Shay A

9.3

I followed this over two days. It was initially opened alongside a 2016 Maybach Materium, 2013 Kapscandy Roberta’s Reserve, 2002 Colgin Cariad and a 2006 Dalla Valle Maya.

Aside from BV’s Guest Cottage, this is the only wine from them I haven’t had. Sporting almost a 16%ABV, it poured like motor oil in to the glass. Thick, rich and heady aromatics. This has that classic high quality Napa cab smell to it...smells of expensive toasted oak, espresso, fondue dipped dark fruits, and spiced nutmeg. A meal by itself on the palate, this is a 2013 that is unsurprisingly massive and in need of food to cut through the tannins. Dark initially before it turns slightly red fruit forward at the finish...dark cocoa topped black cherries, espresso sweetness, and black currant. I’d hold at this point. Not sure a decant is doing much at this stage. — 3 years ago

Martinez

9.5

Napa at its best. Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Cabernet Franc (22%) and Petit Verdot (18%) from the estate on Pritchard Hill in Oakville, (not far from Colgin and Bryant Family), including fruit from the Mondavi family’s famed and controversial To Kalon vineyard. Silky, opulent, balanced. Well integrated oak. Dried fruit. Hints of vanilla, chocolate — 4 years ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

On the nose; very ruby, floral plum fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, Thompson raisins, fresh dates and prunes. Black licorice, creamy dark fruit cola, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, soft beautiful dark spice, touch of eucalyptus, fresh herbs, limestone, soft presence dry crushed rocks, a whiff of pepper, fresh lavender, violets and dark withering floral bouquet.

The body is full and lush. Fine meaty, tarry, tannins. Very ruby, floral plum fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, Thompson raisins, fresh dates and prunes. Black licorice, creamy dark fruit cola, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, soft beautiful dark spice, touch of eucalyptus, fresh herbs, limestone, soft presence dry crushed rocks, suede leather, dry clay, dry top soil, dry underbrush, a whiff of pepper, fresh lavender, violets and dark withering floral bouquet. The acidity is very nice. There is good structure, tension, length and balance that needs 10 years plus to flush out. The finish is good, well balanced with fine powdery sticky tannins.

Photos of, Cliff Lede tasting facility, wire woven sculptures that decorate the grounds, Owner David Lede and the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard.

Producer history and notes...Cliff Lede Vineyards (pronounced LayDee) was founded in 2002 on what used to be S. Anderson Vineyard, a winery that was founded in 1971 by Stanley and Carol Anderson primarily known for their sparkling wines.

Cliff Lede is from Leduc, Alberta a small town just south of Edmonton. The reason you see a Canadian flag in front of the parking next to the US Flag. David and Cliff helped run their father’s construction company he founded in 1947, Leduc Construction. Later the company was renamed to Ledcor Construction in 1982. They ultimately built the business into one of the world’s largest construction companies. Through Cliff, the company established business in the Napa Valley focusing on wineries, restaurants, premium resorts and private residences. Some of their more notable works include; Morimoto Restaurant, Davis Estate Winery, Lokoya Winery, Marciano Estate and the Riverfront Residences in downtown Napa.

After several decades at Ledcor, Cliff decided to pursue his passion for wine. His first introduction to wine was helping his mother make wine at home. Later he began collecting wines from Bordeaux, and even considered purchasing property there. However, he fell in love with Napa after business took him to Northern California.

Cliff Lede owns 60 acres of vineyards in the Stags Leap District. This includes the Twin Peaks Vineyard surrounding the winery and tasting room. The Poetry Vineyard was acquired a year after Cliff established Cliff Lede Vineyards. It is planted on steep hillsides down to the Silverado Trail. It’s planted with red Bordeaux varietals, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. The soils there are extremely rocky. Despite being so close to the Poetry Vineyard, the soils in the Twin Peaks Vineyard are dramatically different. They are gravelly loam.

From a viticulture aspect, this diversity of terroir is a good representation of what the Stags Leap District has to offer, ranging from its upper most reaches of 400 feet to the valley floor. Even among their two Stags Leap properties, there are micro-climates. The west facing vineyard hillsides become quite warm during the day in the summer but cool off significantly in the evenings. This diurnal temperature swing is important for growing premium grapes including maintaining acidity.

The winery also owns a 20 acre vineyard in Calistoga at the base of Diamond Mountain planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon as well as a small block of Sauvignon Blanc.

Further to the north in Mendocino County is their Savoy Vineyard, which is a 42 acre site in Anderson Valley. It is planted mainly to Pinot Noir along with Chardonnay. It provides fruit for their FEL Wines (a name that Cliff chose to pay homage to his mother, using the first three initials of her full name Florence Elsie Lede.

Cliff’s love for all things “Rock and Roll”, he named all their blocks in their Stags Leap District Vineyards after famous rock and roll songs or albums such as “Dark Side of the Moon”, “Walk on the Wildside”, “Light my Fire” and “American Girl. ”Collectively these are referred to as the “Rock Blocks.”

David Abreu quickly realized the exceptional terroir of the Poetry Vineyard as did Cliff when they initially tried some of the S. Anderson wines from this site. Abreu oversaw its replanting and clonal material sourced from a number of premiere Napa vineyards. While Abreu was the original vineyard architect, he is no longer involved in the management of the their vineyards. They are now controlled by their in-house vineyard team.

The winery, tasting room and the nearby luxury Poetry Inn all opened around 2005. Architect Howard Gillam was hired to design the winery. Cliff’s background in construction and architectural preferences certainly influenced its design. The tasting room has a more contemporary feel rather then some of his more rustic looking designs. It features beautiful views of the Napa Valley. Inspired by the shape of tanks during a visit to Château Latour in Bordeaux, Cliff commissioned Missouri based Paul Mueller Company to create special truncated tanks for fermentation to help submerse more of the cap. Each tank corresponds to a specific vineyard block. During harvest, a specially designed crane gently moves and lowers a hopper full of whole berries into each tank.

Sorting is a big part of their attention to detail before fermentation. After the grapes come into the winery, they are sorted by hand, then run through an optical sorter and then finally put through an additional final hand sorting. Nearby is a 20,000 square foot cave that connects directly to the winery. World famous Michel Rolland was brought on in the early years as a consultant. Philipe Melka also made Cliff Lede wines for several years and today Christopher Tynan is the Winemaker. He was formerly Assistant Winemaker at Colgin.

Total annual production is between 18,000 and 20,000 cases depending on what Mother Nature gives them. The majority of this is comprised of their Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and their Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon. — 6 years ago

Ryan Mayes

9.3

Runner up WOTN. Helped me win a bottle of '09 Colgin! — 7 years ago

Ryan Callahan

10

Drank a 2011 & 2012 Colgin Cariad last night for my 21st birthday and a 2012 Peter Michael "Au Paradis" #1 wine of the year courtesy of my step-dad Martin. It was indeed an incredible evening. This evening, I picked up the tab today on my 1st legal purchase on this 2016 Bud Light Lime......let me tell you., it is drinking like a million bucks!!!!
Great Nose, slightly fruity with a bubbly finish. Tried to Ck out the legs but they fell flat. I recommend this vintage to everyone! @Martin G Rivard — 8 years ago

with Christine

Jay Eagan

9.4

What a vintage on Pritchard Hill! This is THE go to in this zip code (way under The neighbors are Ovid & Colgin. I can’t believe this is 7 years from vintage - it’s still very young with lots of currant and blueberry with mocha. Tannins kick in in the mid palate and a lengthy finish. With a rack of lamb - proof God loves us! — 4 years ago

Gunja Gargeshwari

9.5

Second to the Colgin — 4 years ago

with Amit

Mark Flesher

9.4

A very nice bottle of wine. I would say this one is drinking the way it was intended to drink. Ready to go. Full throttle for a Chardonnay. Nose of dried herbs, kettle corn, youthful fruit, minerals. Entry a lot of peach, guava, popcorn kernel. Lots of stone ground fruit, dried herbs, dense. Powerful. I don't think this one could drink any better than it is now. Opened to thank a friend for serving an excellent lineup of Peter Michael and Colgin four days before! This one is at the top of the hill right now. — 5 years ago

with Dan

Justin Wittkopf

9.7

What a crazy awesome wine! It has it all, pure fruit profile, great acidity and a nice grip, with long finish. Everything is balanced well. So much energy for a 24 year old wine. Last month I had the 94 Harlan, 94 Colgin HL, and 97 Colgin HL, and this blew them all away. — 6 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.6

Solid wine, and opened in the presence of a 14 Tusk, an 05 Scarecrow, 09 Oakville Winegrowers Cuvee, 88 Dunn, 07 Colgin IX, a 93 Harlan, and an 08 Pritchard Hill Chappellet. I'd say it was probably my 3rd favorite out of those (the 88 Dunn and 09 Oakville Winegrowers being the two Napa Cabs IMO that bested this one). You know you're doing right when a 12 Kapcsandy State Lane is third! This wine has it all going on. Smooth, still slightly youthful fruit sweetness present here. Luscious black fruit on the front and middle with a peppery finish. This wine seemed to be a very approachable drinker even for only six years old. I'd put it at 96 easily but would be interested to see how it would taste if corked and enjoyed tomorrow (service announcement: .it was gone rather fast!). Toasted tannin still present. Wine has incredible structure and depth. — 6 years ago

with Keith

Ming L

9.2

Tor Kenward specialized in single vineyard CS from a few top sites, but the “Napa Valley” bottling is a blend of all the vineyards he works with. For 2014 the juice is predominantly from Melanson vineyard from Pritchard Hill, home to some of the most exquisite CS bottles in all of Napa - Chappellet, Bryant Family, Colgin, and Ovid.
Rich in black fruits but laced with red fruit freshness and elements of dusty earth, herbs, chocolate, and raisin. Luxurious mouthfeel. Broad yet precise. A refined beauty. — 6 years ago

Cory Fosdyck

9.8

On a night where we opened Colgin, Harlan, Shafer, Schrader, Imsignia, Carter & Caymus SS this bottle stole the show for me. — 7 years ago

Paul T HB

9.2

Very good for a 2011, I was skeptical about getting another 11, but this is better than the 2011 Colgin I had last week — 7 years ago

Tom Garland

9.3

1 hour decant (some slightly chunky sediment). A beguiling inky ruby red color with some browning. On the nose: red plum, floral, wet forest floor, some blueberry, and a little creme brulee. Taste: red fruit with a touch of blue fruit mixed in, earthy, cedar, and a red licorice mid palate. A soft approachable wine with fine, sweet tannins coating the mouth ending in a cherry espresso medium finish.

Michael Trujillo winemaker with a lower alcohol restrained cabernet for Napa(note: vineyard used for initial Colgin wine launch). 2016 LAST VINTAGE...vineyard now leased to Thomas Rivers Brown going forward...get ready for a TRB HL vineyard wine....more oak, more ripe.....big scores. — 4 years ago

with Brenda

Jay Eagan

9.4

Massive Cabernet that is fantastic dark fruit and tannins after a decade are still very present!!! If you like Pritchard Hill - you should try this next door neighbor of Colgin. The only issue - this is $500 less a bottle! I don’t hate my $ so I’m in. — 4 years ago

with Kristine

Bill Bender

9.6

A completely different wine than the Dominus. This was full throttle and slams you back in to your seat with its G forces. So ripe, almost over the top; but it decelerates just in time and the finish is so succulent it lingers in your mouth forever. Filled to the tip of the cork with graphite and teeth staining purple fruit. This is the malevolent bastard child of a young Colgin IX Syrah and 2000 Chateau Pavie. Gobsmacker. — 6 years ago

B

9.0

1999 Pahlmeyer Merlot. Side-by-side comparison with 2004 Colgin Jubilation during dinner w McC at S. Affair. This was thin, flat, and musty at first, but really came around in the glass. Fruit cake out and the wine softened a bit. Lacked roundness and was def not as good as the ‘97 Pahlmeyer we had a couple of weeks ago w J&J D. — 6 years ago

Mark Flesher

8.9

A little tired. Some black fruits here, but a lot of vegetal notes as well. Didn't really do so hot especially sitting right next to an 01 Colgin that pretty much wiped the cab competition right outta the park. I definitely believe bottle variation is in order here, as 97 was a pretty darn good year for Napa cab overall and I would love to see what the bottle that was aging right next to this one tastes like. Love Seavey wines, and muchos gracias to Keith for opening this one. — 6 years ago

with Dan, Shay and 1 other

Greg Gregory

9.3

Expected more — 7 years ago

Anna Sangiacomo

9.5

One of the very best Napa Cabernets.
Herb Lamb Vineyard is one of the very BEST !!! Colgin used to source grapes from this Vineyard. — 8 years ago

with Meridith