2012 Betz Family Clos de Betz
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Tasting notes
Tasted from magnum, the 2012 Clos de Betz is still lively and fresh, with a firm core of sappy fruit and expressive oak essences. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is balanced, fresh and succulent, with a lively mouthfeel, and this will remain food-friendly for another decade and a half due to the bottle’s size. If you have a regular-sized bottle of this still in your cellar, subtract eight years from my drink date since magnums age slower than regular 750-milliliter bottles.
Critic scores
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Anthony Mueller, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
(14.5% alcohol; 66% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% petit verdot): Dark red-ruby. Aromas of blackcurrant, cocoa powder, bitter chocolate, licorice and burnished oak, lifted by a violet topnote. Densely packed but light on its feet, with perfectly integrated acidity energizing the fine-grained flavors of black raspberry, black cherry, cocoa powder and violet. Boasts a rare combination of bullet-proof, youthfully impenetrable tight grain and outstanding floral, white-peppery lift. Superb noble tannins dust the front teeth on the very young, long, juicy finish. An outstanding 2012 blend built for a long and graceful evolution in bottle. This is the first vintage of this wine to include Merlot from DuBrul Vineyard; incidentally, Betz noted that Merlot on Red Mountain was extremely successful in 2012.