2007 Karl Lawrence Reserves

I tasted through all four of the Karl Lawrence reserve bottlings from 2007: Dr. Crane, Herb Lamb, Morisoli, and Beckstoffer To Kalon. I have never tasted the reserve bottlings, but have enjoyed the regular Napa bottling from numerous vintages. I drank all four across three nights, dusting off my Coravin for a glass of each for the first two nights.

Day One: Morisoli, BTK, Crane, Herb Lamb, in that order. The Morisoli was wonderful. Dark, brooding, even mysterious. Everything you could want in a wine, especially a Napa Cab. The BTK seemed soft, the Crane was tart and red fruited, and the HL was stewey and not quite right.

Day Two: Same order of enjoyment, but the BTK really opened up. This experience was just one more data point for me and the Coravin - nearly every single time I have used it, day two has always been a little bit different than day one. Maybe that’s why I don’t use it that often. But, either way, the Crane and the HL were not quite right. The HL was still off, and the Crane was far too tart/red than prior experiences. Not bad, but not right.

Day Three: I uncorked all four for day three. Very little of the Morisoli left, but I have one bottle left, and if it is as good as this one, I will try to find more. What was interesting is that the cork for the HL showed seepage all the way up - something you can’t see when you use a Coravin. And, the Crane showed significant seepage as well. The corks for the Morisoli and BTK were pristine.

In short the wines with good corks were excellent. Too bad two of them weren’t, but I hope that my other set of bottles are in better shape.

2007 was a great vintage. I wish the corks had held up and you could have described the greatness of all four.

Have had & still have a bunch of KL’s. I found the HL & Morisoli Reserves to be low to mid-high 90’s in
my scorings. KL Was a good buy back in their day.

My favorite was the Herb Lamb followed closely by the Morisoli. The Dr. Crane and Tokalon were completely different wines and probably the best of the valley Cabs.

Concur !

I have had some of the Herb Lamb “Herb Lamb” and enjoyed them immensely, but it has been many years since I had them. I initially wondered if my tastes had changed, but then with a little thought/focus, I realized the more likely scenario was that there was something off with the KL bottle. Not sure if I will open up all four at the same time again, but hopefully the HL will be in better shape.