Check back tomorrow. I think this might be a stunner one day, but right now it’s been open for 24 hours and it’s just beginning to show something besides acid and austere mountain fruit. Last night it was undrinkable, tonight it needs a big fatty steak which isn’t going to happen because of the dental work I had done Monday. Ten years from now? Let me consult my Ouija board.
Has abyone had the 2007 Laurel Glen or the 2008 Counterpoint? I noticed that bottle barn had the 2008 Counterpoint for about $25 and was wondering about it.
I luv Patrick Campbell’s wines. If you get the chance, try the '06 Sonoma Mountain Estate…a gorgeous wine at around $45 to $50, a notch above the Counterpoint. Needs time, but drinking beautifully after several hours of airtime.
Yeah, unfortunately, Patrick has sold the brand. I’ve been a fan for a long, long time.
do tell, I am soo out of the loop.
On the third night this wine is starting to strut. Classic mountain cabernet aromas of black cherry and herb with some menthol and the palate is rounding out. Give it another five or ten years and you might have something extraordinary. Your Ouija Board may vary.
I have been enjoying the 2013 Laurel Glen ‘Counterpoint’ [Sonoma Mountain] the last three days, following Bob’s suggestion to letting this open. It’s a chewy sedimented red, clocking in at 14.1% abv, and still needs more years in bottle. I quite enjoyed Laurel Glen’s grand vin in the 90’s to 01 era, but have not tasted recent efforts, until this. (I had not even known they made a second) The wine is still a dark youthful purple/ruby, with a bouquet of vanilla and currants. On the palate its chewy, with tannins that are still getting resolved, and low acid to my tastes. I get some steak sauce and tobacco flavors on the palate. There is only a slight touch of pyrazines that I find in older Laurel Glens (think Bordeaux, esp. Sociando Mallet) but perhaps the AVA has gotten hotter, and these grapes have ripened well past that point. I was really expecting/cued into that flavor note and didn’t get as much as I’d assumed would be here. I prepped some beef sirloin sous vide, and had this with that one night. This mountain cabernet went well with tender, but not juicy, meat. In my ledger, I’m slotting this into the A- zone. I have a bottle of the 2014 as well, and considering how this evolved, I’ll give it more time too. It’s amazing how well Laurel Glen’s wines can run.
A good life keeps on enriching, like a tree whose shade is enjoyed beyond the planter’s mortal coils.