Winery - Neal Family
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A classic Petite Sirah. Dark, dry, densely layered and very tannic, it’s a wine that should easily glide over the next decade. Shows a concentrated heart of blackberries, black pepper and smoked butter notes from oak barrel aging.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Made in a flashy, fleshy, flamboyant style, with ripe flavors of cherry tart, cocoa, licorice and cedar. The structure and mouthfeel is firm and dry, with well-articulated tannins. Classically elegant. Now through 2013.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Great Zinfandel, easily worth the price. Napa Valley still makes the most balanced, claret-style Zins, and this polished beauty is right up there. It’s dry and elegantly constructed despite its considerable power, showing rich flavors of wild raspberries and cherries, sweet concentrated red currants, mocha, licorice and scads of peppery spices. Drink now. Production was 1,750 cases.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Overly sharp acidity marks this wine, giving it a cutting mouthfeel that interferes with otherwise delicious flavors. It sure is deep and long in blackberries, black currants, black licorice and smoky cedar wood, and the tannins are thick and dry, suggesting ageability.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A curious wine. It’s not tasting at all good now. So tannic, so new oaky, it feels clumsy and astringent and awkward in the mouth. Then you realize how rich the heart of fruit is, offering an enormous array of blackberries, blueberries and black currants. The grapes are from Rutherford. The gamble is if the fruit will outlast the tannins.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Don’t even think of opening this Cab now. The tannins are hard, and they lock down the considerable blackberry, black currant, anise and dark chocolate flavors. It’s a very fine wine. The 100% Cab grapes come from Howell Mountain, Atlas Peak, Mt. Veeder, Rutherford, St. Helena and Coombsville, making this a sort of international citizen of Napa Valley. 2011–2016.
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