2013 | Levy & McLellan | Ampersand

Super-rich, and velvety-textured, this is a spectacularly impressive, Cabernet featuring majestic notes of dark chocolate intermingled with deeply concentrated black fruit (currants, plums, dates) deftly balanced across a long-lasting finish of statuesque proportions.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon has a dense purple color and rugged structural components of high tannin, massive extract and loads of blackberry, blueberry and cassis fruit along with some truffle and forest floor. It is "stacked and packed," so to speak, full-bodied, and essentially requires any prospective purchaser to exercise some discipline and forget it for 5-10 years. It is probably a 30- to 50-year wine where well-stored, which is exactly what both of these non-compromising winemakers want to achieve.

• Vinous: The 2013 Ampersand is a serious second wine that could use a bit more time to come into its own. Today, the 2013 naturally shows less of the immediacy and radiance of the 2012 tasted alongside it. Dark stone fruits, leather, menthol and tobacco gradually open up in this super expressive wine from Levy & McClellan.

Producer Information

Bob Levy is the winemaker for Harlan Estate, and his wife is the winemaker for the Sloan Estate. Both of them have made wines that have scored perfect 100 point ratings. They bought a 6 acre lot in the Diamond Mountain area, and the case production for their 1st and 2nd vintages is 400 cases or less. Robert Parker gave their 1st vintage, the 2004 vintage a rating of 96-98 points, and their 2005 vintage a rating of 95-97 points. What a great way to start off. Their wines look to have excellent cellaring life. Their maximum estimated case production, given their current vineyard of 6 acres is around 500-600 cases at best. This is less then half the production of Harlan and about the same as Screaming Eagle. On average, Levy & McClellans case production will be less then that of Screaming Eagle. As of right now, there is no waiting list to get into Levy & McClellan. But, I will say this right now, given the great history of these 2 great winemakers, it will not take long for their list to fill up and a very long waiting list to form.

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