Napa Valley

• Atlas Peak
• Best of Napa
• Calistoga
• Conn Valley
• Diamond Mountain
• Howell Mountain
• Mt. Veeder
• Oak Knoll
• Oakville
• Pope Valley
• Rutherford
• Spring Mountain
• St. Helena
• Stags Leap
• Yountville

Purple in color.  The nose is heavily oaked.  Also plenty of cassis and some pencil lead.  On the palate, this is more integrated.  Black raspberries, underlying graphite.  Thick tannins.  Some depth.  Good finish.  This is a rich, huge wine.  It will take some very hearty food to stand up to it, but it is delicious on its own.  Those who love Napa fruit bombs will indeed enjoy this a lot.  It retails for around $100.  

Outpost wines are made by Thomas Rivers Brown, a sensational winemaker.  They are made up on Howell Mountain from mountain fruit and are very intense yet also generous.  This one is of course young, but delicious.  Consumed over two days, it was just as good on either day if different.  Purple in color.  The nose has cassis, graphite, blueberries and slight spice.  On the palate, this is concentrated and intense.  Firm tannins.  Cassis and blueberry fruit with some spice.  Really delicious.  On Day 2, some leather notes emerge.  It will take some hearty meat dishes to stand up to it at this

Wow.  This was excellent.  This is why you let the better California Cabernet's age.  Sure, they are delicious young.  Juicy and full of fruit and energy.  But at age 9, this has all of that still but also starting to show some development.  This wine could easily go another two decades though it will undoubtedly lose fruit and sunshine.  For those lucky enough to have a bunch, it will be fun to watch this.  Purple in color.  The nose has cassis, cedar, slight dust and saddle leather.  With air, some black cherries come out.  On the palate, this took about an hour or two to really start to

The fill was low shoulder.  On touching the cork dropped a few millimeters.  A Durand was used and the cork came out in one, if crumbly, piece.  The wine was decanted for sediment and allowed to breathe for a few minutes.  Purple in color, not showing a lot of age.  The nose is initially dominated by volatile acidity, but that partially blows off leaving dust and cassis.  Much better on the palate.  This still has thick tannins.  A pristine bottle of this would likely be just hitting its stride.  This bottle is advanced but still with plenty of cassis fruit.  OK finish.  An impressive wine

This is a wine that many people will like.  It retails for around $15 and is ripe sweet fruit.  Purple in color.  The nose has cassis and fresh cut lumber.  On the palate, this is sweet ripe jammy fruit.  Some oak.  It is all about providing an easy to drink, jammy wine.  If that is what one likes, than this is a nice value.  A cocktail wine.  

There are a lot of people who would love this wine for $20.  Ruby/purple in color.  The nose has sweet cassis with slight coffee.  On the palate, the sweet cassis continues.  Slight tannins.  To some, this wine will be delicious, slightly sweet and great on the back deck.  For others, this will be goopy and cloying and not a wine made for cellaring.  Both sides are probably correct.  

This is another label from Cathy Corison who is known for making old school Napa Cabs and other wines.  Despite the coolness of the vintage, this wine manages to not show under ripe qualities and yet be consistent with the Corison style.  Ruby/purple in color.  The nose has black cherries, cherries, cigar tobacco and slight dustiness.  On the palate, this has a nice complexity.  Drinks a bit older than it is but that is more profile than age.  Dust, tobacco, dried and fresh cherries.  Good balance.  Food friendly.  Nice finish.  $53.  This is a nice change of pace for Napa and easily has an

Really great showing for this wine.  Purple in color, slight line of ruby at the rim.  The nose has cassis, coffee, and cedar.  Complex.  On the palate, this is awesome.  It is a big wine but with a nice elegance at this point.  Cassis layered with coffee and earth.  Long finish.  This is delicious and while it is the kind of wine that borders on excessive, as it matures it has calmed down and is integrating nicely.  Still young, this  needs another decade until maturity and has a couple more at the top after that.  It is delicious now and worked quite well with an assortment of cheeses (an

Wow.  Great wine.  Inky purple in color.  The nose has cassis, coffee, slight floral note and graphite.  Its big and gorgeous.  On the palate, this has an amazing texture.  Lush but precise.  Great balance and acidity.  Tons of fruit but also depth.  Tight layering that unwinds in the glass.  Black raspberries, graphite and underlying char.  This wine is very intense but also quite delicious.  It works with big foods.  Still young and will continue to improve for a decade and be good for another decade or two after that. 

This was from Magnum.  Most anyone who has been drinking Cabernet for any time has run into this wine.  It is a reasonably priced, classic Napa Cab that sells for around $35.  Of course, Magnums often taste better, but maybe that's because there is probably a party going on.  This is a really solid wine that is fairly priced.  It worked well with a wide variety of foods and drank quite easy.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose is dusty with cassis and spice.  On the palate, this is medium bodied with medium tannins.  A fine texture.  Cassis with some depth.  Some spice/oak as well.