Color is deep purple, indigo, alive not flat, it’s everything you want to see from a cab from this region … I marveled over the color silently and then as if heavens gates blew open, you begin to hear the ‘Piper’ calling in the aroma…
Aroma that is elegant, opus in depth and has epic amplitude, as if Titans were stirring about … Fresh cinnamon dances like a dervish on shrooms, each level of pleasure backed by balance, harmony… Once you find the rose petal, pick it up and under it you will find lavender deep and rich, vanilla swirling mellow supple…blackberry dark ripe fruits are dominantly plush…
Mouthfeel is firm, as it should be for a young wine…the difference is the sophistication in the tannin profile, coupled with the dense,deep, rich, dark chocolate, rippled with tides of endless cassis and black currant, blackberry delight, rich, opulent, bold, silky satin mouthfeel…
The mouthfeel has a very long hang-time , staggering so … One of the very best …
First with this wine now, it needs air … Decant this wine … The before and after is staggering … Before she is 97+ after decanting and when she opens up … I have to say perfect 99/100 points … And I am a very big stickler on faults, there are none … I have been tasting in the region for weeks now and for many years, although still a amateur , so not new on to how to define perfection, something that I have tasted only a few times and this surely is one of them … With age a solid 100 points should hold…
Not suprising!!! Last year I tasted the 12’ Piper alongside the 12’ Schrader RBS and the Piper DESTROYED IT
Hopefully I will be tasting the 13’ Piper next week at lunch ROY
Does anyone know when the 13’s will be allocated to mailing list members? I signed up back when Roy posted his first video, but I don’t know if I’m on the list or on a waiting list.
Funny story a planned then unplanned trip to Napa for lunch happened yesterday with Roy.
Tasted his 12’ and 13’ along with 13’ VHR and 12’ Kata
Really love Roy’s wine so happy he is making a wine I actually enjoy drinking.
12’ was very open smooth and elegant drinking great…
13’ was even better. Not much of a note taker and some times I cant bring to words, but it is great juice. Just look at John’s notes above!
13’ VHR Really closed on the nose, with time I am sure some fruit will come out. I did get a lot of mineral quality leather oaky it was more like Bordeaux to me.
12’ Kata I brought this to taste again since the mailer is on it’s way and I needed to decide if I was gonna buy again, well drinking it after tasting the other 3 was not fair.
This is a timely thread. I just got back from a trip to Napa and Roy was generous enough to attempt to lineup a tasting, but couldn’t ultimately get it scheduled, so he graciously volunteered to drop a bottle of the 2013 by a restaurant one night, Torc.
My wife and I arrived a bit earlier than our reservation and had ordered appetizers and a salad before Roy arrived with the bottle, intending to just drop it off. He came over to the table to say hello and ask the server to decant it. He had already pulled the cork to aerate it a bit ahead of time. I won’t go through the drama that ensued as a result of that cork inserted half way into the bottle, but suffice it to say we moved the party to Cook Restaurant (love this restaurant) in downtown St. Helena and as a result Roy ended up having dinner with us. That guy knows wine and he really knows the valley. Fascinating individual making stellar wine. Big things on the horizon for his business.
His 2012 was my wine of the year and I have no doubt that the 2013 will surpass it. This is some of the best wine being made in the valley to my taste.
Can you expand on that? Seriously. As one of perhaps only a very small handful of people on this BB who have actually been to John Zuccarino’s winery in the Finger Lakes (perhaps the only one), I can say that it is difficult to calibrate his tasting note in the OP based upon my experience with his White Merlot (two bottlings with different levels of added sugar). So a description of how you would describe your “taste” would be helpful. I’m going to buy some '13 just for the halibut, but I need to know when I should tee it up to actually drink it. TIA.
The 2013 Roy Piper is 65% Moulds Vineyard and 35% Beckstoffer Georges III. Aged in 75% new French oak, it received 26 full months in barrel, more than previous vintages, as I hoped the extra barrel age would help round out the mouthfeel. And it did just that.
The 2013 Cabernet is more “structured” and “mineral-driven” than the 2012, which was a bit more fruit-forward than this release. It is as smooth as past releases, but more dense and “tighter,” at least at this moment. Although it does benefit from an hour or two decanted, I feel it probably needs a few years in the cellar to show its best. The future is very, very bright for this wine.
Ok, I won’t go into flavor profiles as that is reasonably subjective. I evaluate young california cabs based on their ability to hide their oak, alcohol and excessive ripeness. Roy’s wine does this quite well. I also don’t want to see fruit bombs. I like cool fruit profiles and substantive tannins that tell me the wine will age gracefully, but not so overdone that I can’t drink them early-ish. I also focus on texture, I want the iron fist in velvet glove here. And I won’t tolerate any heat on the nose/finish. Again Roy’s wines give me this. My favorite cali producers are Spottswoode, Kapcsandy, Togni, Forman, Greer and Pott. These wines have a place in that list.
![[truce.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/d33e712b50d5efc2425bf219c404fbdb7ed0ba50.gif "truce"){kind=small}
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}