Categories: Accolades

by Calla Lily

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Categories: Accolades

by Calla Lily

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Winethropology tastes the two wines:

What do oligarchs drink on the weekend? Probably this.  If they’re lucky, that is. Calla Lily is a relatively young, small production winery founded in 2010 in the Pope Valley, a quiet valley in the northeast corner of Napa county.  And Audax is their top tier cabernet label. Packaged in polished, dark, bunker-buster bottles (more than twice the weight of typical 750ml bottles) finished with raised gold lettering and an ancient looking coin emblem, these bottles just look expensive. With that as an introduction, you might expect a viscous, syrupy juice to ease into the glass. Instead, both vintages offered gleaming ruby splashing with confidence.  Could the color indicate what was to come in the palate? Both vintages are in possession of unmistakable classic Napa Valley characteristics: prominent nose showcasing the brooding side of cabernet, prodigious fruit, broad shouldered framing from a French oak regimen, and elegant mouth-puckering tannins. Cassis, date, and plum dominate, while suggestions of eucalyptus, vanillin, cedar and dust round out the complex flavor experience. These wines are so clearly siblings, but the 2014 is everything the 2013 is, plus-plus. All the desirable attributes of the 2013 are amplified in the 2014. It’s a more intense version of its slightly older sibling and bangs a strong tannic drum. These sublime wines will go some distance in the bottle stored under the right conditions. Not that I am one to score wine on points, but these are solid 95+ pointers just in case you are looking for a relative gauge of quality. 

http://www.winethropology.com/2019/01/audax-serious-cabernet.html

 

 

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