Winery - Ladera
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Really good Cab here, a blend of mountain and foothills fruit that captures Napa’s elegant intensity. It’s a fully dry, balanced wine, with hefty, sticky tannins yet an immediate approachability of blackberry and Chinese plum sauce flavors and a rich, chocolaty finish. Good now and over the next ten years.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Ripe and tasty, with cassis, cherries and sweet new oak flavors. But it has a sweaty, funky smell, and is excessively soft, making the wine melted and flat.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Ladera has been producing ageworthy Cabernets for the last few years and this is surely one. As rich and dense in tannins as it is, it’s shockingly forward in blackberry and cherry fruit flavors, while a plethora of new French oak adds even more sweetness. The result is voluptuous now, but it should age effortlessly for at least 10 years.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A lovely Cab. Although it’s got some richly dry tannins, it’s soft and melted enough to drink now. The flavors of black currants, cassis and cocoa harmonize perfectly with finely toasted oak.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Ladera’s regular Napa Cab is really good. This one’s nearly twice the price. What do you get? The wine is higher in alcohol, and tastes woodier, too, with a sugared blackberry tea sweetness. It’s a little ponderous now, but you might want to stick it in the cellar for five years or so and see what happens.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Everyone’s tannins are getting softer these days, but Howell Mountain Cabs are hanging in there. Massive, with intense blackcurrant and oak flavors that finish dry. You can tell this is a very fine wine from its balance. Best after 2008, but approachable now.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Tasted alongside Ladera’s ’01 Lone Canyon Cab, this is better structured. The acid and tannin ballet is an exciting one, joined by rich smoky oak and a ripe Cabernet expression of black currants and cassis that’s delicious. This is a major-league wine that should develop through 2010.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The elements of great Cab are all here, from the rich, mountain-dense tannins to the gorgeously ripe blackberry, cassis and fig flavors that are enriched by lots of new, flashy oak. But there’s a sweaty funk in the aroma that’s off-putting, and makes you wonder.
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