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2007 Kapcsándy Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon (Grand Vin) State Lane Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley, Yountville (5/24/2016)
This opens with a huge nose of dark black fruit, exotic spice and flowers . The nose is intoxicating and a great preview of what’s to come. First sip impressive at pnp but I could tell from previous experience decanting would help. At the 2 hour mark the wine coats your palate with rich black fruit, cassis and graphite. It builds at the mid palate and ends with a very long finish that has a slight saline almost umami note. Tannins are starting to peak out and there is some structure though the wine is seemless and just about in perfect balance. This is just starting to hit it’s drinking window and unlike many 07’s can still use a little time. A stunning Napa cabernet and absolutely fantastic now with decant. (98 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
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2007 Larkmead Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Solari - USA, California, Napa Valley (5/25/2016)
After a 1 hour decant this is hitting on all cylinders. This came after an 07 Kapcsandy Grand Vin so it had a tough compare but while the wine was excellent I felt it lost a little since the last bottle from 7/15. It has a deep dark nose and palate of rich black fruit and mineral. Everything is integrated and the wine is clearly in it’s drinking window but I think it’s lost some of the depth and weight it had last year. It’s somewhat one dimensional and almost a bit too much. It finishes with a slightly sweet note.
This is a great wine but my experience with the Larkmead 07’s as well as many other 07’s is to consume them within the next year or so. (94 pts.)
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A pair of Cab heavyweights but like The Highlander, there can be only one ! The 07 Grand Vin was the clear winner for all. Bravo Denis Malbec you are missed by many.
Your tempting me to break the seal.
Chris- we tasted with Lou Jr this past Friday and talked about what was drinking well. His feedback and the release yesterday to the Silver club was all the prompting I needed. I had my brother and sister-in-law as well in town so was perfect timing to open some great wine.
The 14 GV and Rhaps are excellent. Lou Jr felt that across all of the top wines the 14’s are there best. Doesn’t mean in one year a particular wine wasn’t better but for strength across the entire line up they are very happy.
cheers
Thanks for the notes, Fred. Very interesting.
I have never tried a Kapcsandy Grand Vin, but I have tried a few Larkmead Solari’s, including the '07. Most of the '07’s that I have in the cellar are from producers who have a good track record of aging, so I will leave those alone for a bit, but I will certainly try the ‘regular’ '07 Larkmead soon to see where it is at.
Thanks,
Ed
Fred, I found your note on the 2007 Larkmead Solari to be somewhat incongruent. You begin with “this is hitting on all cylinders” and you finish with “It’s somewhat one dimensional and almost a bit too much. It finishes with a slightly sweet note.”
We had this wine on multiple occasions and I have to be honest, we were not impressed. Our opinion was that it lacked structure and had virtually no complexity. We also detected sweetness on the finish that we found overbearing. Mid eighties score at best for us.
From your description it would appear that you were not all that satisfied either.
I feel that the 2007 vintage is weak at this point. Some people would argue this and I am sure there are some exceptions, but many top wines from this vintage lack structure, and are not aging well. Perhaps we are in agreement there.
Great stuff, thanks for the share, Fred.
Chris- i can see where you might see the front part of the note not fitting with the last part. It probably reflects my conflict a bit on the wine. We had a great bottle last year that had more substance and depth. This one lacked it a bit and did come off one dimensional. I might have scored it 2 points high. It’s still a very good Napa cab if you like the style. The 07 is not holding up nearly as well as other Larkmead vintages and we are definitely in agreement on 07’s in general. I will only hold onto Spottswoode, Forman, Bressler and Kapcsandy. The others have matured very quickly.
Mike- thanks, I think you were one of the early ones who questioned 07
Ed- let us know what you think of the regular Larkmead.
Cheers