The Wine Cult

2006 Futo Oakville, Napa

pcook — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:14:05 +0000

For all our fans out there that have harassed us for the last six weeks, this one’s for you. We do appreciate the encouragement! Several of you were able to taste this little gem with us about two weeks ago at Wine Styles on Louetta Rd in North Houston.

This wine is a rockstar, with only 374 cases produced, it brings the whole band with it.

David Abreu and Jason Exposto make this wine and really amaze me as much as the grapes do. They have done a spectacular job letting the land and fruit do their thing. Sometimes, it is a hard thing to do – to let simplicity do its thing. These guys have done the hard part… and we get the best!

The nose of this wine as divulged by J. Heck was full of dark fruits, blackberry, dark cherry, and black currant which stood out along with Spanish cedar, toasty oak, white pepper, mushroom and rocky minerals from the river bed. The pallet was full-bodied, but round, with well integrated tannins and a great well balanced generous finish. The finish was quite long and beautiful. This is an extremely complex wine with so much room to grow. It is easy to see why it is considered a ‘cult’ wine.

Paul C – 95
Jimmy H – 96+
Everyone Else That Tasted It ??

1995 Chateau D Yquem – Sauternes

jheck — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:09:14 +0000

Okay so we have been slacker’s and posted nothing for months. It certainly isn’t because we are not drinking some really special wines. Recently we enjoyed a bottle of the 1995 Chateau D Y’quem for a dear friends special birthday, and man was it ever special.

Y’quem is the dessert wine that all others are judged by, and some experts say the best white wine in the entire world.

At Y’quem they proudly boast that only one glass of wine per vine is produced. The grapes are picked one by one at perfect maturity. In 2006 a 135-year “vertical” (containing every vintage from 1860 to 2003) was sold by The Antique Wine Company in London for $1.5 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a single lot of wine. Yquem’s success stems largely from the site’s susceptibility to attack by Botrytis Cinera, the “noble rot”. Y’quem is a wine with an extremely long life, bottles of 100 years and older may be found in excellent condition if properly kept.

Tasting: The nose is like a complex beautiful perfume of honey suckle, dried figs, dried apricot, peaches, pear, pineapple, lemon zest, litchi nuts, vanilla, soft leather, and earthy mineral notes. A very seductive sumptuous, mouth coating pallet with impeccable balance. The finish goes on for several wonderful minutes. The 1995 is intense, unctuous, and still showed youth, and could be aged and enjoyed for many years to come.

Rating: 95 PC, 96 JH

2007 Leviathan

jheck — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:48:11 +0000

This garage wine project from Andy Erikson and Anie Favia is once again outstanding, and for the money is IMO one of the best red blends from all of California.
Leviathan is made by the incredibly talented husband and wife team of Andy Erickson, (Staglin, Hartwell, Favia, Ovid, Dancing Hares, Jonata, Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle and Arietta), and Anie Favia (viticulturist for Abreu and Screaming Eagle). You can find many wines on this site that have been influenced by Andy and his wife Annie.

Proprietor: Leviathan Wines

Vintage: 2007

Appellation: 100% California

Varietals: 47% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Syrah, 14% Merlot

Tasting: Beautiful dark black/red in the glass. concentrated flavors of baked Cherry, blackberry, raspberry, scorched forrest floor, toasted oak, black pepper, roasted beef, coffee, and chocolate. On the palate the wine is intensely flavored, full bodied, round, with soft tannins, bright lively acidity and great balance, with a beautiful long velvety finish.

It is really hard to find a more pleasant red wine from California in the mid $40.00 range than this one. Get it and enjoy!

Rating: 93+

2005 Tierra Roja – Cabernet Sauvignon

jheck — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:58:25 +0000

Tierra Roja, is very small vineyard, and a very special wine. Located in the eastern hills of Oakville, the property is surrounded by other ultra premium wineries such as Rudd, Screaming Eagle, Joseph Phelp’s Bacchus, Dalla Valle’s Maya, Plumpjack, and more. Linda Neal the proprietor has been growing grapes the Tierra Roja Vineyard since 1987. The first vintage of Tierra Roja was the 2004 vintage and was released in September of 2007 to much acclaim from those that were fortunate enough to get their hands on it. Linda Neal the owner of Tierra Roja has over 20 years of vineyard management experience and is actively involved in the vineyard doing a lot of the work herself. The winemaker for Tierra Roja is David DeSante who has a reputation for detailed planning, and execution, leaving nothing to chance.

If you are a collector of fine wine, you should seek Tierra Roja out, as it is quite memorable.

Proprietor: Tierra Roja Vineyards

Vintage: 2005

Appellation: Oakville, CA

Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Production: 250 cases (6 bottle cases, wood or carton)

Tasting: The wine is dark purple in the stem. Beautiful blackberry, dark cherry, blackcurrant, cassis, red plum fruit, with cinnamon graham crackers, toasted oak, white pepper, caramel, lavender, scorched earth and minerals, followed by a nice floral component. Tierra Roja is rich and elegant with beautiful balance, and texture on the palate yet full-bodied and intense. This wine is a classic for the collector or for those that just like to drink incredibly good wine. This wine is evidence that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

I think it was Benjamin Franklin that said something like that. As Heidi Barrett would say this is a 1,2,3,4,5,6 wine. If you don’t know what I am referring to, you can check out this interview of her with Gary Vaynerchuck at TheWineCult’s Facebook below.

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=199205951194&id=188458559342

Rating: 96 JH, 95 PC

PS – Linda will be at The Austin Wine Merchant on December 26th from 2:00 to 3:00 tasting some of her wine. You can go to their web site at http://www.theaustinwinemerchant.com/

2006 Cayuse Syrah – “Armada”

jheck — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:11:13 +0000

Recently tasted the 2006 Armada from Cayuse Vineyards in Walla Walla, and it blew us away. Their fifth vineyard, Armada, planted in 2001, contains 3 acres of Grenache, 3 acres of Syrah and 1 acre of Mourvedre. With four feet between vines and five feet between rows, 2178 vines were planted per acre—nearly double the standard vine quantity—and easily marks it as the highest density vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley. Cayuse Vineyards is bio-dynamically farmed and even the most labor intensive tasks are performed manually.

Christophe Baron started Cayuse Vineyards in 1996, and is also the viticulturist and wine consultant at Reynvann Family Vineyards and it is being well received in the cult wine community.

Note: Aged 30 months in 20% newRostaing barrels. Made with indigenous yeasts and bottled unfinned and unfiltered.

Review: An intense full-bodied wine with a brawny bouquet of blueberry, cherry, smoked wild game, pencil lead, lavender, pepper, liquorice, with a beautiful earthy mineral component.The wine shows great balance and an extremely long finish. The Armada is a totally gratifying wine to be cellared for years, and will improve to near perfection IMO, if you can stay away from it, and deny your inner hedonist.

The Armada was opened for about 1.5 hours for this review, and could have benefited from more time. PS This is a tough mailing list to crack!

Rating: 99 JH, 98 PC

2006 Ovid Napa Valley

pcook — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:20:38 +0000

Top 20 of 2009 – Ovid is “wonderous and new”! It has been a long week with some great results and Carol and I are treating ourselves to a little special treat from winemaker Andy Erickson this Friday afternoon at Brix Wine Cellars.

Sometimes the stars align and the week’s events fade like an old photograph and the red juice speaks your name… Such is the case with today and Ovid.

Dark currant and cassis, licorice and blackberry along with a supple smoky blue texture. Well balanced with round silky tannins this wine breathes a fragrant bouque of evolving textures. Lovely and alluring. The finish goes on for days with fruit coming out more and more with dark cherry notes.

My friends shall damn me for not saving this one… But it called my name! Get here quickly if anyone wants a sip.

93 Paul, 93 Carol

2006 Torbreck “Descendant” and 2005 “The Pict” – Part Two

jheck — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:33:32 +0000

David Powell the Managing Director and Chief Winemaker for Torbreck Cellars was once a Lumberjack, and it probably is no coincidence that the second wine we enjoyed was bold and masculine just like your stereotypical Lumberjack. Torbreck Cellars The Pict is an amazingly bold large-framed intense and concentrated wine that strikes an amazing balance of fruit, tannins, and acidity.

Proprietor: Torbreck Cellars

Vintage: 2005

Appellation: Barossa Valley, Australia

Varietal: 100% Mataro or what some of you know as Mourvèdre from a single vineyard

Note: Two years in new French barriques. Unfiltered and unfined.

Tasting: Dark purple in the color. Beautiful notes of cassis, plum, followed by tobacco, tar, dark olives, leather, eucalyptus, scorched earth, roasted meat and a beautiful mineral component. The wine shows great balance even though it is not blended with another varietal such as Grenache. The Pict can be immensely enjoyed now but has the structure to age and improve with cellaring.

Rating: 94 JH, 94 PC

2006 Torbreck “Descendant” and 2005 “The Pict”

jheck — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:17:30 +0000

Recently the gang met up at Cellar-17 in Houston for a couple of really nice wines from Torbreck. Torbreck cellars was founded in 1994 by David Powell who was born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. David’s style of wine making blends his love for the Barossa with his admiration for the Northern and Southern Rhône valleys. The first wine we tried was the 2006 Descendant, a single vineyard wine that was planted in 1994 from 13 year old cuttings from the RunRig vineyards.

Proprietor: Torbreck Cellars

Vintage: 2006

Appelation: Barossa Valley, Australia

Varietal: 92% Shiraz, 8% Viognier

Tasting: Beautiful black purple color in the stem. This wine has a massive bouquet of dark fruit, roasted beef, eucalyptus, sasparilla, dark truffles, bottle caps (the candy), caramel, black cassis, cola, minerals, and toasted oak. The palate is silky smooth, with a full round mouthfeel. The wine coats your entire mouth and lingers for an elegantly long and generous finish.

This wine can be greatly enjoyed now with some decanting, but will improve with some rest in the cellar. I will continue Part 2 of this post tomorrow.

Review: PC 94, JH 95

2004 Arcanum I

pcook — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:19:49 +0000

Great wine follows me around these days. Carol and I were feeling like a little wine tonight and grabbed this Tenuta Di Arceno at Cellar 17. What a great wine find! A little unknown to me, this Super Tuscan style wine brings it and it is really nice.

Rasberry notes with dark fruit very interesting nose with some rose and licorice. The dark fruity nature of this wine comes out as it opens. The finish goes on for some time giving a great taste of tannic fruit in your mouth.

The lost art of finding great wine and then finding it’s little brother and then having them together is hard to do these days but that is just what we did.

Arcanium II was right next to the Arcanium I… So we had it as well.

92 Paul, 93 Carol

2004 Marston Family Vineyard

pcook — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:05:54 +0000

We met up with Don of Brix Wine Cellars and Michael Landry of Pioneer Wine here is Houston, Texas. They stared talking about great wine and Spotteswood soon came up and then Marston Family Vineyard came up. So, we got some and started tasting.

Up front burgunday cherry, cassis, and awesome tannins for
2004. Good spice and and dark fruit with spice. Black cherry and a nice spin of spice and fruit.
The mid pallet is full of cedar spice and dark fruit with a long complex finish of corriander and dark berry goodness.

This wine has an ability to last 5 to 10 years. You should open a bottle of current wine one hour or more before drinking.

Release in 2007, this wine brings “the thunder” to quote Gary V… Licorice on the finish speaks of this wine’s power to bring it.

PC 94, Carol 95, Don 94, Micheal 94