Friday evening: Treated myself and wife to this lovely shiner:
Note: Pretty close to top de Negoce Napa Cabernet along with OG 60, OG 40 Cabs.
2018 de Négoce Cabernet Sauvignon OG N.468 - USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain (6/6/2025)
Double decanted back into bottle 1/2 hour before grilled NY Steak dinner sauteed mushrooms. Note: Heavy glass bottle Nose: Delightful barrel spice, iron mixed with cocoa and dark fruits. Color: Dark, deep red no browning at rim. Palate: Lush dark fruits, red clay, graphite, cocoa all bounce around your mouth delighting the senses. Finish lasts for at least a minute. This is an awesome Napa Cabernet experience. One of the top de Negoce labeled Cabernets I've tasted. Understand this is a shiner from another winery. Outstanding bargain. Drink now, or hold for 5+ years. (94 points)
2018 de Négoce Merlot OG N.86 - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley (6/5/2025)
Thursday evening with Indiana native Chris and NBA Finals -Pacers/Thunder Game 1. Chris brings #86 Merlot. I had ironically #68 Cab.
Decanted back into bottle. Note- previous tastings of this Merlot I did not find pleasant- the cherry confection was too strong for my liking. I told Chris about it, but kept open minded about resampling. Nose: Spicy with a tea component- very Merlot like. Color: Cherry red and slightly see through. Palate: There still is a touch of cherry confection - not as objectionable. Spicy, herbal, with raspberry fruit. Modest acidity balance out a smooth medium length finish. More enjoyable wine and good bargain at $10. Glad to see this wine come around with bottle age. Can start to enjoy them now. Drink now for couple years. (89 points)
Other Wine for Thursday evening: Another friend stopped in to pickup some de Negoce bottle order a few weeks ago. He sampled the 86 Merlot and 68 Sonoma Cab: He commented about the 68 Cab- “Chewy mountain Cab Tim” Yes it is Nick.
2018 de Négoce Cabernet Sauvignon OG N.68 - USA, California, Sonoma County (6/5/2025)
Decanted prior to Game 1 NBA Finals, no food served. Similar note from April tasting below: Good Sonoma Cab here - better with food. Nose: Displays notes of chaparral, some earth mixed with slight floral component and dark fruit. Color: Dark and opaque in Bordeaux stem. Palate: Same as prior tastings more red fruits- think currant and ripe plums balanced with sturdy mountain tannins. Very pleased with this wine still. should have 2+ years of service ahead. My recommendation would be serve with food. This wine, in my opinion, is better with a steak than as a cocktail Cabernet. (90 points)
2022 de Négoce Cabernet Sauvignon OG N.450 - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain (6/8/2025)
Concentrated and rich, but right now lacking energy and verve. There seems to be more "Parker style" here but without the necessary acidity and tannin to balance everything out. This is not a bad wine, by any means, and is it being opened too early, well of course. But there's not a whole lot of verve and complexity here at the moment, even on day 2. Hoping for improvement in time, but today this is a cocktail wine. There is however some backbone here and some quality fruit and terroir where one could posit that perhaps this is in a weird place early on and requires time to show itself. (88 points)
Thanks @Brianschool, I had been waiting for a 450 review and yours was actually better than expected. I think the early reviews of it were “this is bad,” so maybe just like a lot for dN reviews, 450 will be good to great in two years!
N.253 - Really delicious on day 2. Only had a couple sips before corking it on day 1. Day 2 holding strong. Medium ruby color, lots of red fruit on the palate. Has come around since my last try, has a long life ahead of it. No rush to drink these.
OG N.120 2018 Moon Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
FIRST bottle of 12, over 4.5 years bottled.
LAST of my dN 2018’s that I had not yet TRIED.
Into the decanter for 1.5 hours, initially very slightly reduced, still.
Dark color and leathery on the nose with a little bit of black fruits.
I really waited to open this 2018, it seems to be rich, yet easy drinking. It was too easy to drink, the bottle was nearly gone after 2 hours, I slowed down to make it last, it’s double yummy !! Can drink now, perhaps without decanting… with USDA Prime Ribeye
And for those who were patient, your reward has now arrived! With no decant, a stunning bouquet and shear opaque pleasure greets you. Originally this was described as a $20 per bottle offer for a reasonably priced $60-$70 market place 2017 Cab Sauv from the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains. Today, I would suspect, you could not find such a high quality, terroir-driven, textbook perfect Napa AVA example for less than $90. I simply cannot give a better description of this 94 pt / A+ treasure than how Cameron so aptly did in December 2021. Drink today or hold until 2031. For Scott, ~ we enjoyed this wine before a lunch of Atlantic flaked white sautéed/baked 2” halibut steaks garnished with chanterelle mushrooms gathered from our woodland garden. Lot #.
Last night found a N.64 2018 napa cab on the wine rack that was not in cellar tracker inventory. Felt like it was free! Put a slight chill on it and had outside with a cheese plate (Richmond VA) while watching the new puppy (day 1)
chew stuff. My wife said what wine is this? Then she looked at the bottle and said oh its our usual… to her all DN look and usually taste similar (in a good way). I choose not to mansplain it and just smiled. Good times!
Has anyone opened number 02 2017 Napa Cabernet (I believe Stagecoach) recently? how is it currently showing and how long of a decant if necessary I did a search but for some reason, I’m not seeing much come up
!! Can drink now, perhaps without decanting…
