Wine & Spirits - June 2019 - 77

US NEW RELEASES
reaching its peak around ten years from the
vintage. (3,287 cases)-J.G.

here), this wine needs time to open with
air. Its energy is immediately apparent in
a sweet hive of mineral tannins. Air brings
out its shape, its chewy fruit-skin tannins
turning gentle and allowing the wine to
buzz with honeyed richness, refreshed by
acidity. Decant it for corned beef-especially the crispy bits along the edges. (2,800
cases)-J.G.
516101

shouldn't treat it to some time in a decanter.
With a few hours open, it will transform its
rustic scents of sausage, oak and brandied
prunes to something fresher, cleaner and
impressive for its crunchy red fruit and easydrinking feel.-J.G.

$95

2016 Napa Valley Reserve Selection Merlot (Best Buy) ^ While Jean-Charles Boisset is
busy creating fin-de-siècle entertainments at
Raymond, Stephanie Putnam is quietly fashioning some of the best values in the Napa
Valley, including this cherry-scented merlot,
a clean, simple, peppery red with a cool, zesty
feel. (2,002 cases)-J.G.

91 | Heitz Cellar

516423

92 | Duckhorn

$98

2014 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ^ If you appreciate long-lived mountain
wines, you might enjoy tasting this wine in its
youth. Dan Veit of Carbon Beach Club in Malibu described it as "an umami tsunami," noting the squid-ink blackness of the tannins.
Those tannins are powerful, marked by the
drought, as if you can feel the vines respiring
moisture in an arid place. They brick off the
wine's black fruit with a wall of coffee and
cola scents, but there's a fresher, foresty tone
leading toward complexity. Veit suggested
cellaring it for a long time, then drinking it
slowly, with venison. (1,923 cases)-J.G.
516587

92 | Mayacamas

$125

2014 Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon ^
After transitioning from Bob Travers's long
reign at this 465-acre mountain estate, Mayacamas comes to its 125th vintage under the
organic viticultural practices of Phil Coturri
and the winemaking skills of Andy Erickson.
They continue to present the wine as a muscular, youthfully impenetrable cabernet, harvested on the early side of ripeness, requiring
long development in the cellar. It's built like
a marathon runner, austere in the power of
its mountain-grown tannins, formidable in
its foresty red-berry fruit. Dense, tight and
herbal, it needs ten to 20 years to fully reveal
itself.-J.G.

2013 Napa Valley Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ A brisk and powerful wine
that needs time to develop into its tannic
structure, this grows at an estate vineyard
along the Silverado Trail in Rutherford. With
air, the crunchy red fruit integrates into the
firm tannins, their green edges gentled into
earthy red-cherry tones. This has the fresh
ripeness of a fine 2013 Napa Valley cabernet, suited to aging five years or more. (2,619
cases)-J.G.
516513

91 | Rodney Strong

$100

2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^
There's black raspberry fruit to balance this
wine's brisk green edges, turning toward
richer, creamier tones of chocolate and coffee with air. The wine feels cool and generous, a cabernet for duck roasted with
cherries.-J.G.
516518

516519

91 | Buehler

$60

2016 Napa Valley Estate Papa's Knoll Cabernet Sauvignon ^ This is silky and ripe in its
clean, fresh strawberry-red cabernet flavors,
even as its tannins still hold some youthful,
vegetal-green notes. That bell-pepper-skin
character should diminish with bottle age,
as the pencil-lead richness of the tannins
gains precedence. Cellar it and you'll have
a claret-style red for roast leg of lamb. (340
cases)-J.G.
516441

90 | Stags' Leap Winery

$45

2016 Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ Like Buehler's 2016
Napa Valley Cabernet (also recommended

89 | Buehler

516185

88 | Raymond

$24

PINOT NOIR

$35

2015 Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ Lean and electric, this is
a racy cabernet with rainwater coolness to
its cherry-scented fruit. A spark of acidity
brings out some green-plum flavor while
the wine's light tannins remain in the background, adding savor without getting in the
way of its drinkability. Its spare elegance and
grace brings to mind Japanese preparations
of duck, like the roasted breast with Cognacpepper sauce at Mifune in NYC.-J.G.
516520

90 | Buehler

MERLOT

$35

2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
(Best Buy) ^ Just because you paid $35 for
this wine rather than $350 doesn't mean you

515659

92 | Iron Horse

$85

88 | Rodney Strong

$25

2016 Green Valley of Russian River Valley
North Block Pinot Noir ^ More vinous than
fruity, this wine has a cool briskness to its
flavors, plump, reticent and clean. The oak
hints at roasted-coffee-bean scents; the lean,
muscular tannins lend a meaty spice. Grown
at a parcel the Sterling family replanted to
the Calera clone in 2007 on an east-facing
slope directly in front of the winery, this
wine's gentle, firm juiciness echoes the salinity of the freshly grilled salmon that would
match it so well. (166 cases)-J.G.
516511
2016 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
(Best Buy) ^ This is sweet and soft, with
pulpy cherry-jam flavors perked up by a
little peppery heat. It's a well-priced Russian River pinot in a rustic style. For grilled
sausages.-J.G.

RED BLENDS
516471

93 | Paraduxx

$82

2015 Atlas Peak Napa Valley ^ It's rare to find
sangiovese in the New World with the bright,
mineral tension of this wine. It's grown in the
rocky, sandy loam soils of the Antinori Vineyard, and Don LaBorde blends it with cabernet sauvignon (39 percent in 2015) grown at
WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2019

https://www.duckhorn.com/product/2014-duckhorn-vineyards-howell-mountain-napa-valley-cabernet-sauvignon?pageID=8CF4442C-95C5-06A6-8BDF-D88E2E1BBCD3&sortBy=DisplayOrder&maxRows=36&&productListName=Current%20Releases&position=16 http://www.ironhorsevineyards.com/Shop-Wines/Pinot-Noirs http://www.buehlervineyards.com/2015_Estate_cab.pdf

Wine & Spirits - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2019