One of 2 birth year wines I brought to the graduation dinner of my business partner's daughter. As an aside, she was class valedictorian out of 600+ students so props to her. This is a structured, well balanced Cabernet. Cedar, cherry, grainy-chewy tannins. Very solid but it lacks the gravitas of wines higher up on the mountain--Togni, Pride and even Barnett. Oh yeah did I say the grad dinner was at Olive Garden? My maiden voyage. Not as bad as I had envisioned and I know my partner only spent about $600 for 19 people so there's that..... — 8 years ago
I am a Huge fan of Scouts Honor. However this 2014 was so jammy right out of the bottle, we almost passed it up. We gave it over and hour and drank the Philip Togni for a while. (Amazing). Coming back to it, the jam died down and the excellent fruit blend came through. Lesson learned. Don't give up on this historically great wine! Just give it time. — 8 years ago
Predominantly 1974 with a touch of fruit from 1973. Old school, and still needed time. Early Togni Magic. Marin County grapes - how about that!! — 10 years ago
DSS Napa Seminar - ripe well made crowd pleaser Spring Mtn. Not Togni but tasty. — 11 years ago
huge wine epiphany at lunch today! A blind test... never would have guessed '75! Philip Togni outdid himself with this Spring Mountain gem! — 11 years ago
A definite 94 tonight, with some stiff competition but still held itself well and was several people's WOTN. This wine is a darker expression of cab at this point. Lots of blackberry cassis, blueberry, and truffle in the entry and middle. The wine seemed to almost get a little more youthful in the middle and finish, and I was very glad that it was enjoyed tonight along with a 99 Rudd, a 98 Phelps Bacchus, and a 95 Togni. This wine will continue to benefit from some additional time in the bottle. Very happy that I opened this one tonight for the group. Compared to the Levante, this Ponente seemed to express itself much earlier without as much of a decant. — 7 years ago
My favorite of the non Togni older CA cabs. I've had a lot of back vintages of Backus at the Phelps Insignia days. This falls in line with the standard style even in a less stellar vintage. Leather, tobacco, bell pepper, menthol. Great aged Cab.
A Delectable milestone. Wine number 1250. ✌🏽🍷 — 8 years ago
Still just a baby, tightly wound with showing mineral/graphite notes as the longer it decants the fruit starts to show on the finish. Great aging potential. — 9 years ago
Great one thanks Zio Marco! — 11 years ago
01 Togni wouldn't hurt to have another decade on it. — 9 years ago
1959, from half bottle. Made here by Philip Togni 56 years ago, served to him at dinner here last night. Still drinkable, was great with cheese. Slight nuttiness on the nose, reasonably fresh on the palette, relatively speaking. This bottle (which he signed) is going on the winery trophy shelf for sure. What an experience having him up.. Rating for gravity of experience only!! #napa #history #legacy — 10 years ago
Matt Berkovitch
Sommelier Babbo
"The Troublemaker", so tart, so good. — 7 years ago