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Culler La Pallette Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine 2005
our
Napa Valley Howell Mountain Wine Experience when we visited Ladera Winery up on Howell Mountain. The producer of this label, Karen
Culler, was the winemaker for Wolf Family Vineyards and Ladera
Vineyards. She produced this label and another Napa Valley Cabernet
Sauvignon cuvees under her own label.
Karen Culler worked at Mondavi and set out
on her in 1997. This label appeared in ’97 and lasted for a dozen plus
years until the ’10 vintage, the last vintage recorded.
This 2005 Proprietary Red La Palette is a blend of 91% Cabernet
Sauvignon and 9% Petit Verdot, all from Alexander Ranch fruit.
This label was awarded 93 points by
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and 91 points
by Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar.
As I wrote back in 2020, when I compared this at seventeen years of age to an earlier tasted back in 2008, this tasted much
better and was more impressive than as noted in my tasting notes from
the (earlier) previous recorded tasting back in 2008 when I wrote: “October 3, 2008 – Culler La Pallette
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 – RM 89 – Dark inky purple,
fruit forward gooseberry, currant, red raspberry and silky firm tannins
on the finish.”
At
that time I awarded this 89 points and I remember the tasting and found
it interesting but rather uninspiring. Tonight, this was much more
expressive and vibrant. Immediately upon opening, aromas burst from the
bottle and filled the room.
Consistent with that earlier tasting note in March 2020 when I wrote: “this was dark inky purple,
fruit forward gooseberry, currant, red raspberry and silky firm tannins
on the finish.”
However …
RM 91 points.
