2007 Levy & Mc Clellan Red
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Tasting notes
(14.5% alcohol): Dark ruby. Slightly high-toned aromas of blueberry liqueur, blackberry, chocolate truffle, licorice and damp earth. Huge, plush, sweet wine with dark berry and black olive flavors saturating the entire palate. Outstanding depth here, more than enough to support the wine's powerful, thoroughly ripe tannins on the resoundng, very long back end. This no-holds-barred wine is a knockout now but it's likely to gain further in precision as it continues to absorb more of its baby fat.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon has closed down slightly since last year. Now in bottle, it exhibits an opaque purple color as well as a similar but more subdued bouquet of lead pencil shavings, burning embers, blueberry liqueur, creme de cassis and flowers. Powerful, rich and pure, its statuesque structure, lavish concentration and formidable tannin levels suggest 3-5 years of bottle age is warranted. This may turn out to be the finest Cabernet Sauvignon produced in the short history of the Levy and McClellan Diamond Mountain winery, although the 2008 has the potential to equal it. The 2007 should last for three decades or more. You couldn’t ask for two more impressive resumes as those of the husband and wife team of Martha McClellan and Bob Levy. McClellan, who oversees this project as well as being the consultant for an up and coming small estate called Checkerboard as well as Sloan, is complemented by her husband Bob Levy, who has been at Harlan Estate from the beginning of that project in the late eighties. These barrel-fermented wines, which emerge from their 6-acre estate vineyard on Diamond Mountain, are made primarily from Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot included in the blend. Tel. (707) 963-1281; Fax (707) 963-1282
(bottled just a couple weeks prior to my tasting; cabernet sauvignon with bits of cabernet franc and petit verdot but no merlot) Highly aromatic nose offers blackberry, cassis and licorice. Sweet and perfumed in the mouth, with a strong violet quality lifting the tight black fruit flavors. Densely packed and energetic wine that's currently dominated by its acid/tannin spine and will require time to express itself. And hiding its flesh today: there's something serious and Medoc-like about this very structured wine, which should evolve slowly. Finishes with substantial but fine-grained tannins and terrific persistence.
Full, bright ruby. Crystallized dark berries and bitter chocolate on the sweet, sappy nose. Dense, supersweet and wonderfully deep, with the wine's sheer thickness of texture leavened by its sappy freshness. Wonderfully suave and horizontal wine with an outstanding, slow-building finish featuring lush tannins and vibrant floral lift.