1. Go Figure Cabernet Sauvignon 2005This was from “Gary’s Wine and Market place". Do not confuse with Gary V of Wine Library.
2005 GF Go Figure Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 3
If amazing deals on juice like this are a sign of the times, then viva la recession, friends! The 2005 vintage brought a little more quality Cabernet fruit than this Oakville winery was prepared to bottle under their own flagship label, so we were more than happy to swoop in and bottle the rest as our third exclusive bottling under the Go Figure label. Sourced from fifty-five acres of some of the most tightly spaced vines in California on some of the reddest, rockiest soil in Oakville, this wine is made from an impeccably-researched combination of the best clones from California and Bordeaux. A mild summer and fall in the 2005 vintage allowed for extensive hang-time and flavor development in the grapes without excessive sugar development. The result was classic cassis and rich red and black fruits on a rich palate. Look for bright red cherry and raspberry on the nose, along with a little cinnamon, allspice, and pine. A velvety mouthfeel shows just the right richness wi! thout being cloying, and solid structure and tannins make for a medium to long finish with a good dose of warm spice at the end.
2. Chateau Haut Brisson La Reserve 2005
This is the only entry from France this evening.
92 Points - Robert Parker (Wine Advocate)
"A brilliant sleeper of the vintage, this is a terrific effort from Haut-Brisson's new proprietor. The deep purple-colored 2005 La Reserve exhibits sweet black currant and cherry fruit intermixed with notes of cigar smoke, fruitcake, and cedar. Full-bodied with superb purity, good acidity, and ripe tannin, it should unfold gracefully over the next 5-6 years, and keep for 15+."
3. The Colonial Estate Etranger Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Wine Advocate
The 2006 Etranger Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from the Greenock sub-region of Barossa and contains a bit of Shiraz. Purple-colored and slightly muted aromatically, notes of spice box, damp earth, mineral, and blackberry make an appearance. On the palate it has a supple texture and attractive flavors but lacks the depth and concentration for an outstanding rating. Score: 89. —Jay Miller, February 2009.
Wine Spectator
Ripe and open-textured, with dark cherry and spice flavors, weaving some savory herbal notes into the mix as the finish lingers gently. Drink now through 2014. Score: 89. —Harvey Steiman, December 31, 2008.
4. Colonial Estate Emigre Gsm 2005
94 Points - Jay Miller - The Wine Advocate
"There are 2000 cases of 2005 Emigre, a blend of six grape varieties sourced from a range of Barossa sites designed to reflect a "palate" of the Valley. The blocks were cropped at 1 ton of fruit per acre. The composition of the blend is 30% Shiraz, 30% Grenache, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Mourvedre, with the balance Carignan and Muscadelle. The wine was aged from 18-20 months in new French oak. It offers a complex aromatic array of smoky oak, damp earth, pencil lead, clove, pepper, cassis, and blueberry. Supple-textured and very intense, the wine exhibits spicy red and black fruits, with hints of mint and chocolate in the background. It is layered, opulent, and long while maintaining its elegant personality. Give it 5-7 years in the cellar and drink it through 2025."
5. Peter Michael Cabernet Sauvignon Les Pavots, 2002
Peter Michael Les Pavots... "Dense purple-colored with an extraordinary nose of melted licorice, white chocolate, creme de cassis, licorice, and incense, the wine hits the palate with a silky opulence, and marvelous, full-bodied power, but it is light on its feet, with great delineation, vibrancy, and freshness. Superb purity and a finish that goes on for 50+ seconds is the stuff of modern-day California legends. This beauty is already beginning to age well yet should last easily for 18-22 years." Robert Parker 98 points.
6. Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select, 2004
Rated 97 points by Robert Parker`s Wine Advocate: "One of the world`s, as well as Napa`s, most profound Cabernet Sauvignons is the 2,000 or so case production of Shafer`s Hillside Select. Made from their finest parcels in Stags Leap, the wine spends nearly 32 months in 100% new oak. This is a wine that usually has 20-30 years of aging potential. The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is showing even better than it did last year. A much sexier, opulent, flamboyant style of wine with notes of black currant liqueur intermixed with toasty new oak, charcoal, smoke, barbecue spices, and oodles of fruit, this wine has fabulous richness in an exuberant, sexy style, and a long, heady layered finish with nothing out of balance. The integration of acidity, tannin, wood, and alcohol are brilliant. This is a great wine to drink over the next two decades, if not longer. One of Napa`s most prominent and respected wineries, Shafer is a poster boy for remarkable and consistent quality across the board. All of this is the work of the brilliant father and son team of John and Doug Shafer as well as their long-term winemaker and vineyard manager, Elias Fernandez. With over 200-plus acres of estate holdings, and 55 surrounding their winery in Stags Leap, this is a winery that never seems to disappoint.”
7. Harlan Estate, 2004
The 2004 Harlan Estate is probably the most precocious and accessible Harlan Estate that this perfectionist team has made. Already compelling, the wine has notes of roasted coffee, charcoal, blackberry, spring flowers, and some background sweet, toasty notes. Dense, fleshy, exuberant, even flamboyant by the standards of Bill Harlan, this wine exhibits no jaggedness or rough edges, has relatively high tannins, but they melt away on the palate. The wine is sensationally well-endowed, long, and rich – a tour de force in winemaking. 98 points - Robert Parker.
8. Bond The Matriarch, 2005
93 pts - Robert Parker
The lush, opulent, flamboyant 2005 Matriarch offers copious quantities of black cherry and black currant fruit, lead pencil, and earth. Already delicious, it hits just about every sweet spot on the palate. Enjoy it over the next 12-15+ years. This is a special project of Harlan Estate’s owner, Bill Harlan, that is handled by the same winemaking team as Harlan Estate’s, the inimitable Bob Levy assisted by the well-traveled, brilliant oenologist, Michel Rolland. They have 20-year leases on what they believe are some of the finest vineyard terroirs in Napa, from which they produce between 600-700+ cases of these single vineyard offerings from distinctive micro-climates. Anything produced that is not up to world-class quality is culled out and bottled under the name Matriarch. These wines see essentially the same upbringing as the Harlan Estate. They are bottled after at least 22 months of aging in 100% new French oak, and see virtually no fining or filtration. While each offering is completely different from its siblings, they all compete very favorably with Harlan Estate. The newest offering in the Bond portfolio, Quella, comes from a 10-acre vineyard in Spring Valley (located just off Howell Mountain Road) planted on the volcanic white ash called tufa, which contains plenty of cobblestones. The other cuvees include St. Eden (a valley floor vineyard in Oakville), Melbury (on Pritchard Hill overlooking Lake Hennessey), Vecina (a west-facing hillside site near Harlan Estate), and E Pluribus (a Spring Mountain vineyard west of the charming town of St. Helena). The lots culled out from the single vineyard wines are blended together to produce the Matriarch. This is not simply a second wine as nearly one-third of Bond’s (and Harlan Estate’s) production is sold off in bulk, which means the Matriarch is a serious effort on its own merits.
9. Vina Rubican Reserva Navarra 2003
Navarra, Spain- Offering fresh fruit with soft tannins, this Reserva is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo. Aged for twelve months in oak, and an additional 24 months in the bottle, the nose is of fruit and oak. The structured palate that has a long finish.
If amazing deals on juice like this are a sign of the times, then viva la recession, friends! The 2005 vintage brought a little more quality Cabernet fruit than this Oakville winery was prepared to bottle under their own flagship label, so we were more than happy to swoop in and bottle the rest as our third exclusive bottling under the Go Figure label. Sourced from fifty-five acres of some of the most tightly spaced vines in California on some of the reddest, rockiest soil in Oakville, this wine is made from an impeccably-researched combination of the best clones from California and Bordeaux. A mild summer and fall in the 2005 vintage allowed for extensive hang-time and flavor development in the grapes without excessive sugar development. The result was classic cassis and rich red and black fruits on a rich palate. Look for bright red cherry and raspberry on the nose, along with a little cinnamon, allspice, and pine. A velvety mouthfeel shows just the right richness wi! thout being cloying, and solid structure and tannins make for a medium to long finish with a good dose of warm spice at the end.
2. Chateau Haut Brisson La Reserve 2005This is the only entry from France this evening.
92 Points - Robert Parker (Wine Advocate)
"A brilliant sleeper of the vintage, this is a terrific effort from Haut-Brisson's new proprietor. The deep purple-colored 2005 La Reserve exhibits sweet black currant and cherry fruit intermixed with notes of cigar smoke, fruitcake, and cedar. Full-bodied with superb purity, good acidity, and ripe tannin, it should unfold gracefully over the next 5-6 years, and keep for 15+."
3. The Colonial Estate Etranger Cabernet Sauvignon 2006Wine Advocate
The 2006 Etranger Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from the Greenock sub-region of Barossa and contains a bit of Shiraz. Purple-colored and slightly muted aromatically, notes of spice box, damp earth, mineral, and blackberry make an appearance. On the palate it has a supple texture and attractive flavors but lacks the depth and concentration for an outstanding rating. Score: 89. —Jay Miller, February 2009.
Wine Spectator
Ripe and open-textured, with dark cherry and spice flavors, weaving some savory herbal notes into the mix as the finish lingers gently. Drink now through 2014. Score: 89. —Harvey Steiman, December 31, 2008.
4. Colonial Estate Emigre Gsm 200594 Points - Jay Miller - The Wine Advocate
"There are 2000 cases of 2005 Emigre, a blend of six grape varieties sourced from a range of Barossa sites designed to reflect a "palate" of the Valley. The blocks were cropped at 1 ton of fruit per acre. The composition of the blend is 30% Shiraz, 30% Grenache, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Mourvedre, with the balance Carignan and Muscadelle. The wine was aged from 18-20 months in new French oak. It offers a complex aromatic array of smoky oak, damp earth, pencil lead, clove, pepper, cassis, and blueberry. Supple-textured and very intense, the wine exhibits spicy red and black fruits, with hints of mint and chocolate in the background. It is layered, opulent, and long while maintaining its elegant personality. Give it 5-7 years in the cellar and drink it through 2025."
5. Peter Michael Cabernet Sauvignon Les Pavots, 2002Peter Michael Les Pavots... "Dense purple-colored with an extraordinary nose of melted licorice, white chocolate, creme de cassis, licorice, and incense, the wine hits the palate with a silky opulence, and marvelous, full-bodied power, but it is light on its feet, with great delineation, vibrancy, and freshness. Superb purity and a finish that goes on for 50+ seconds is the stuff of modern-day California legends. This beauty is already beginning to age well yet should last easily for 18-22 years." Robert Parker 98 points.
6. Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select, 2004Rated 97 points by Robert Parker`s Wine Advocate: "One of the world`s, as well as Napa`s, most profound Cabernet Sauvignons is the 2,000 or so case production of Shafer`s Hillside Select. Made from their finest parcels in Stags Leap, the wine spends nearly 32 months in 100% new oak. This is a wine that usually has 20-30 years of aging potential. The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is showing even better than it did last year. A much sexier, opulent, flamboyant style of wine with notes of black currant liqueur intermixed with toasty new oak, charcoal, smoke, barbecue spices, and oodles of fruit, this wine has fabulous richness in an exuberant, sexy style, and a long, heady layered finish with nothing out of balance. The integration of acidity, tannin, wood, and alcohol are brilliant. This is a great wine to drink over the next two decades, if not longer. One of Napa`s most prominent and respected wineries, Shafer is a poster boy for remarkable and consistent quality across the board. All of this is the work of the brilliant father and son team of John and Doug Shafer as well as their long-term winemaker and vineyard manager, Elias Fernandez. With over 200-plus acres of estate holdings, and 55 surrounding their winery in Stags Leap, this is a winery that never seems to disappoint.”
7. Harlan Estate, 2004The 2004 Harlan Estate is probably the most precocious and accessible Harlan Estate that this perfectionist team has made. Already compelling, the wine has notes of roasted coffee, charcoal, blackberry, spring flowers, and some background sweet, toasty notes. Dense, fleshy, exuberant, even flamboyant by the standards of Bill Harlan, this wine exhibits no jaggedness or rough edges, has relatively high tannins, but they melt away on the palate. The wine is sensationally well-endowed, long, and rich – a tour de force in winemaking. 98 points - Robert Parker.
8. Bond The Matriarch, 200593 pts - Robert Parker
The lush, opulent, flamboyant 2005 Matriarch offers copious quantities of black cherry and black currant fruit, lead pencil, and earth. Already delicious, it hits just about every sweet spot on the palate. Enjoy it over the next 12-15+ years. This is a special project of Harlan Estate’s owner, Bill Harlan, that is handled by the same winemaking team as Harlan Estate’s, the inimitable Bob Levy assisted by the well-traveled, brilliant oenologist, Michel Rolland. They have 20-year leases on what they believe are some of the finest vineyard terroirs in Napa, from which they produce between 600-700+ cases of these single vineyard offerings from distinctive micro-climates. Anything produced that is not up to world-class quality is culled out and bottled under the name Matriarch. These wines see essentially the same upbringing as the Harlan Estate. They are bottled after at least 22 months of aging in 100% new French oak, and see virtually no fining or filtration. While each offering is completely different from its siblings, they all compete very favorably with Harlan Estate. The newest offering in the Bond portfolio, Quella, comes from a 10-acre vineyard in Spring Valley (located just off Howell Mountain Road) planted on the volcanic white ash called tufa, which contains plenty of cobblestones. The other cuvees include St. Eden (a valley floor vineyard in Oakville), Melbury (on Pritchard Hill overlooking Lake Hennessey), Vecina (a west-facing hillside site near Harlan Estate), and E Pluribus (a Spring Mountain vineyard west of the charming town of St. Helena). The lots culled out from the single vineyard wines are blended together to produce the Matriarch. This is not simply a second wine as nearly one-third of Bond’s (and Harlan Estate’s) production is sold off in bulk, which means the Matriarch is a serious effort on its own merits.
9. Vina Rubican Reserva Navarra 2003Navarra, Spain- Offering fresh fruit with soft tannins, this Reserva is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo. Aged for twelve months in oak, and an additional 24 months in the bottle, the nose is of fruit and oak. The structured palate that has a long finish.
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