This is a wine that I have seen at Costco stores near me for some time, and I just have never pulled the trigger, but now I'm glad I finally did.
The trigger was one of you, a Costco wine customer who drove his cart up when I was browsing the wine aisle, and popped four bottles of the '12 Leviathan in his cart and cruised away. There was no hesitation. He knew what he wanted. So I immediately went over and picked up a bottle for myself.
Only later did I give the wine a Google only to find out that it is produced by Andy Erickson, who followed the famous Heidi Barrett as winemaker at legendary Screaming Eagle. Now I was really interested. What could Andy Erickson offer in terms of a California red blend from a great vintage for $40?
The answer is an unbelievably good wine buy for fans of big robust California reds. The wine is blended from 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc, 16% Merlot and 14% Syrah.
I tasted it right after opening and then tossed it in the decanter for about 1.5 hours which helped it truly shine, so be sure to give this one a little time to open up. When you do you're rewarded with a deep, expressive wine, that is just structured perfectly all around.
Flavors of mostly dark fruit, blackberry, blueberry, anise; dry finish, with a slight lingering spearmint. I love the Cab Franc influence on the wine.
This is a strong buy, and in my opinion, a better buy than similarly priced California wines. I didn't pair the wine with any food during my tasting unfortunately, but if you're looking for something big to stand up with hearty red meat dishes, this one's for you.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 92 points
Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA
Alc. 14.5%
Jim Forman says
I wish I could agree with your review. I purchased 4 bottles from some online source in the last year and they have been cellared since. Just opened one tonight and was disappointed. Great bouquet of dark fruit, cherries, and currants, but that's where things ended. On the palette this wine is watery and acetic. I don't get the robust or full-bodied Napa red character at all. It's almost like Eric is fooling us and he replaced the Cab Franc with Petite Verdot! What finish? No finish at all, just disappointment This wine did not stand up to grilled NY strip steaks this evening. I'm very disappointed. I have 3 more bottles so I will try decanting the next one as you did, to see if this improves the wine. I couldn't give this wine more than an 80 rating out of 100.
Editor says
Jim, thanks for sharing your thoughts.