Dana Estates, Helms Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford

No sediment, medium plus ruby color, medium plus intensity on the nose with blackcurrant, ripe black cherry and black plum, vanilla and a touch of toast and wet autumn leaves. Dry wine with medium plus acidity, medium plus tannin, full bodied, pronounced flavor intensity of ripe cherries, vanilla, and black plum with a long finish. Very good to outstanding quality.

Definitely should have decanted this one for at least 2 hours. Bold aromas of violets with black fruit, earth, and graphite. On the palate, black cherries, graphite, blueberries and spice. Grippy tannins that finally gave way to the complexity of the wine as the night evolved!

22x Dana Estates 2013-2016 : Once-in-a-lifetime tasting with winemaker Chris Cooney. We tasted the past 4 vintages (2013- 2016) of all their wines. Conclusions: 1) Incredibly high level: 93 as lowest score, many 95/96s and one 98 point wine (I rarely go so high in such broad tastings where you can't follow the wine over 5h). 2) Main reasons: weightless structure (not many Napa wines achieve that level), very elegant, high aromatic intensity, complexity and precision, perfect ripeness. 3) "Entry-level" …

Dana estate vertical and horizontal 2013-16 (Restaurant Löwen, Meilen) : Dana Estates vertical / horizontal – I am trying to coin "vertizontal" – with 22 wines in Zurich. The line-up included all vintages 2013-16 for all estates (including Vaso) and two vintages of the Sauvignon Blanc. The consistency I encountered here was amazing. Powerful yet elegant and light on the palate is a description that worked for almost all vintages and estates (including the Vaso). Of these vintages the 2016 …

Really nice fruit. It is well synthesized. Opened up nicely over about two hours. Delicious, however it lacks depth and more acutely, complexity.