Jane Day

9.7

We’ve been keeping this wine cellared for 10 years. I was afraid it might have gone over the hill especially because the cork was a mass of crumbles. However, it is amazing. A truly memorable wine — it’s own creature for sure. The slightest of brick around the edges and inky ruby in the middle of the glass. The nose is amazing, forest undergrowth and fine leather. The tannins have gone leaving a huge, structured, rich, long wine. The palate matches the nose with bramble and leather. — 5 years ago

Shay A

9.5

Another Christmas wine from yesterday. I know this wine gets a bad rap, and its reputation has been a bit of a roller coaster. We were even a bit underwhelmed when we visited a few years back. All that to say, this was a welcomed surprise. It needed an hour+ in the decanter to blossom.

Superb aromatics of baked blackberries, saddle leather, bay leaf, violets and clay. A persistent battle between fruit and secondary notes. The palate was big without being overbearing. Silky. Just glides down the middle of the palate with dusty red and black fruit, vanilla pipe tobacco, pencil lead, and dark roasted plum.

Can be a tough price to pay based on other wines at similar quality and cheaper prices in Napa Valley, but this really is a gorgeous wine that is still years away from its peak. — 5 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

Wonderful Merlot. Nose of wild berries and bittersweet chocolate. The entry of this wine is dark. Brambly and blackberry and baking chocolate. The middle has a chocolate covered almond character to it. Hint of herb. Finished with toasted oak and nice acidity. I am 100% sure I will not have the willpower to hold on to my other bottle of this. I can also appreciate the 95 this one scored as well. Nice, nice Columbia Valley Merlot! Rolland and merlot are an excellent combo! — 6 years ago

Billy L.

9.5

Celebrating my Sister In Law's BDAY
Cristal always a treat! — 7 years ago

Jonathan Wall

9.0

Carmelized toast. Great with middle eastern lamb tagine. And it elevated my olives. — 7 years ago

Yves Padovani

9.2

Wow Sancerre style - very small winery - great opportunity to find this here in CA. Tropical nose, honeysuckle, white peach. Amazing minerality. More please... — 8 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

Ready to rock and roll. Blackberry and red clay on the nose. Entry of black cherry and cola with acidic character. Middle is dark, smoky, leather, more blackberry and hint of cocoa. Still finishes with a young semi sweet baking chocolate and Rutherford dust! Black pepper finish is unmistakable with a ton of black fruit, and plenty of life left. Dang. — 5 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

Opened tonight. And, I feel like a broken record saying that here is ANOTHER great 2011 considering the "damned vintage" that this one received press for being. I have 43 more 2011 Napa wines and I have a feeling that I'm going to be writing the same thing another 43 times. Not powerful, but these wines truly show the complexity that Napa cab CAN be. Nose of iodine, black licorice. Very front of this wine is sweeter black cherry giving way to an herbal infused middle (getting more dried basil with a hint of oregano and cumin). The red clay terroir is unmistakably present here through the middle and finish, which is usually more present for Ponente only at the very finish. The wine finishes with black cherry and black licorice dominated notes. I have a feeling that this wine is still on the way up. Has a few more years until it is at the top of the hill, but drinking OH SO WELL right now. — 5 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

Gooseberry, bramble, violets, hint of sage. This is a full-bodied Merlot. However, the middle picks up a cola note but doesn't really go to a chocolate like the 2010 and 2012 had more of a tendency to do. This one really did not have a ton of acidity nor did it really have a ton of tannin to resolve. There was definitely enough tartrate in the bottle though! I really look for this one to continue aging quite nicely for another 10 to 15 years. But oh man, this one is drinking pretty darn nice right now. — 6 years ago

Bethany S

9.1

My go to cab. — 7 years ago

Patrick Derdeyn

9.1

These are just starting to loosen up. Whether its the mountain fruit, the vintage, TRBs direction or all 3 with this wine they've taken a number of years to show much. Good with a 2 hr decant and improving for several more years. — 7 years ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.1

Delamonte is a sister house to Salon. This 07 has little or no Salon grapes as Salon surprisingly did make an 07 vintage champagne. In a difficult Salon vintage, Salon grapes can make it into the Delamonte. Bruised apple cider, green apple, overripe Bosc pear, pineapple rhine, citrus blend(tangerine dominated), butterscotch candy, toffee, citrus blossoms, brioche, bright acidity & wet sandy chalk/minerals and a long, long, long finish. It's 9.1 but seriously pushing 9.2. — 8 years ago

David L

9.2

09' Myrid Beckstoffer Dr Crane. Love that dark brick color to it. A slight bit of heat. Decanting this was the key. Full- bodied. The nose-Expressive licorice, floral/flowers, just sells it for me. Front of the palate you get nice chunk of ripened strawberries. Middle & back of the palate- Primarily black fruits, with a splash of blueberry. BIG/full & smooth finish. Love the vineyard. Cheers to Mike Smith for this gem of a wine. — 8 years ago

Shay A

9.2

Weekly Wednesday Wine Committee. Incredible hosting by Joe. 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert wine, all tasted blind.

Bonus wines. My first time having this from Shafer, and it’s very down the middle. Epitomizes Cali chard. It’s not overly oaked, but certainly kissed by some. A crowd pleaser. Little bit of marzipan, lemon bar pastries and honey butter. — 5 years ago

Shay A

9.5

Celebrating my mother-in-law’s birthday. She prefers champagne over red wine (and she really enjoys red wine) so this was definitely a perfect bottle. Awesome, creamy mousse. Roasted almonds, brioche, and rich key lime pie. This is definitely on the young side, but extremely enjoyable now. Very little tart notes here. Yeasty and chalk driven. Bubbles go forever. I enjoy the more oxidized style champagnes, and while this is maybe more reductive in style, there is an awesome savory/sea salt note steak down the middle of the palate here. — 5 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

Really still not able to be rated right now but would be solid at 94 (previous rating given here). This wine is so young that it was finally starting to show its character after being open for an hour and a half....but overall, still locked up. Nose on this wine is hawthorne, rose petal, and red fruits. The wine is medium bodied, red fruit dense, medium acidity to the middle, and finishes with anise and red clay notes among a floral and youthful red berry backbone. The proper thing to do with this wine is cellar it for another 5 years. Considering that I've now consumed 9 of 12 bottles purchased, that's not going so well. Will go another 10 years with ease. — 5 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

I have quite a number of these, and thank goodness! I feel a little weird opening up one of these bottles as a 2016, but I keep telling myself to FOCUS....this bottle is victim to EXPERIMENT! Compared to previous Silver Eagles, this one IMO seems to have more of a dried floral and acai berry type of nose than the other years that really went more to a dirty raspberry. However, the entry of this wine seems to be a touch less rounded and a little less 'sweet.' The middle of this wine has incredible balance that really shines with food and becomes more delicate without. The finish of this wine has some acidity, getting more black cherry and black tea on the finish. Overall I don't get as much acidity as I had with the 16 SC PN. Definitely keeping the others in the cellar a little while longer. — 6 years ago

Suz Davidson

9.0

Great pick for a casual afternoon. The expression on the label caught my eye, and I'm glad that it did. Fun and tasty. — 7 years ago

James Forsyth

9.0

My sister will be serving this at her wedding in September so she and I and our third sibling road tested it over dinner at Brixton's painfully cool and appropriately named popup concept, Pop. After a couple of minutes in the glass the wine softened to become a highly attractive wine with red fruit and floral notes. This wine will be a hit at the wedding! — 7 years ago

with Sangeetha, Antonia and 3 others

Erica Fox

9.0

Good wine! Not too sweet, not too dry. Pretty good. Not my favorite wine ever, but a nice, cheap and enjoyable wine! — 8 years ago