What an unbelievable afternoon. I still have trouble getting my head around it. I have over a dozen cards from the barrel tastings and I know we tasted way more than that. The lunch? OMG! White truffle pizza with fresh shaved white truffles. Bottle after bottle of world-class top-shelf wine. A host with passion and hospitality that should define all vineyards in the world. It cannot get any better and again what a wonderful experience I for one will never forget. I know I will miss some wines here so please forgive me but what I can remember is a good representation of one of the top vineyards in the world. Forgive me also for not finding professional ratings on most of these wines. Dave's wines are only sold at the vineyards so until they go into the auction market a few years after release there is not much out there, especially in the current release or the ones in the barrel which are the ones we primarily tasted. My wife and I were able to attend a dinner recently with Desiree & Giovanni Del Dotto tasting some of the 2019 vintages at a wine pairing dinner and the same wines continue to impress. So much so I purchased an additional case of the Sparkling Rose, Chardonnay, and Pinot!
I liked this Sparkler a lot. I am finding that the Sparkling Rose's from this area is getting better and better every year. This wine was bright and light and had good fruit and great balance and a pleasant finish. I detected some cherry flavor in it also. For the price, it is a great value wine and is remarkably consistent year to year.
2016 & 2019 Chardonnay Fort Ross-Seaview Sonoma Coast
Did anyone order popcorn? Lots of popcorn butter flavor in the nose and taste on this one. The flavor profile had a good showing of apple and pear flavors and the acidity was moderate and well balanced with the other aspects of the wine. It is a good fruity buttery Chardonnay with a good finish, food-friendly, and no flaws. We love it so much we just received an additional case.
2016 Giovanni's Tuscan Reserve Napa Valley Washington Wine Blog95
A blend of largely Cabernet with Sangiovese, this shows a deeply perfumed nose with creme de cassis, smoke, Asian spice, and dusty terroir on the nose. The palate shows wonderful brightness and intensity with red currant, red cherry, cassis, and a touch of espresso bean. This shows some incredible range here as I can’t think of a wine if this type made as well as this edition of ‘Giovanni’s Tuscan Reserve.’ Drink 2018-2035-To me it was comparable to Tignanello by Marchesi Antinori.
2014 Rutherford Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Single Cluster
We had this wine with lunch out of Magnum and I bought a bottle being totally enamored with the wine. Sweet young balanced tannins with a complex flavor profile. Despite being a fairly young wine that will age for a long time it was approachable and pleasant to drink and went great with food, especially white truffles. Clearly had the Rutherford "dust".
2016 St. Helena Moutain Cabernet Sauvignon Alain Fouquet carved and grooved American Oak Block 2
Another example of Dave's experimentation. The oak barrels in this wine are carved and grooved and monitored by a computer program this of course determines how the barrel ends up after toasting. The result is the wine flavors are plush showing off mocha, anise, creme de cassis, and tart flavors
2016 St. Helena Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Vicard Privilege French Oak Block 2
It is interesting how the barrels of this wine is made. Dave is doing a lot of experimentation with his wine and with this one he uses a computer program to toast the barrels. For this wine, the barrel is done in a medium toast and I thought the oak was a little better than some of the other wines tasted. It seemed to have a lot more balance to me. Plus it was French Oak which I personally prefer.
2016 The David Howell Mountain
Made with American Oak I picked up aromas and tastes of Black cherry and cinnamon as well as aromas of baking spices, some tobacco, creme de cassis, and mocha. The aromatics are downright intoxicating. The mouthfeel is gorgeous as dark chocolate-covered cherries, sweet pipe tobacco, and mocha flavors deliver. It should age well.
2016 Villa Del Lago Cabernet Sauvignon Washington Wine Blog97
One of the great wines in Napa Valley, the Villa Del Lago Cabernet Sauvignon shines for its combination of concentration and silky elegance. The nose is gorgeous and highly perfumed with rose petals, black tea alongside creme de cassis. Silky smooth through the palate, the wine shows wonderful elegance and terroir with dark fruits parading with creme de cassis. Turkish coffee, and bake tea with leather. Complex and seductive this is shockingly good right now but will cellar marvelously for decades. Drink 2018-2040-
2016 The BEAST Cabernet Sauvignon RP100
What? Leave out the "Beast"? Simply not going to happen. The wine is a blend of all of Dave's best Estate Vineyards including Howell Mountain, Rutherford Estate Oakville Vineyard, St. Helena Mountain, Vineyard 887, and Villa Del Lago. It has a huge body and structure. The tannins are young, they will age seemingly forever. Lots of black cherries and plenty of balanced fruit. Just a young powerful puppy at this point in time. Parker says the 2016 Del Dotto ‘The Beast’ Cabernet Sauvignon is every bit as good as their 2015 bottling and is one of the best wines that I have sampled all year. ‘The Beast’ is a barrel selection that sources from a host of great vineyards in four different Napa Valley. Inky dark in the glass, the nose is intense and aromatically gorgeous, currently displaying a dazzling level of complexity with creme de cassis, mocha, Turkish coffee, Asian spice, anise, and a touch of toasty oak. The weight and mouthfeel of this wine is simply stunning with creme de cassis, mocha, anise, black tea, leather, and black cherry cordial flavors all slowly building in the glass. This is a head-turning combination of bright acidity and fruit weight on the palate that makes it nearly impossible to resist right now. Intense and lively, this has an extremely long life in the cellar. Drink 2018-2040- Parker has rated this vintage at 100 points as well as the 2015 and the 2014 but I was unable to find the detailed write-ups of the 2016 as of yet. But consider this how many wines do you know that have a Parker rating of 100 points 3 years in a row. Few that I know of.
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