Had this a couple of nights ago. A really splendid Sirah.
How would you describe the style?
How would you describe the style? I almost bought upon initial release but showed restraint. Looking for a reason to weaken.
I caved under the pressure and bought #240 as well. Any idea who this might be from?
Canvasback, a Duckhorn WA property, was the top guess. The DN240 is really good. You will be happy. Best QPR of the DN wines I have tasted.
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Opened a bottle of the N.142 2018 Horse Heaven Hills Malbec tonight that came in a mystery pack. From a cool cellar, it came out really hot on the pop and pour, reminiscent of a young Islay whisky. After an hour though, the heat was but a wee memory. The confounded nose opened to black fruits and the smokiness softened towards a vanilla cream soda. It drank well and was firmly structured with oak, tannins and the same black fruits from the nose. Glad it had some air and expect more balance with time as it seemed young to my tastes.
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Edit:
Fortuitous dupe, there’s room for a day 2 update(a few days late)
N.142 2018 Horse Heaven Hills Malbec. The fruit was still present but lost a shade, maybe more purple than black. The cream soda had fizzed away but a smooth texture remained. The tannins held on through a drying finish. Overall it’s leveled off and flattened out for day 2. Certainly as enjoyable but I can’t forget the layers from the pop and pour. If those integrate to tell the 2-day story in a sip, this is gonna be really fun.
William, we uncorked the 1st bottle of our case of this Rutz GC Pinot on Thursday evening but as we were left feeling a bit puzzled, we ultimately decided to open a 2nd and leave most of that bottle for a Day 2 comparison (which was yesterday evening) - no major improvement and fortunately, there are many far better wines regularly being offered to us by CH and his team. We trust his judgement and have done so for several years now so maybe time will bring about some improvements in this Pinot however, for now, candidly, we agreed it certainly has not met our expectations. Thin, pale ‘electric’ strawberry juice in appearance at this stage.
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RUTZ Cellars 2018 Pinot Noir Sonoma Cuvee $5.99 at my local Trader Joes… unfortunately I paid ~$10.68 a bottle for a case of this stuff. Just came in the mail today though, we’ll see how it tastes!
Ouch. I also got suckered into a case of this on the 2nd email. Not for me for the wife. Hopefully drinkable.
Ouch - We got our case earlier in the week. $5.99 would be an great price and possibly blow away anything I’ve ever gotten from TJs at that price point. My full TN is up on CT, but in short it was a very generic Sonoma Pinot that was saved by the great finish.
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Ok that’s good, lol
Luckily it is perfectly capable of defending the bottles of 165, 176, 197, and 249 in the cellar 
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N 217 Syrah shared last Thursday evening by my friend- a Rhone lover for years. No decant, our intent was to share half a glass twice over a few hours, then let him take balance of bottle home to try over weekend. This is a massive Syrah, at this point mostly driven by primary fruit. What this wine reminds me of, is a 2005 HdV Hyde Syrah, drank years ago- hands down best California Syrah I’ve tried. This N.217 needs another 5-7 years in bottle to get that savory cool climate Syrah to leap out of the glass. It’s there. I’d go 91+ points- trust me, give this at least 3 more years, 94+ then.
N. 272 Port pop and pour tonight
I like ports but do not have a ton of experience drinking them so take this review with a grain of salt. Good strong acid up front balances out the jammy raisin palate. Strongly alcoholic nose. Very tasty.
#276 rose sparkling again. I wish I went all in instead of a 6 pack. This is delicious.
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I’d second this guess. We went to Canvasback in September and had a couple of their Red Mt. Cabernets of which I bought 6 bottles of a couple different years and vineyards. 240 drinks very similar to their 2019 Red Mt cabernet. It’s just as good and at a fraction of their $44 retail price.
Of course, we don’t know the vineyard behind 2019 de Negoce 240 and the blend could have changed but I thought it might be fun to look at a few of the reviews for the Canvasback 2018 cabernet, which is the last year I could find reviews. There are not Canvasback 2019 reviews that I could find. Just to clarify, these are not de Negoce 240 reviews. Very solid consistent reviews across all of the major reviewers.
2018 Canvasback Red Mountain Cabernet
Accolades
Wine Spectator 91
Wine Enthusiast 90
James Suckling 92
Wine & Spirits 93
Wine Advocate 91
This was inexplicably shipped to me despite being in long term storage. Still haven’t heard back from the support team about that…
Saw a prior note that this was drinking well and figured, why not?
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2019 de Négoce Cabernet Sauvignon OG N.253 - USA, California, Napa Valley (2/4/2022)
PnP, opened 1-2 hours Glasvin prestige glass.
After an hour, the nose is mostly butterscotch but there’s some red and blue fruit down under there. Maybe even cassis on the nose but I may be smelling through the oak. Palate is quite nice but starts on the attack with butterscotch. Soon after, lively acid uplifts blue and red fruits. Think blueberry and raspberry. Also some rocky character. Finish reverts back to some oaky character, but the raspberries and blueberries are strong enough to shine in balance. Plenty of tannic backbone to give this some serious stuffing.
Don’t touch for at least a year to let the oak integrate. This is high quality wine. Really good. Once the oak settles down, this will improve by another 1-3 points. (90 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Jamie, I had a completely different experience last night with the Rutz GC Pinot. It was the first time I have ordered a “ready to drink” wine ( non-DN label ) from DN and didn’t decant at all. I opened and poured the same day I received it. It was very smooth, elegant and long lasting on the finish with clean fruit undertones which only became more pronounced about an hour after opening. A pinot noir very much on the lighter side which drinks well by itself. Second case ordered.
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