wines to compare this to, the 06 Myriad Spring Mtn came to mind. That wine was equally tense, tightly wound with black fruit and minerals requiring lots of air to reveal it’s red fruit and floral side.
The offer is out. Same price and allocation as last year. Good luck to all!
Just placed my order. Looking forward to enjoying this wine in about 2025.