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RockinCabs

@rockincabs

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I'll revel in 70s Napa Cab, but a fine old Bordeaux will satisfy. Drink the good stuff!
Founder @vinslingwine

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The 1993 @dallavallevineyards cabernet was a beautifully mature wine last night. In a perfect place.

Heidi Barrett was 35 and about to enter the peak portion of her career. The first Sceaming Eagle was still in barrel, and the 1993 vintage was at the beginning of the stylistic shift to riper wines.

Landing a 13.3% this Dalla Valle cab is a sublime classic showing its age with patina leather and dried herb notes, but a core of dark plum, cherry, raspberry and cassis. Palate feel is velvety and rich, but never closing. Just a silky and beautiful mature wine that walks the line between an old BV and a more modern Dalla Valle.

Bravo! Enjoyed this a lot. Truly a ROCKIN Cabernet!

#oakville, #heidibarrett, #winetasting🍷, #winestragram, #Fridaynight by @rockincabs

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7

a month ago

Summer Dinner from @verrillfarm, @flannerybeef and @idylwildefarm was just fantastic.

Late August in New England makes, corn, tomatoes, herbs and everything else from our farms ripe, in season an tasting beautiful.

#Corrawines 2011 is just singing right now showing blackberry, cassis, dark cherry, mocha, sage, crushed rocks, red gravel and savory herb tones. Balanced cooler vintage Napa thatb is in window.

@celiawelch made a great wine from Melanson, Tietjen and a few other sources here. A beauty.

#summerwine, #napacabernet, #vintagecalifornia, #sundaysupper by @rockincabs

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3

2 months ago

This duo of historic 1975 Spring Mountain Cabernets was a great idea, but the Chateau Chevalier just did not show up on this occasion. By the 1990s these estates had been merged, but in 1975 each still had its own unique production and piece of the estate that would become the sprawling @springmountainvineyard

The 1975 Spring Mountain Cabernet was magnificent in its own right with red and black fruit notes, leather, cassis and dried sage. Fresh beautiul and mature spring mountian Cabernet.

#napaheritage, #napaoldvines, #napaclassic, #springmountain by @rockincabs

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0

2 months ago

Cleaning out some Coravin'd bottles that I have been tasting in the past few weeks over the weekend. I really enjoy having a bunch of wines to taste and interesting side by sides.

The Chenins features a global standard bearer in #famillejolyclosdelacouleedeserrant and a new label from Mexico. The Jolly was as expected beautiful moneyed and dense white retaining freshness. Impeccable balance. The example sent by @wineaccess was focued on the tropical fruit side of the variety featuring melon and peach notes with lanolin and almond in the background.

The pinot pair included a Domaine de Vallaine that was sublime for its level and a new producer making a great Radian Vineyard Pinot in Santa Rita Hills

The @adripawines 2022 Cabernet from Happy Valley is yet another data point on where restrained terroir driven cabernet in the US is headed. Magnificently old school.... by @rockincabs

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2 months ago

@ovidnapavalley Experiment N7.2 to end the day by the lake. Celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary with a new edition of a wine we had on our honeymoon.

The experiment series has always been an opportunity for Ovids Austin Peterson to explore, create and refne new expressions of Ovid. The "N" series is for neighbor, and indeed they have some very good ones.

This blend is classically Pritchard Hill and the fruit leans towards the style of Martinez with Austin's deft touch. Cabernet led crushed rock and black fruit. 18% cab franc lends floral and sage to the aromatics. Beautiful inner mouth perfume.

A great wine, beatiful sunset and fantastic place to celebrate 13 yrs. Wonderful day! Thanks to Toski Sands for having the best cellar in No. MI these days.

#pritchardhill, #ovidwinery, #summernights🌙, #lakeliving, #napavalley, @toskisandsmarketandwineshop by @rockincabs

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5

3 months ago

Benchmarking quality cabernet sauvignon in Napa Valley is now an est. $120 proposition (average bottle prices now on release). So what producers bring value?

Realm gives consumers far more than most .... hear me out on this one

The Bard by Realm includes barrels from prestige sites including Beckstoffer ToKalon, Blair Vineyard and thier Wappo Hill Estate. The winemaking is precise, yielding focused, balanced, and texturally rich wines. The Bard is approachable with just enough "Napa polish" to make it modern but never over wrought

This 2022 is filled with blackbery, plum and bluberry compote. Baking spice, cocoa and menthol bit of new wood. Nuanced and balanced this is a great entry level offering from Realm using premiere vineyard sources.

An enjoyable wine over family dinner.

@realmcellarsnapa #napacab, #stagsleapava, #californialove, #vacationwines by @rockincabs

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5

3 months ago

Rutherford Bench 2018 vintage retrospective on Sunday hosted with 1889 Wine Society.

I conceptualized this tasting a few years ago after tasting the 2018 Mosisoli and 2018 BV GdL on release. A tasting just focused on the "Grand Cru" Vineyards in this specific pocket of Napa. Where John Daniel and Andre Tchelistcheff honed thier craft decades ago.

The takeaways ...

Inglenook and BV are making some exceptional wines right now.

The Inglenook Rubicon made by Philippe Bascaulles, Chris Phelps and Jon Tyer are outstanding and carry the historic Inglenook quality of the Daniel / Deuer era.

Trevor Durling made amazing wines for BV during his tenure.

The Middle Bench around Morisoli and JJ Cohn is the sweet spot of the personality of this terroir. Black fruit, cocoa, mineral, and powdery tannins that are supremely unique.

The southern Bench really shows traces of Oakville and had one foot in Tokalon and one foot in the Rutherford Dust. They have an elegant cohesion when well made.

As new oak use gets dialed back, extraction is managed and terroir focus continues to be the trend, the western foothills of the Mayacamas have such unique terroirs and beautiful wines. The future is 🌞 in this special corner of Napa Valley.

@1889wine, @inglenook1879, @bvwines, @morisolivineyard, @trujillowines2012, @elyse_wines, @celiawelch, @bellaoaksvineyard, @staglinfamilyvineyard, @greer_wine, @etudewines, @danaestateswine, @freemarkabbey by @rockincabs

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3

4 months ago

2018 Philip Togni is admittedly very young, but over a number of hours this unwinds beatifully. Nose of mountain laurel, plum, blackberry and crushed herb and pencil. Palate: tightbinitially, but opens to reveal intense cassis, plum, cherry liquor, and sage notes. Graphite, rose, and nice garden notes.

A precise and nuanced spring mountain cab that is tight, youthful and bright today.

@flannerybeef Ribeyes with garlic scapes were a great pair and my wife and children made my day with a blueberry pie.

Happy Fathers day!

#Napa, #springmountain, #cabernetsauvignon, #napaheritage, #classicwines by @rockincabs

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3

4 months ago

A note to retailers ....

If you are in the business of selling vintage wine your ability to be transparent with clients is paramount. Condition and provenance disclosure are the MOST important part of maintaining buyer trust.

In a post Rudy world collectors are more focused on provenance than ever before. If a bottle is mid shoulder with a missing capsule and likely seepage just be up front and let me know. Will I some times take the risk? Yes .... but disclose it and price accordingly

This 1975 Carneros Creek was a great find until it arrived. I now question working with this retail again.

I have a number of examples from the past 12 months of wines not quite arriving in condition as represented or the wrong bottle from a set of pictures shows up. Mistakes happen, but be sure issues like this erode trust and makes future business unlikely.

Rant over

#retail, #wineretail, #greymarket, #oldwine, #riskybusiness by @rockincabs

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8

4 months ago

Taste of Oakville is this weekend, and I wanted to explore some oldies that demonstrate the kinship between Pauillac and Oakville. They share an expression of gravel and graphite in Cabernet Sauvignon and are among the best places for this variety in thier respective regions.

Usually it is west Oakville that accomplishes this comparison best. However a combination of bedrock and Red Chert deposits from Chiles Valley make this 27-acre sweet spot at Groth in East Oakville very special.

David Howell's study of the geology of Napa Valley is fascinating and he explains how landslides millions of years ago formed the Alluvial Fans and Fluvial deposits of the Napa Valleys best terroirs. Groth among them.

The 1987 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is incredibly balanced, red cherry and black currant and plum fruit driven with herbs, mint, leather and terracotta notes that are beautiful. A masterful wine. RC 96

The 1988 Lynch Bages from Puillac shows plum, cassis, tobacco and pencil notes that are classic Pauillac and shares such a precision and rocky mineral element with the Groth Reserve. RC 94

@grothwines, @chateaulynchbages, @oakvillewinegrower, #Oakvillle, #pauillac, #David Howell, #napaheritage, #napaterroir by @rockincabs

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4 months ago

The Judgment of Paris had its 50th Anniversay last week and we celebrated with a retrospective blind tasting of the 1975 vintage @manhatta_nyc.

Thank you to all who attended, but especially @rayisle, for your prepared notes and insight on CA agriculture in the 1970's ... did you know Napa was a big producer of Turkey's in the 70's?

The wines were all so fresh. Only one wine was not a correct bottle, but it is a special evening when 9 of 10 50-yr old wines bring thier A game.

@mayacamas was the winner .. incredible fresh herbs, plum, cherry, red currants, and tobacco notes. Balanced, at peak.

@stagsleapwinecellars SLV was right behind it with classic red fruit, blue berry, spice and mineral notes.

@heitzcellar and @chateauleovillelascases battled in a tight tie for third with two first place votes each. Both wines exhibited perfect expressions of thier terroir, and have many years of future enjoyment.

@ridgevineyards. Had a beautiful floral, potpourri and cassis notes the black herbal tea nuances. Gorgeous. The final glasses aft the end of the night were so special.

@chateau_montrose had structure, classicisim and a nice mix of cassis, red currant and rose notes.

@closduval offered a very nice open knit cabernet that brought the truffle, earth, capsicum, and dark cherry notes to the table.

@chateaumoutonrothschild_ has a beefy, sous bois, celery seed and graphite personality.

@chateauhautbrion_ evolved throughout the evening with cedar, minty notes, bbq, smoked paprika and fruit that leaned towards dried blackberry

Very difficult flight to rank at the top as the top 6-8 wines showed incredibly well

Thank you to the Manhatta team for a beautiful service and wine support. This is why it is a top wine destination in NY. by @rockincabs

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5 months ago

Thank you @brilliantwineco @charlotteemartinez for a nice Sunday afternoon at Club Savory. Exceptional wine from @boblindquist1953 and many other producer.s tonight.

Food, wine, sunset cruise and deck party all on point.

#winestragram, #lindquistwines, #coterotie, #freemarkabbey, @lighthousefinewines, @krugmimosas, @pontoon_life , #pontoonlife by @rockincabs

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0

5 months ago