2015 Carter Cellars Beckstoffer Las Piedras
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S$46888
Vintage : 2015
Country : USA
Region : Beckstoffer Las Piedras
Carter Cellars is a notable Napa Valley premium wine producer. It produces wine from classic California varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, sourced from some of Napa's most esteemed vineyards, including the famous To Kalon vineyard in Oakville.
Owner Mark Carter's first vintage was produced in 1998 from Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the steeply terraced Coliseum Block at the Hossfeld Vineyard in Soda Canyon. The estate was founded after Mark Carter met winemaker Nils Venge through Carter's Restaurant 301. Venge helped him establish the Carter Cellars wine brand, and the two opened Envy Winery together, which serves as the home base for Carter Cellars wines.
As well as To Kalon, Carter Cellars makes wines from Turnbull's Weitz Vineyard and Fortuna Vineyard in Oakville, Beckstoffer's Las Piedras Vineyard in St. Helena, Truchard Vineyards in Carneros, and the Revilo Vineyard in Napa Valley. To preserve the intergrity of the grapes, they are hand-picked over night when temperatures are cooler.
Carter Cellars' wines have been well-recieved by critics, and the 2002 To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon scored a perfect 100 points from critic Robert Parker.
98 points Jeb Dunnuck
Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (all clone 337), the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard La Bam is up with the top tier wines in the vintage. About as fine and elegant as they come, yet also full-bodied, opulent and expansive, its deep purple color is followed by awesome notes of black raspberries, crème de cassis, Asian spices and dried flowers. It has loads of fruit and texture, yet glides across the palate. It’s beautiful today but will benefit from short-term cellaring and keep for 2-3 decades. Mark Carter and winemaker Mike Smith continue to make a bevy of hedonistic, sexy, powerful wines from throughout Napa Valley. These 2015s are all brilliant wines, yet quantities are tiny due to the dismal yields. 12/2017)
98 points Wine Advocate
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard La Bam displays a deep garnet-purple color and expressive nose of crushed mulberries, plum preserves and cassis with suggestions of chargrill, sautéed herbs and licorice plus a touch of cedar chest. Full-bodied and built like a brick house in the mouth, it has a firm frame of grainy tannins and great freshness supporting the taut, muscular fruit, finishing with lingering aniseed and meaty notions. (LPB)10/2017)
95 points Vinous
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer La Bam Las Piedras Vineyard oozes with character. Crushed rocks, gravel, smoke, game and tobacco, along with the firm tannins typical of this site, give the wine its super-distinctive personality. Dark, inward and brooding, the 2015 offers an intriguing contrast between the richness of the vintage and the natural structure of Las Piedras that will be fascinating to follow over the next 15-20 years. (AG) 95+ (3/2018)