(January 17, 2021) … Tonight it was a double dose of California:
Cline 2001 Ancient Vines Mourvedre … Smells relatively terrible and tastes bitter, chalky, and pruney, there’s acidity here but the big oak notes really get in the way … There’s also a Dutch cocoa note which proved to be the main source of the bitterness rather than enjoyable part of this wine – and based on all that I’m going to say this is a very disappointing wine from start to finish and no matter how long I kept it open it just never got better.
So I moved on to something else, hoping for a better result:
Joel Gott 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon 815 … Much younger and still full of fruit and other pleasant notes: cocoa and spiced blackberry, with hints of cassis and even some mocha nuances – this is big on spiced-dark fruit and I liked it beginning to end.