Lewis Cellars, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Napa Valley

Another lovely Lewis - rich, dark fruit, smooth on the palate with just a hint of sweetness, and a long finish. And, it was as good on day2 as it was on day 1. This Lewis is another example of the pleasure that you receive when you are patient with the best from California.

2006 vintage

This wine certainly has at least several years to go. Rich, dark fruits, blueberry, cassis and modest floral notes. A hint of crushed stone and maybe a bit of sweet tobacco leaf. Hints of rhubarb as well. Delightful on the palate with well resolved tannins for the most part, especially for a 2006.

2006 vintage

Really nice, classic Napa cab dark fruit and touch of earth. Drinking at peak. Have liked other vintages better but this is still delicious

2006 vintage

Inky. Black fruit, floral, graphite, cedar, tobacco, vanilla,anise, and rocky/mineral notes. Matching palate with lots of minerality in the finish.

2006 vintage

Inky. Nose of ripe blackfruits and vanilla with matching palate. Sweet but not overly so. Considerable sediment which got stirred up during transport. I would have it stand upright longer before drinking

2006 vintage

Opened up for Mother’s Day. The nose is intensely floral with some oak. The first sip is strong with a mustiness and a ton of dark fruit, dark chocolate syrup, ascerbic black cherry, earth, sweet raspberry. I am sitting here with a glass ignoring my wife and her lady friend trying to figure this out. As the wine opened, I get black cherry and cocoa and hint of vanilla with a good chewy finish. It popped with Italian food because …

1998 vintage

in great shape integrated tannins with secondary notes

1998 vintage

Very dark purple with bright garnet at the edge. Sweet, ripe mulberries, strong alcohol, and plums on the nose. Beautifully bitter tannins with mixed red, blue, and black fruits. Pleasantly Bitter finish with a somewhat distracting sour citrus note at the end palate.

2006 vintage

Drank in 2019 … age has calmed the fruit 🍎 🍌 🍉 bomb 💣 Drinking beautifully …

2006 vintage

This 20+ year old Randy Lewis beauty is still going strong. A wonderful nose of sweet, dark fruit. It has a mouth-coating earthiness and a continuation of the wonderful fruit. great balance for such a massive wine and a lovely finish. One caution - avoid the sediment by decanting. The sediment is like the thorns on the rose.

1998 vintage

Huge wine but in a right place now. Very dense and powerful but finish is smooth. Perfectly structured. Remanded me Padrone 2006 that I had 3 years ago. Has years to go. And a great value too for Cali Cab. Cheers

2006 vintage

Midwinter, 2019 (Pokai Parera, Ekatahuna, New Zealand) : Classic Napa cult in style - very, very sweet fruit, but also shows some aspects of greeness. Very soft and un-evolved. The wine comes across very sweet, but does not appear to have transformed with age. Drunk on its own, I found it cloying and slightly out of balance, but with beautiful venison stew, the fruit (and structure) came to the fore, and actually matched the dish very well. As the evening …

1998 vintage

Auction purchase. PnP, which is the way to go. Tomato, cassis, plum. Decent tannin for the age. Acidity waning. Drink now.

1998 vintage

Still very closed on the nose refusing to give up anything other than blackberries, cedar and vanilla. The palate is incredibly well balanced and the tannins have softened significantly with black berry, black cherry, cedar and oak and mocha on the back palate. Could probably go another two to three years, but this wine is in the zone now.

2006 vintage

Delicious sweet black berry, cassis, and black cherry flavors with rich oak and soft tannins on a long finish. Drinking well!

2006 vintage

Soft and supple with a fine toasty oak that is in harmony with the plum and bing cherry skin fruit, with a loamy cafe au lait finish. A one hour decant brought out the complexity. No rough edges in this diamond.

2006 vintage

corked

2006 vintage

Still displays a deep purple color, earthiness and black fruit on the nose; the tannins provide backbone, but don’t interfere, flavors of black currant, toasty oak, and a touch of chocolate are in great balance. Can’t really tell how much longer this vintage will hold at this high level, but, man, is it ever a beautiful bottle now.

2006 vintage

Juicy blackberry and robust oak, with vanilla and chewy tannins on the finish. This bottle isn't still in great shape, pop down pour so maybe not showing full potential, should have decanted in advance.

2006 vintage

This bottle was not up to par. The fruit was diminished which caused the acid to come on strong. Moved to a 1998 Staglin that was very good. Hopefully my remaining 1998s show better.

1998 vintage

One word....Velvet!

2006 vintage

Decanted for two hours. Wonderful wine with nice nose, complexity and layers. This wine still has a about five years of cellar time left. I wish we had another bottle left in the cellar.

2006 vintage

Excellent wine, drank at Xmas party 2015

2006 vintage

Still a big jam fest, benefits from a decant and some open time.

2006 vintage

after a wine of old world wine, this was a bit of an adjustment, but what a fine cali cabernet. Currant, plum, anise and oak come together in a full bodied, rich wine

2006 vintage

Took about 1 hour decent to open up. Sweet tannins. Medium fruit relative to other vintages.

2006 vintage

Inky dark color, deep dark berries on the nose. This is drinking great right now, and has several years of happiness in it. This is an extremely well integrated Napa cab.

2006 vintage

2 hour decant (a must)- full bodied, great balance, moderate fruit, good finish, no heat. Impressive. Above average finish. Should hit prime in 2-3 years and last another 10 years.

2006 vintage

2 hour decant,.allowed this rich still tannic Chewy and full bodied cab to be enjoyed with a great filet

2006 vintage

Oh man, did we get lucky with this bottle, full throttle CS, blackberry, cherry, vibrant with plenty of lift and a long finish. Amazingly, it was better after about three hours, adding some oak and mocha nuances, bright red berry fruit and great presence.

1998 vintage

Cherry bouquet, concentrated cab fruit, full bodied and complex. Bit of an after-taste on the back end.

1998 vintage

On the downswing, but still showes rich Lewis pedigree, cherry, smoke, silky, etc.. I would say this bottle was around 80% of peak.

1998 vintage

Similar notes to before but more cigar box prevalent this go around ahead of the fruit. Still doing great but don't see much need to wait around to enjoy this either.

2006 vintage

Pop and pour. No aerating necessary. Agree with the other Q1 2014 reviews.

2006 vintage

After a terrific showing last time out (about 2 years ago), I went back to this for a nice restaurant dinner. Unfortunately it showed as faded and tired this time. Bought on winebid.com so provenance clearly could account for the difference in addition to the extra 2 years of bottle age. If I had more of this, I'd be planning to drink them ASAP in hopes of the "near peak" experience that others have reported recently but also to in …

1998 vintage

Outstanding!

1998 vintage

Similar notes to last bottle. Rich cherry, smoke and cedar flavors, with a hint of anise. Not elegant enough to warrant a 90, but very good.

1998 vintage

second bottle was better

1998 vintage

very good

1998 vintage

From the minute it hit the glass to the end of the bottle, it didn't budge, full bodied attack on the nose retaining almost all the fruit, with near perfect oak integration, lush with a silky smooth finish...a great effort from a supposed rough vintage. At peak or very near, drink it all if you got it!! It is in my top 5 this year..so far.

1998 vintage

Dark, full bodied, full forward complex mouthful of ripe rich almost sweet black currant, plum, black raspberry, with a layer of black cherry, anise, a hint of mocha on a long firm finish of big firm but smooth polished and nicely integrated tannins.

1998 vintage

Very much a new world style, huge with dark fruit. Deep purple in the glass, with, herbs, spice and oak on the nose. A fruit bomb on the palate, evidencing blackberry, plum, cassis and surprisingly almost no oak. The Lewis offers a mouth filling, palate coating finish that goes on an on. As enjoyable as it is now, the Lewis seems to have plenty of time left. One can only imagine what this will be like in 10 years.

1998 vintage

3rd Annual Best of Bordeaux vs Kings of Kalifornia (PRIMA, Walnut Creek) : From Magnum (wine #3) nose - floral, tomatoe, soy, savory mouth - savory, soy, big tannins, blood.

1998 vintage

This was really outstanding. If it is fading at all, it's only a hint - I think we are still very close to the peak for this wine if you like it with a little age. The nose is classic napa cab with still vibrant fruit aromas along with oak/vanilla, but on the palate there's virtually no oak and just the right amount of fruit to frame up the very rich mushrooms and earth that could never have shown themselves …

1998 vintage

Earthy nose. Cedars and cherries on tongue.

1998 vintage

This shows the typical JL tasting note to be a load of stuff. This wine is just singing 2 years after his window has expired and tastes more like an aged Bordeaux than any other Lewis that I've ever tried. Saddle leather, blackberries, earth, even some sous bois like a Burgundy. It's all there both in the nose and palate with a 30-45 second or longer finish. Great wine but a little too elegant for a 4th of July party …

1998 vintage

Very nice Napa cab, sweet cherry fruit with smoke, cedar, earth and mineral flavors. Soft texture, rich mouthfeel. Maybe it's the vintage but it just lacked something to give it a 90.

1998 vintage

Nose of some overripe, almost rotten fruit with some bright herbaceous notes initially.With air that has moderated. Thankfully, it tastes a lot better than it smells. At first, the acids were pretty prominent. As it has had some air the bright acidity has receded a bit. This is a typical rich, ripe Napa Cab with round fruit, and firm tannins. The oak is now fully integrated and not obtrusive. This is a very good wine from a vintage that didn't …

1998 vintage

This truly a Napa Cab - Dark and dense - tannins are mature, mellow but still prevalent - this wine has at least 2-3 years of peak drinking if properly stored. Drank from 750 with beef and back ribs.

1998 vintage

i just had this. Thought is was fabulous. Lots of rich berries, slightly tannic. Unbelievable. Still had a bit of life in it after 11 years. Pretty impressive!

1998 vintage

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Lewis Cellars, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Napa Valley

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