1999 Crocker & Starr Stone Place Cuvée
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Tasting notes
Medium red-ruby. An alluring floral/earthy quality adds musky appeal to the aromas of dark raspberry, mocha, menthol, coffee and leather; quite claret-like. Silky-smooth and suave on the palate, with an element of dark berry liqueur enlivened by fresh acidity. Gracefully maturing wine with plenty of energy and definition to hold it; the tannins are in balance with the fruit. This bottle showed slightly better fruit retention and more texture than the sample I tried last year as part of my vertical tasting of this wine with proprietor/winemaker Pam Starr. (14.4% alcohol)
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Good medium red. Perfumed aromas of plum, redcurrant, raspberry, spices, leather, flowers and tobacco leaf. The palate offers lovely retention of red fruit flavor complicated by saline minerality and a leathery nuance. A very good mature yet energetic midweight in a Bordeaux style; not expansive but pretty and nicely delineated. Finishes with firm tannins and noteworthy subtle floral persistence.
The 1999 Stone Place Cuvee, a St.-Emilion look-alike, is a blend of 54% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 1% Cabernet Franc. This stylish, dense ruby/purple-colored 1999 offers a sweet nose of black and red currants intermixed with graphite, toasty oak, and earth. It is elegant, rich, and nicely textured. Readers who feel that all California wines are over-the-top fruit bombs need to taste this ... a Bordeaux-like offering made in Napa Valley! Anticipated maturity: now-2015. Tel. (707) 252-1851
(a blend of 55% merlot, 44% cabernet sauvignon and 1% cabernet franc) Saturated ruby-red. Aromas of black fruits, violet, dark chocolate and tobacco leaf. Juicy, firm and precise; penetrating and sophisticated. Here the merlot adds a chocolatey sweetness and fills in the wine's middle. Hints of tobacco leaf and violet. Still tightly wound and firmly tannic but not dry. Classy and persistent.