TN: 2007 McPrice Myers Cuvée Kristina (USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley)

WINE TALK
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  • 2007 McPrice Myers Cuvée Kristina - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley (12/4/2009)
    Dense and dark, the richest of the 07’s today. Powerful nose that can be smelled from two feet away. Luscious black fruit, with a smoky, peppery bite. Loaded with chewy tannin and sufficient acid to prop it up. Long, caramelized finish. Definitely on the warm side, but it integrates with air time. Grows longer and richer as it opens. Delicious now, albeit a bit tannic.
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Thanks for the note Jody. I didn’t think Mac was making this blend anymore as I never saw an '06. I loved the '05 when it was released, but after having it again a few weeks ago the heat was a little too much for me.

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I haven’t had the 05 Joe, but this one is certainly ripe and warm. The heat doesn’t seem to bother me if there’s enough fresh fruit and tannin. I really enjoy these young, but haven’t had much luck aging them. Once they shed tannin and the primary fruit receeds, the heat becomes too much for me. Awesome stuff early on though.

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  • 2007 McPrice Myers Cuvée Kristina - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley (7/11/2010)
    – decanted immediately before tasting –
    – tasted non-blind over a few hours –
    – 98% Syrah, 2% Viognier –

NOSE: smells very sweet; BBQ smoke; oak; beef jerky; non-descript very ripe purple/blue fruits; tiny hint of alcohol; a bit muddled.

BODY: purple color of great depth – visibly viscous; superfine particulate matter suspended throughout; some fine sediment present in the bottle; medium-full bodied.

TASTE: assertive dark flavor profile of black pepper, creamy oak, and blackberries; hints of incense and clove emerge with time; touch of cedar; somewhat bitter (stems?); not funky; a bit hot in the belly; fine tannins; 15.6% alc.; needs more acid and less ripeness; hole at back of mid-palate; tannins intensified a bit with air; 45-60 sec. finish; drink now. The lift the 2% Viognier gave this wine in its youth is gone – the Viognier is imperctible to me now. I’d be curious to taste this wine with maybe 6 - 8% Viognier. This wine saw 23 mo. in French Oak, 80% new.

B: 50, 5, 11, 14, 7 = (87 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Maybe I am less sensitive to heat, but I loved this wine. All of Mac’s wine get better with air, typically around 2 hours. To each their own, but I dig this wine

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Thanks for the update Brian. No surprise on the acid/ripeness comment given how fast these seem to evolve. I think my note from December was my last bottle of this. The acid and ripeness were good at the time, but no way could it have handled any more weight. As you know, these puppies fatten and loosen up quite a bit in short order. Still a guilty, hedonistic pleasure for me, I just make sure to pound them all within about 6 months, even the moruveds.

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Steven,
The heat on this wasn’t overwhelming to me, but it was something I noticed without thinking about it. Despite preferring cool climate syrahs over warm climate syrahs, I was also put-off by the bitter note on the palate, which I think is just a strong stemmy note.

I thought this was a much better from the barrel a couple years ago, when it had greater freshness and less oak.

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Jody,
I popped the Mourved recently and was disappointed by that one, too. From barrel, that wine tasted like Mourvedre; from bottle, it tasted like a non-descript, oaky and ripe CARhone. The only MM wine I currently believe will improve with additional cellar time is the '06 Hommage a Larner – I have that marked to drink by 2018. I could see MM’s '07 Larner Syrah improving with maybe another year, too.

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Thanks for the input. I will seriously consider getting through my stashes of MM, which I have back to 05. The only wines I have had a hard time working through, are my whites. The viognier is just too fat for me. I will get to it, and see what comes of it.

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Yall had me worried, since I have quite a bit from 05 on. I opened an 06 Beautiful Earth on Friday and it was MAD GOOD. Maybe it is this cuvee (Kristina) specifically that is not aging well. I will keep checking in on older bottles and see what’s going on. Thanks for the notes. 06 Beautiful Earth gets a thumbs up from me.

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I tasted this out of tank and loved it. Thanks for the note.

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I agree with the general consensus here, wonderful, delicious hedonistic pleasures when young (2-4 years from vintage date)

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It’s a very different wine now.

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I’ve been drinking up my 05 McPrice Myers’s the last couple months, as they are in a great place right now, and I agree with the general consensus that these are at their best while relatively young. FWIW, we opened an 05 grenache l’ange rouge a couple nights ago and the first glass was showing a lot of heat but the wine was significantly better an hour later. We saved half the bottle and by day two, it was even better.

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Ha! Hell, it’s been in bottle, what, a year? And this is a pretty positive note. You think it fell apart in a year or you think something went wrong with bottling?

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It’s lost a lot of it’s freshness, and the time it spent in the barrel caused it to soak-up too much oak for my preferences. I tasted it from barrel (not tank, iirc) back in Aug. '08, and it didn’t come across as being this oaky. Also, when I tasted it in Aug. '08 I could really sense the Viognier presence: not so out of the bottle.

IMO, nothing went wrong during the bottling, and I don’t think the wine is falling apart, necessarily (although recent experiences have led me to believe it probably will in the next handful of years); it’s just different.

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Given the discussion, I had to give one a try.

Loved it. Better on day 2. I’d love to put one in a blind tasting of Cali’s highest-end Syrah.

  • 2007 McPrice Myers Cuvée Kristina - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley (7/25/2010)
    Enjoyed this huge, bursting wine over two days. Soaring nose full of rich black fruit, smoke, asphalt, violets, white chocolate and white pepper. The palate is decadent with rich, creamy, mouth-coating black fruit. Persistent with freshness from balancing acidity. Firm tannins provide grip and counterpoint the big, sweet fruit. Long, bright, rich finish. A colossal effort that is essentially unmoved, albeit slightly more integrated, on day two. Not for the faint of heart - but for fans of this modern style, you’d be hard pressed to find a similar quality wine at forty bones. (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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And that, folks, is the beauty of differing opinions!

Nice note, Rich! [cheers.gif]