TN: '16 Myriad/Quivet lineup, '17 Myriad/Carter Barrel Tasting

Earlier this week, I had the wonderful opportunity to taste with the incredibly generous and talented Mike and Leah Smith. They hosted my group at Envy/Carter Cellars in Calistoga, and presented us an amazing lineup of the just-bottled 2016 Myriad and Quivet wines, as well as barrel tastings of 2017 blocks destined for Myriad, Quivet, and Carter bottlings. I tried to keep mental notes as best as possible, but admittedly both mental and palate fatigue were factors at that point in the day. See below:
2016 Myriad Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley-quite possibly the best sub-$100 bottle of cabernet in the valley, and punches far above its weight-class.

2016 Myriad Cabernet Sauvignon Round Pound Vineyard-This is a new bottling for Myriad. I tend to like Cabernet to show a tad of pyrazine/greenness (not to be confused with stemminess or under-ripeness), and this has a lovely integration of that character. Also screams Rutherford with that identifiable dust on the nose. A back-up-the-truck bottle, IMHO.

2016 Myriad Cabernet Sauvignon Three Twins Vineyard-The most approachable and crowd-pleasing of the single vineyard bunch. Noticeably velvety mouthfeel, but fresh acidity and brightness. Softest tannic structure of the lot, but still with plenty of grip.

2016 Myriad Cabernet Sauvignon Steltzner Vineyard—blue fruit and a ton of structure. Not as approachable as the others at this phase, but will unfurl into a gorgeous, grippy wine with a long long life ahead of it.

2016 Myriad Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Elysian-far and away, a perfect wine. Voluptuous, complex, delicious. Balanced and sophisticated. If this isn’t a 100 point wine, I’ll slap my mother.

2016 Quivet Cellars Pellet Vineyard-Another back-up-the-truck wine that shows that green character (more green olive/sage/underbrush in this case) I enjoy so much, balanced with a really sexy blue fruitiness.

2016 Quivet Cellars Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard-Yum. Just yum. Vineyard character, tannic grip, explosive aromatics. Yum again. Flirting with perfection? I think yes.


Barrels:
2017 Myriad Cabernet Three Twins -Already a bit more grip than the 2016, but racy and exciting. This is going to come together beautifully.
2017 Myriad Cabernet Round Pound-I love this vineyard. I want to adopt it and make it my son. I would buy futures on this wine and every subsequent vintage.
2017 Myriad Syrah Halcon Vineyard (50% Whole Cluster)-Very much my speed. Rhone all day. This does not read like a domestic wine. High acidity, low alcohol. Would’ve guessed Cornas in a blind tasting.
2017 Myriad Syrah Las Madres (100% Whole Cluster)-Whole cluster makes me happy. Another very French expression. Elegant, cool-climate Carneros fruit and syrah funk.
2017 Carter Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard-Another damn near perfect expression of cabernet. How does he do it??
2017 Carter Cellars Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard-holy f’in To Kalon magic. Good lord, this is a monster. Asian spice and exotic character coming through. Oddly enough (don’t shoot me), this reminded me of some of the voluptuous Chateau Rayas bottlings I’ve had the good fortune to taste. (I know, I know).
2017 Carter Cellars Weitz Vineyard-I honestly can’t recall, but I’m sure it was every bit as promising as the others.


As you can probably imagine, this was a staggering lineup, but there were some overarching takeaways that are important to note.

1. Mike Smith is an incredibly talented and capable winemaker. His ability to allow the individual blocks of individual vineyards to show their true varietal character is really astonishing. His wines are fleshy and structured and full of ripe fruit, but unilaterally fresh and bright. Oak influence is present, but never distracting, and never detracting. These 2016s had only been in bottle for a few months, so they are babies, but they are all approachable and quaffable. His approach is consistent across the different labels, and Mike Smith wines taste like Mike Smith wines, regardless of price point. I really admire and respect that.
2. For those of you who are concerned about the 2017 wines reflecting smoke taint, you need not. This fruit was all harvested before the fires, and coming straight out of barrel, these are exciting and 100% intact. All indications are that 2017 will be another in the string of monster vintages in the Valley.
3. I hesitate to score these wines, because quite honestly, they’re all in the 94+ range in my book, with many in the 97-100 range. There is immense consistency across the portfolio. It may sound like I’m fan-boying here, but in all seriousness, this is Napa Valley winemaking at its finest.

Many many thanks to Mike and Leah for their hospitality and for this incredible lineup. They’re awesome people who love their craft!

I can’t wait to follow these wines through their evolutions.

Oh, man, this may be the most envy inducing tasting note of my year.

Your note on the Round Pound Vineyard wine made me drool!

So how do you really feel? Wow, great read.

Quite the lineup. Can’t wait for the release. Great notes.

Great notes!

Glad I picked up some of the '16 Myriad Crane Elysian. Should’ve bought more

Fantastic notes! A pleasure to read. And I agree that the Myriad Napa bottling is in a class by itself in terms of quality/value.

I admit it, I’m a Mike Smith #FanBoy

I’m hoping that you tasting CNP in BTK is from trailing the syrah lineup, not the smoke accents from last year’s fire…

Great TNs and thanks for sharing. Hope there’s some 2016 left when I visit in Oct.

As usual, I totally agree with Sherri.

How many decades have we been buying and drinking the same wines, Bud???

At least 15 years.

Definitely wasn’t referring to a smoke note–was referring to that racy/juicy kirsch liqueur thing coupled with star anise that I’ve picked up prominently in Rayas.

Which of the Carter LPVs and BTKs did you taste? Mike and Leah are such amazing hosts… these notes make me want to book a flight back pronto

nice notes. I’ll be going out to napa this fall and tasting with Mike and Leah so reading this makes me even more excited.

We’ll be visiting in 4 weeks.