The 2006 Vecina is another fabulous wine. Fresh, delineated and pedigreed to the core, the 2006 exudes class. I am especially struck by how young the 2006 tastes. Along with the 2008, the 2006 belongs to the family of more mineral-driven Vecinas.
Vinous Media | 98 VM
The 2006 Vecina has turned out even better than I expected last year. Graphite/lead pencil notes intermixed with hints of burning embers and charcoal, an opaque purple color, and sweet blackberry and roasted espresso notes are all present in this wine, which is masculine, muscular, tannic but incredibly well-endowed and a potential candidate for 30 years of aging. This wine needs 4-5 years of cellaring and should last three decades.
Robert Parker | 95+ RP
I am loving the depth of fruit in this. Licorice, dark fruits, and raspberries. Full bodied and dense, with fine tannins and a long finish. Chewy and fascinating. Need another couple of years to shed some of the dense tannins. 14+23+23+33. Find the wine
James Suckling | 93 JS
From a hillside block at Vine Hill, a vineyard south of the Harlan Estate in the western reaches of Oakville, this grows on what GM Paul Roberts describes as "hot clay-the soil smells like a kiln on a hot day." The ’06 is a potent, meaty cabernet, immediately rich in the middle, needing plenty of air to extend out into a long finish. It’s tight and clearly defined, the wine’s structure and shape doesn’t feel manipulated. There’s an underlying energy that should continue to drive it as the tannins mature.
Wine & Spirits Magazine | 93 W&S
Polished, smooth and elegant. Made in a feminine style that appeals for its lushness and accessible flavors of blackberries, cocoa, violets and cedar. Shows a pure pedigree in the balance and charm. The tannins suggest mid-term aging. Best after 2012.
Wine Enthusiast | 92 WE
Of the 2006 Bond Estates bottlings that I tasted, the Vecina was the most “pinched” on the palate by its new wood treatment and will probably require a bit more cellaring before blossoming than its other stable-mates in this vintage. The nose offers up an intriguing and quite vivid blend of boysenberries, dark plums, raw cocoa, a touch of smoke, allspice and plenty of spicy (Taransaud barrels in use here?) new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid on the attack, with a firm core of fruit and a serious wave of dry wood tannins currently clamping down the long finish. As with these other 2006s from Bond, it is hard not to imagine this wine eventually carrying its new wood with aplomb, but it will emphatically take several years for this to occur and in the interim, this will not be the most pleasant of drinks. But in the long run, it should prove to be a very good bottle, though one has to wonder why a winery intent on showing Napa’s great diversity of terroirs would feel obliged to age every wine in such a hefty percentage of new wood. (Drink between 2018 - 2035)
John Gilman | 82-92 JG
