Bell Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 3-Pack
$109.99 $198.00 44% off List Price
2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Bell is back! Yes!
I’m wondering…I recall you saying that you changed your house style to the more fruit-forward style. What do you intend for this wine to be? I’m a bit surprised that your 2014 would be in a prime drinking window for a few more years yet.
$36/bottle (shipped) for Bell CS and a lot cheaper ($10/bottle) than club pricing. No brainer. First wooter…woo hoo!
Awesome stuff here. I have two left from a previous offer (and I think vintage, too lazy to go check); drank one around a year ago and it needed so much decanting that I’m not planning on opening another until probably summer, but once decanted? Sooo good.
This is the first time the 14 has been offered. Buy em and put em away for a long nap.
I am torn. I like the Bell wines I’ve had very, very much. The wines we tased on the last Tour were truly remarkable.
That said, I distrust 2014 wines in general, and I don’t like fruit forward Cabernet.
So, I’m interested to hear what Anthony, or anyone representing the winery has to say.
from 5/25/15 this one was Sonoma County, not Napa for what its worth.
Had a visit from the little guy the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Holding a bottle of 2012 Bell Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon. Looking up the specs this is a slight blend 97% Cabernet, 2% Merlot. 14.7% Alcohol.
I Look this up on a few wine sites and couldn’t wait to open this bad boy.
Opened it up and let it breath for about and hour and a half, poured about 2 fingers and let the rest breath a bit longer. Excellent color a deep ruby red almost purple. Gave it a swirl has very nice legs and bouquet.
1st drink was nice and very dry, a taste of raspberry, this wine has a very nice mixture of flavors. I really like this wine. Excellent after taste, and smooth and not at all overbearing.
Next pour I used my Venturi and noticed a slight change, even smoother and dryer if that was possible.
Needless to say the bottle didn’t last long.
This is a excellent Cab, dare I say very close to Ardente, I have NO problem in recommending this Cabernet Sauvignon to my fellow wooters.
2014 is not 2012
and Napa is not Sonoma.
rpm, curious, and still trying to learn/understand…
I’ve read some of the vintage reports, and while they say early harvest, some are comparing '14 to a blend of '12 and '13.
Can you point us to material that expresses some of your concerns?
Sorry to hear you are not a fan of 2014. Why? I found the vintage to be early, the drought via Mother Nature gave us lower yields and smaller berries; and delivered wines of great color and structure. I think they will age very well, especially from producers like ourselves who produce wines of restraint.
Fruit forward for Bell is not what one might think of when you think of the extracted, fruit bomb, Napa Valley Cabernet’s of today. The Napa Cabernet (as opposed to our Claret Cabernet) retains the restraint and elegance of prior vintages, but as we have gradually changed some of our vineyard sources, and the clonal selections, the fruit expression is less dominated by the earthy tones of Clones 4 and 6 that made up such a big part of our early Cabernet’s. Clones 7, 337 and 169 that we are using more of have a purity of Cabernet varietal typicity that give some brighter Cabernet fruit notes.
Our Claret Cabernet, with a small addition of Syrah to the blend, is more of a fruit forward style, but still considerably more restrained than the millenial style pursued by so many wineries today.
It is worth noting that our Napa Cabernet program in 2016 uses 9 different Cabernet sauvignon clones grown in 8 different appellations in Napa Valley - each delivering unique attributes to the wines.
Thank you for your continued interest in our wines; and your comments.
Our fruit forward style is not the “millenial” style of juicy, over extracted fruit. We have changed some of the clones we work with and these give us a purity of fruit instead of the earthy tones we obtain from Clones 4 and 6. We still use Clones 4 and 6, but in lesser amounts and have added Clones 7, 337 and 169 in larger amounts.
In terms of vintages, I agree that 2014 combines the very sunny 2012 vintage and the very elegant 2013 vintage. I think it is a vintage that worked well for our style of wine making and I find the wines very delicious, but also, as with all of my wines, very age-worthy.
This wine has just been released and you folks are getting the wine ahead of most. Enjoy the wine and you are correct, it will be beautiful after a few years of cellaring.
Anthony,
Thank you for your thoughts - it was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I’ll try some.
I think you will really enjoy it. You know my style of wine making and, although I continually try to make the wines better, the Bell thumbprint is pretty evident in all of the vintages. Enjoy!
Exactly what I, but my wallet not so much, wanted to hear.
Thanks for returning to woot Anthony.
Thanks Anthony!
On the 2014 RPM Tour I was taken by the variety of flavours and differences in the various clones of Cabernet. I think this looks really interesting, although I do hope you still bottle some Clone 6!
Yes we will still produce Clone 6. However the Georges III vineyard we have been using is in a state of decline due to Eutypa and our yields have suffered. Combined with the past three years of drought our production has been reduced to just several hundred 6-packs. We have planted more Clone 6 on the Estate that yielded its first crop this year (looks very good) and we are scouring the Valley for new sources.
Looking forward to that!
No MN???