Ravines Wine Cellars Le Petit Caporal

Dark fruit, esp. blackberry on the nose. More on the palate with lots of well integrated tannins. Complex palate some hints of tobacco and leather? Surprisingly it is medium body. Elegant; well integrated. Excellent overall and will age a long time more

Compared to the 2016 Maximilien from Ravines, I thought the Max had more mouthfeel and structure. However, this still very good. Still has tannins on the back end and should be good for another 5-8 years at least. Wish I had another bottle to try in the future!

Bright purple/plum in color. A lot of color variation on the tongue for this full body wine. Nose of black cherry with layers of tobacco and earthy notes. Nice balance with a good mouthfeel, rounded tannins to a medium finish.

nice liight red

I have been a Ravines wine club member for several years and enjoy most Ravines wines (as expected, the rieslings are their best). For a NYS red wine, the Maxmilien is a fine example of a red blend from NYS that is very enjoyable. Unfortunately both the 2015 and 2016 Le Petite Caporal have been major disappointments for me. At $30 per bottle, I could not bring myself to drink more than a glass from either bottle. Disgraceful!!

My favorite

July 2019 Trip to the Finger Lakes; 7/27/2019-7/28/2019 (Seneca Lake) : Tasted at the winery. This is a single vineyard Bordeaux blend from (I believe) the Argetsinger vineyard. A bit riper than the 2015 Maximilian that we had alongside. More fruit, less pyrazine character, plushier. Still some oak, and it still has enough acid to keep the whole thing together. To be fair, when I say ripe, it's ripe for the Finger Lakes, we're nowhere near Napa levels here. This …

FLX TRIP NOTES; 7/4/2019-7/31/2019 : Very interesting - red fruit but juicy with red plum notes, ripe core, long mid palate. it may need a bit more time but there is potential here.

Forgot to take notes on day one, so this is from day two. Tannins are mostly resolved today; they were present but well integrated on day one. Nose is quite savory: tomato leaf, slight lyrazine, with some red fruit in the background (maybe lingonberries?). Palate: savory and a little meaty. Fruit still mostly in the background. Herbal notes, highlighting the bay leaf. Medium acid. Overall quite nice, and I wouldn’t be in any rush to open this. It probably has …