Carter, Beckstoffer Las Piedras Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Pretty complex nose with red fruit and herbal nuances. Full bodied rich, opulent palate with polished tannins. Nice long finish.

2014 vintage

Deep purple red color. Lots of black and blue fruits in the nose with blackberries, blueberries and black cherries with licorice, earthiness, spice and floral. Flavor like the nose, black cherries, blackberries and blueberries. A rich, deep, concentrated Cabernet, well balanced, full bodied, very well balanced and a long smooth finish.

2014 vintage

Tasted on 4/3/24 hosted by Mark Carter at The Cave in Naples. Still young but was a real treat. Only will get better with time and a bit of decanting. Special wine for a future special occasion

2021 vintage

Wonderfully fragrant. Amazing nose. Soft supple tannins with restrained acidity. Dark black crushed fruit delights. Wonderfully structured. Finish is long and memorable. Unbelievably terrific. Love this fruit.

2014 vintage

Almost sweet.

2014 vintage

Drank half one day, half the next, just got better.

2014 vintage

Took to Charlie Palmer Steak DC (who has the best corkage policy btw). First Las Piedras from any winery and I hate to be the dissenter but i was not in love with this. First sip was excellent with a crisp blackberry on the attack and then the gravelly and earthy notes kick in to initially create a balance. However the more I drank this the more muddled it became to me. Shifted to overly earthy and ended with a …

2014 vintage

For more than 170 years, the vineyard of little pebbles has been patiently waiting for this CellarTracker moment. (OK, probably not, but work with me here…) In one corner is Mike Smith, the American protege of Thomas Rivers Brown, working for the Carter label. In the other corner is Benoit Touquette, the French protege of Michel Rolland, working for his own label, Fait-Main. In the arena? The 2014 vintage of the Las Piedras vineyard. The question? Who made the best …

2014 vintage

This is an absolutely fantastic wine. Dark black/purple, bramble nose, soft smooth tannins coat the mouth and having dark, pronounced fruit flavors. One of the best representations of LPV. Simply sublime.

2014 vintage

This dark and complex Cabernet is completely fantastic: ripe, layered, floral, and lively - this wine has it all. Be sure to decant at least an hour, since it started off quite prickly but evolved (by hour two) into something plush and silky, while still retaining that gravelly, almost grainy undertone that makes LPV so unique. Inky red in color and full in body, the wine welcomes you in with aromas of blackberry, charcoal, anise, and graphite. The tastes of …

2014 vintage

When all of us are focusing on the ‘15 (and even '16) LPV offerings, along comes its older sibling, the ‘14 LPV which is great on every level; color, smell, and taste. Dark black, blue and purple with a little red on the rim Nice charcoal, tar, wet stone. Beautiful smell of fresh cut flowers, black and blue berries, Nice acidity. Strong pronounced backbone and finish. Great correlation of the wine and the vineyard. Kudos to Mike Smith for building …

2014 vintage

Mike Smith Tasting and Wine Dinner PART #2 : This wine laid waste to the 2014 Schrader and 2014 Colesworthy served beside it. The concentration of the Carter slapped the Schraders into absolute orbit, especially on the front end and through the mid-palate. The Schraders seemed watery (of all things) and thin. I personally think this speaks more toward the Carter’s awesome, complex tiered flavor profile, and less about the Schraders’ inability to deliver depth-wise. The Schraders were not “watery” …

2014 vintage

Update from my previous note on 3/4/18 on a Coravin pour of this wine. The remainder of this bottle was consumed as a PnP, and without the 2015 Verdad alongside it. As a stand-alone, this 2014 really highlights the perfect harmony of deeply sophisticated and pure core fruit with beautifully interwoven minerality. A compelling example of the site and an especially great accomplishment in the 2014 vintage (which showed a tendency to have produced some overtly fruity, even clumsy wines …

2014 vintage

Previous notes apply. Coravin pour; this was smooth and singing with just a few minutes of swirling in the glass. Black asphalt and gravel led the attack, with astoundingly pure black, purple, and dark red fruit washing over the mineral elements and engulfing the palate. Smooth on the back end, with an inviting finish that beckons you back for another sip. I served this 2014 side-by-side with its younger sibling, the 2015 Carter La Verdad., whose DNA was just a …

2014 vintage

A wonderful wine! Everything I look for in a napa cab. Rich and bold wine! Perfectly ripened fruit, toasted oak, touches of caramel/vanilla/cotton candy (this kept it from 99/100pts), with a nice complex finish where the touches of earth/mineral arrive. If the hints of sweetness fade and more of the mineral/earth strengthen, this has a chance at 99-100!

2014 vintage

This is an exceptional wine, and one of the better 2014's I've had. Drank at dinner next to an astounding 2015 Memento Mori LPV that managed to best it, but the competition was fierce and the MM is a better vintage IMO. The Carter started out as the better wine. Amazing blackberry and blueberry fruit, cassis, anise, wet earth and stone on the nose. Really silky texture that initially set it apart from the MM. Just glides across the pallet. …

2014 vintage

Get together for my father's birthday: 2014 Carter Beckstoffer Las Piedras, 2014 Carter Beckstoffer Grand Daddy, 2014 Barnett Rattlesnake, 2014 Janzen Cloudy's, 2015 Scarlett cab, 2014 Scarlett cab, and 2013 Lewelling cab. I thought this was the wine of the night, however, everyone else selected the Barnett Rattlesnake. Clearly the biggest wine and maybe the biggest Carter cab that I've had. Purple fruit - blackberry, blueberry, currants, and dark raspberry. Smooth mid-palate coupled with really nice depth. Nice flavors of …

2014 vintage

It's been over a year since I last had this wine. Specific previous descriptors apply. In fact, last year I wrote, "full spectrum of purple, blue, black, and red berry fruit notes, blueberry and black raspberry liqueur, awesome river rock/minerality, and hints of red licorice." This was exactly the case this time around as well. PnP was gushing with red and purple berry fruit notes and that signature 2014 electric purple kiss of sweetness. (Not to worry, this was definitely …

2014 vintage

Looking for something somewhat special for the Juventus/Real Madrid game so I decided to finally pop a bottle. Purple fruit - blueberry, blackberry, currants, and dark raspberry. Smooth mid-palate with solid depth and a nice purity. Vibrant flavors of dark wild berries and a little mineral component. Fairly long finish. Decanted for two hours and drank over another three. Improved quite a bit with time and ideally needs to lay down longer as expected - it took around three hours …

2014 vintage

WOTN and it sure was an interesting tasting: Carter's '14 LPV, Chat du Pape '10 (100 points), Continuum '08 and a 1st growth Grand Cru Bordeaux from 1985. I listed these in order of preference for both of us (a good friend). The Carter LPV needed 2 hours in a wide bodied decanter and it was just awesome. It tasted like a Carter/Mike Smith/Las Piedras Vineyard wine. 1st off, the bottle was very heavy :). 2nd, the wine was awesome. …

2014 vintage

Slow ox for 4 hours. Also had LPV's from Schrader and Quivet. This was a combo of the power of the Quivet and the velvety tones of the Schrader. More explosive than the Schrader on the palate, but not quite as smooth. Tannins pretty present on the finish. Really good right now, and will get better with some bottle time. Got better the longer it was open.

2014 vintage

What a wine and what a journey! Mike Smith told me to try the LPV or Three Twins 1st, so I opened up this monster. When I 1st poured it (I had to have a taste) it was too primary. After a 2 hour decant, it began coming together. Dark blue and black fruits, tannins in the background and a very long finish. The wine got better as the night went on. I saved 1 glass for day 2, and …

2014 vintage

2014 Carter Cellars Lineup (Carter Cellars (Envy Wines) - Calistoga) : Holy Mary Mother of God. If you’ve loved previous LPVs from Carter, you’re gonna freak out over this wine. If this shakes out right, I can see this wine following its 2013 older brother and becoming another three-digit scorer after a few years in bottle. Seems to have the stuffing to kick out the full spectrum of purple, blue, black, and red berry fruit notes, blueberry and black raspberry …

2014 vintage

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Carter, Beckstoffer Las Piedras Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

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