The Vice Mount Veeder Merlot 2017 Last year I happened to walk past a wine bar “Local & Vine” in NYC and met Vice wine guys and tried several of their wines they were presenting, since I have tried several others. Deep Ruby with aromas of ripe dark fruits, sweet spice and cedar notes, aged 17 months in oak. On the palate flavors of blackberry, plum and black cherry with toasty oak, cacao and espresso. Fine soft tannins, long finish ending with fruit, oak and sweet pepper spice. Still has room to age, but nice now! Small production. Cheers
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SippingFineWine is always excited in trying new wines and especially the rare opportunity to taste something unique, exceptional and spectacular, and sharing such insights with wine aficionados. Yan Cellars is a small exquisite boutique winery crafting wines from esteemed vineyard sites in Napa Valley. Their 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Blush was produced from Napa Valley fruit; 98.5% Sauvignon Blanc and 1.5% Cabernet Sauvignon from the renowned historic Beckstoffer Georges III vineyard with a reputation of producing some of the finest wine in Napa. Yan is owned by Eugene Bayani, and Patrick Saboe is the winemaker, together they produce extraordinary small-lots of wine, paying attention to details from harvest to production. Yan…
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SippingFineWine is always excited in trying new wines and especially the rare opportunity to taste an inaugural vintage of a superb wine, and sharing such insights with wine aficionados. Yan Cellars is a small exquisite boutique winery crafting wines from esteemed vineyard sites in Napa Valley. Their 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon was produced from the Fern Rock vineyard owned by the Castellucci Family, who have reputation of sourcing some of the finest grapes in Napa. Yan is owned by Eugene Bayani, and Patrick Saboe is the winemaker. Together they produced 600 bottles of their first vintage; 2017 Yan Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. The Spring Mountain District in Napa is about a…
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Patria 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Ranch Napa For the better part of the last 19 years Anthony Biagi has been crafting wines in Napa Valley for Paraduxx, Neal Family Vineyards, PlumpJack, and Cade Wineries and currently for Hourglass, Sinegal Estate, and Amici. Following his parent’s sage advice “Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life,” he finds himself extremely fortunate that he has been able to do what he loves from the day he graduated from college. Following a dream he set decades ago, Anthony founded Patria (homeland) in 2013 with Kimberly Jones. Perched at 1,400 feet, in the eastern hills of Napa valley,…
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Sill Family Vineyards 2017 MERLOT, Atlas Peak Sill Family Vineyards is a family-owned and operated exquisite boutique winery with estate vineyards producing ultra-premium, very limited production carefully hand-crafted wines. As a Court of Master Sommelier, Winemaker, Igor Sill became passionate about Bordeaux wines after being introduced to Château Margaux, Château Latour, Château Haut-Brion and Château Lafite Rothschild in the late 1970s by H. Lyman Emerson, a renaissance gentleman and noted fine wine collector. Sill owns and operates two distinctive vineyards, Atlas Peak Mountain vineyard located on a plateau 1,650 feet above sea level, and St. Helena terraced vineyard. Unfortunately, the Atlas Peak fires of Oct 2017 destroyed their Winery and…
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2016 Viader Black Label Napa Valley Viader Vineyards and Winery (pronounced “Veeya Dare”), founded by Delia Viader, born in Argentina, who is a ground-breaking visionary and one of the first female winemakers who was very successful in creating one of the sought-after “cult” boutique wineries. Grapes sourced from a 92-acre Howell Mountain vineyard at a 1200 ft elevation with a 32% slope, with a terrior that features rocky volcanic soils, western exposure and vertical planting of vines, resulting in low yields and exceptionally concentrated fruit. I should note that most Napa vines are planted with horizonal terracing. The result are wines that are soft, expressive and align with the terrior…
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Joseph Phelps Vineyards 2016 Insignia; 2013 Insignia; 2006 Insignia I recently wrote about Joseph Phelps Vineyards having its roots dating back to 1973, and reviewed some of their wines I tasted on my Napa trip. While many of the early Joseph Phelps wines were made with grapes from the Home Ranch in St. Helena, Joe also sourced fruit from outside growers. But as the winery continued to grow and he traded earlier efforts in Riesling and Chardonnay for Cabernet, Merlot and other red Bordeaux varieties, he began acquiring vineyard land in the Rutherford, Oakville, Stags Leap District, and Oak Knoll District AVAs. These vineyards became important sources of Insignia and…
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Shafer Vineyards 2015 Napa Valley Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon Continuing on with my Shafer Vineyards visit, see my November 6, 2019 & December 20, 2019 reviews of 4 of their outstanding wines together with some of its history. Keep checking back with SippingFineWine.com as I recently made a trip to Napa during 2019 harvest, visited several wineries, tasted some great wines, and met some outstanding individuals. I’ll continue to report on my discoveries. Today I’ll discuss Shafer’s signature wine, Hillside Select, sourced from the slopes of an amphitheater-like structure of thin soil and rock, where thanks to a series of knolls and outcroppings some vineyard blocks receive southeastern sunlight, while…
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Shafer Vineyards 2017 Napa Valley TD-9 2016 Napa Stags Leap District One Point Five Continuing on with my Shafer Vineyards visit, see my November 6, 2019 review of their 2017 Napa Carneros Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay and 2016 Napa Relentless together with some of its history. Keep checking back with SippingFineWine.com as I recently made a trip to Napa during 2019 harvest, visited several wineries, tasted some great wines, and met some outstanding individuals. I’ll continue to report on my discoveries. Shafer Vineyards also has a “Mailing List” you can join in order to purchase their wines and also get on the waiting list on…
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Caymus Vineyards 2017 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Special Selection Napa Cabernet Continuing on with my Caymus Vineyards visit, see my November 8, 2019 review of their 2017 Mer Soleil Silver Chardonnay, 2017 Mer Soleil Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir and 2017 Emmolo Napa Merlot together with some of its history. The Wagners produced their first vintage in 1972, consisting of 240 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then, Caymus has focused their efforts in the production of quality Cabernet Sauvignon. Current production is about 65,000 cases. Caymus Vineyards has a “Wine Shop” offering their exceptional wines directly from the winery. I recommend…