Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.2

Inaugural release from Marco de Santis and Joshua Maloney at Radix Winery. Love their concept and very intrigued with the result. Will definitely be wanting to try future releases.

Made from two powerhouse varietals all from the Red Heaven Vineyard on Red Mountain. Deep purplish red. A bit muted on the nose with a touch of dark berries, cinnamon and dark powdered cocoa. Heavy tannins (7/10) and full bodied, completely stains your teeth. Rich flavors on the palate. Layered with tons of dark baking spices, plums, leather, dark bramble berries, and some wet rocks. Highly concentrated and tons of structure. Needs some time to open up nice, give it an hour or so in the decanter. More bottle age will definitely benefit this inaugural bottling! Drink till 2029. (92+)

Sample provided by the winery. Retail price is $55.00. If you purchase over the holiday season it is 10% off all bottles and free shipping on 3+ bottles. Definitely recommend it! — 7 years ago

with Sean and India

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.2

Gave this around 4+ hours in the decanter and it needs more. Dark and deep ruby with high intensity. Quite a bit of heat on the nose and palate. Dissipated a bit on day two but this needs some bottle aging. Notes of dark cocoa and dark raspberries on the nose as well. Heavy tannins (8.5/10) and full bodied. Dark palate with vanilla, dark cocoa, cloves, dark raspberries and cherries. A few restrained black fruits too. Layered and thick with balanced acidity. Long and lingering finish. Only issue is the heat in this. At 15.5% thats a lot of alcohol, hopefully it tones down with some time. Drink from 2018 till 2028. — 8 years ago

Peter Schumacher

9.2

Nicely balanced. Half bottle at Maloney & Porcelli in NYC. — 9 years ago

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.4

Tasting Note:
Before trying the wine I had it open for a 6 hour decant. The color is a dark opaque red and is not cloudy at all. The nose has a light hint of cassis near the middle to end, and some chalk. Additionally as the wine aired a little longer (around hour 7 or 8) some cherry notes began to appear in the nose. Within the palate there are some moderate plus rounded tannins, which lead to moderate and smooth finish. The smoothness in the mouthfeel most definitely came from the 6 hour decant that Maloney recommended. I also tasted a little bit of cassis, and some smokiness at the end. Overall I was impressed with the Elephant Mountain Cab from Maloney. Definitely needed the 6 hour decant, it mellowed it out and rounded out the tannins. As for longevity, it is a screw top bottle which I believe is supposed to slow down the aging of a wine compared to a cork.

This leads me to believe that this wine has the drink dates of 2015 until 2025. If you have to try it now, use the 6+ hour decant and you will not regret it! (94) Greg. — 10 years ago