Leviathan 2006

I have a keyword wine list with K&L Wines that sends me an email any time they get a wine that I'm looking for. Usually that means I get about 20 emails in a row every other day with wine priced anywhere from $50 to $4,000. Nice to know that someone thinks a bottle of wine is worth thousands of dollars, but, most of those emails are lost on me.

However, last week I was tipped off to a new shipment of Leviathan Red that they got in the store. The write-up said that it is "made by one of Napa's most powerful wine couples, Andy Erickson (Screaming Eagle, Hartwell, Dalla Valle) and viticulturist read more...Anie Favia (Abreu and Screaming Eagle)," and it was only $47 a bottle, so I thought I'd give this proclaimed "next cult wine" a try. Not often you find a cult wine under $50.

The wine is a blend of 55% Syrah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc. Overall, it's very smooth and mellow. A bit tight and alcoholic still, but decanted it takes on a nice balance. Unlike it's sister wines mentioned above, it's not meant to cellar for a long time and even this 2006 is intended to drink over the next few years.

Love it.
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December 2008

Garage wine project from Andy Erikson (Staglin, Hartwell, Favia, Ovid, Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle and Arietta) and Anie Favia (viticulturist for Abreu and Screaming Eagle), a husband and wife team. Black fruit and spice with very little new oak make it pleasant right out of the gate. Leviathan isn’t meant to be a long-aging wine, though in ‘06 they added more cab sauv to the blend to allow for more conditioning in the bottle. It is meant to be drunk within the next few years. This is a different approach for Erikson, whose past wine creations are definitely made for cellaring. Destined to become read more...another “cult wine.” The blend of 41% cab sauv, 32% merlot, 21% syrah, 7% cab franc makes this vino sensation all the rage. When you are waiting in line for your allocation of all those cult California wines, perhaps you should be waiting with Leviathan in hand. We can't recommend it more highly. -it's red, it's from California, it's made by a celebrity in the wine biz, the fruit sources are near perfect, and the production is limited. Well, that about sums this project up. We try wines every single day and this one is worth the money ten times over.    (hide)

March 2009

No written review

April 2009