Dana Estates, Cabernet Sauvignon Onda, Napa Valley

from a magnum I have issues with onda's flabbiness/lack of excitement in my last few tastings this bottle did not disappoint , with seamless tannins and fruit integration perhaps being from a magnum helped paired with the steak course at Oceanique in evanston not gonna get any better by my view

Wine is enjoyable to drink, but at 15.2 alcohol a little hot for my liking. Some good fruits shine through the heat. I don’t know if more time in the bottle will back it down.

Very powerful, large scaled, but with plenty of zippy acidity to balance the massive fruit bowl. Cassis, cocoa, blackberries, soaring nose with florals. Shows very young. Some heat at 15.2. As full bodied as possible without being ponderous or overly heavy and syrupy. Although this is not my preferred style these days, it was enjoyable.

Good but too early to drink I think…

4th Saturday Group: Uptown Brown Bag : Double blind. Notes of chocolate, back fruit and herbs. Flavors of red plum and ripe berry fruit. Softened tannins are fine and not obtrusive. Finishes with good length. Guessed Napa cab. (M&R)

Praelum - Californian Wine Tasting (Praelum Wine Bistro) : Deep ruby. A big nose of ripe blackberry and cassis, pepper and some roasts. Blueberry, blackberry flavours, some grass and rose, twigs. A somewhat cherry cola backpalate and finish

Same note as before. Solid wine but nothing to get excited about. Slightly chalky with ripe dark fruit, cassis, and dark chocolate. Maybe it needs time.

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 …

I guess I was just not feeling the style here. Astringent/drying on night one and flabby/extracted night two. No real depth or elevation to it at the moment. I have a few more bottles so hoping for improvement 3-4 years down the road. Stylistically I’m thinking Realm Bard for more $$$.

PnP at Nayara Resort. Boy does this need time. First hour I had to swirl it around as if it was the spin cycle in the dryer on high... with a shoe in it. Around the 2nd hour it started to come around but could not break free. I am giving it a very gracious 94 but it really sits at 93.5 today. Should come around to deliver in 2/3 years or more. For me, don’t touch until 2021.

It has potential but in a closed/dumb phase.

Big

3rd wine at K Laz Here we go! Finally some quality wines in the lineup. The bouquet is noticeably restrained vs the prior two wines, one can immediately sense the mountain aspects of the fruit (lead, subtle gravel, red cherry and blue fruit) shining through. Density and restraint are noticeable. As it sits in the glass, the nose is opening steadily, and the valley fruit is opening up as the mountain aspects subtly reside. As one might expect, this wine …