The Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated 2017 Chester-Kidder is another more closed, reserved wine that's loaded with potential. Cassis, toasted spices, violets, and leafy herb notes give way to a rich, full-bodied red that has ripe, velvety tannins, a rounded, mouth-filling texture, and one heck of a great finish. Give bottles 3-5 years if you can and it should be very long lived.
93+ points, Jeb Dunnuck (May 2021)
Aromas of black fruit, anise, vanilla, cocoa and other barrel spices are followed by pitch-black, rich, hedonistic fruit flavors that bring the acidity and tannin structure of the vintage. It's intense, but with plenty of sophistication. A lengthy finish caps it off. Best after 2025.
93 points, Sean P. Sullivan, Wine Enthusiast (Jul 2021)
Aromas of cassis, chocolate, charcoal and rosemary. It’s full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins. Rich and intense with a firm structure. Muscular and big. Still reserved with a tannic finish. A blend of mostly cabernet sauvignon and syrah. Try in 2024.
93 points, James Suckling (Jul 2021)
Bright, saturated ruby. Brooding aromas of cassis, blackberry, licorice, espresso and violet, plus a whiff of iodiney minerality. Dense, sweet and deep, conveying a youthful medicinal quality to its dark fruit, menthol, licorice and mineral flavors. Supple but still tightly wound and in need of time to unspool. This seriously mouthfilling wine shows very good mineral energy and finishes with substantial tongue-coating tannins. Today it's dominated by its medicinal Cabernet Sauvignon component and yet it strikes me as plusher than the 2016 bottling.
92+ points, Stephen Tanzer, Vinous (Dec 2020)
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