Wine reviews
Enticing, featuring succulent plum, blackberry and boysenberry flavors, melded to black licorice and apple wood accents. Juicy energy carries the finish as the fruit takes an encore over a subtle sassafras note. A showy style that pulls it off. Drink now through 2030. 67 cases made. – JM
From a rocky vineyard just west of Dr. Crane, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard is a beautiful, elegant, mineral-laced wine that offers full-bodied richness and depth as well as outstanding length. Complex notes of red and black currants, dried flowers, crushed rocks, and flowery incense dominate the bouquet. It's an incredibly sumptuous, satisfying Cabernet that has both complexity and richness. – JD
Fruit for this was harvested on October 5—it's 100% Cabernet Sauvignon fermented in stainless and puncheon and aged in 70% new French oak. The 2017 Lithology Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras is very deep garnetpurple in color and a little stubbornly mute at this youthful stage, but with coaxing, it offers up crushed black and red plums, fresh black berries and warm cassis plus hints of forest floor, candied violets and baker's chocolate with a waft of kirsch. Full-bodied, the palate has a solid backbone of ripe, grainy tannins and beautiful freshness supporting the energetic fruit, finishing on a lingering mineral note. 80 cases were made. – LPB
A barrel sample projected to age for 22 months in 91% new French oak, the 2017 Lithology Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras is very deep purple-black in color and opens with notes of crushed blackberries, black cherries, kirsch and redcurrants with touches of cast iron pan, fertile loam and dried leaves plus a hint of pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied with a chewy texture and lively line, it has a lovely core of pure red and black fruits, finishing with tons of energy. To be released in the spring of 2020. – LPB