Awards and Accolades
Born from a simple love for food and wine in 2002, B Cellars has been selecting grapes from premier Napa vineyards and creating wines characterized by many layers of flavoe. The depth of these wines allows these blends to be a great companion to a delectable meal or even just an engaging conversation. Since our first vintage, B Cellars has caught the eye of many critics receiving enthusiastic reviews. Below is a sampling from them.
WHAT Wine Critics areSAYING about B CELLARS
Wine Spectator
August 31, 2008 - 2006 BLEND 23
The B Cellars Blend 23 Napa Valley 2006 shows how Sauvignon Blanc can serve as the backbone in a blend with Viognier and Chardonnay. Recommended as a Top Sauvignon Blanc from California
February 2008 - 2004 BLEND 24
Ripe, with rich, generous black cherry and wild berry flavors that are juicy, firming up on the finish, where the tannins fold in 2006 BLEND 23 Fragrant, showing honeysuckle and jasmine notes, with juicy pear, citrus and peach flavors and a juicy but fleshy texture. White nectarine, fresh herb and spice notes are intense on the long lingering finish.
November 2008 -2005 BLEND 24
Rich, intense, smooth and fleshy, offering a complex mix of supple currant, black cherry, mineral, sage, underbrush and smoked bacon, with a little hint of bacon fat. Tightly structured, with a pleasant edge of pebble and leather on the finish. Best from 2010 through 2016. J.L.
Vinography.com
B Cellars’ 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
“Rich cherry, bright, juicy, tobacco.”- Alder Yarrow, blogger
The wine was awarded with a score between 9 and 9.5 during The Best Cabernet in Napa: Tasting at Premiere Napa Valley 2011
Decanter Magazine
2004 BLEND 25
Recommended as a Top Cab-Syrah by Linda Murphy, West Coast Correspondent and former wine editor of The San Francisco Chronicle.
2007 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
2007 B Cellars Blend 23 and 2004 Blend 25 received GOLD Medals and 2004 Blend 26, a Silver Medal at the wine judging last week. 4,235 wines were entered
Wine Enthusiast
Wine Enthusiast Magazine write up
The New Calistoga [www.winemag.com]
2009 B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon
“The wine is a blend of three vineyards: Beckstoffer To Kalon and Williamson (both in Oakville) and Dr. Crane (St. Helena). It’s rich and age worthy. The winemaker was Kirk Venge.” - Steve Heimoff, West Coast editor
2004 B CELLARS BLEND 25 CABERNET SAUVIGNON-SYRAH
Cabernet Blend, Napa Valley An Editors' Choice Only the second vintage for this wine, but it joins the top ranks of Cabernet-Syrah blends. Dry, rich, smooth and frankly delicious, it has incredibly complex flavors, of blackberries, violets, coffee, pomegranates, cola, cloves and oak, and a long finish. A terrific wine to drink now and over the next four years. — S.H. (10/1/2007)
2004 B CELLARS BLEND 26 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
The grapes come from three vineyards: Georges III in Rutherford, Tokalon in Oakville and Stagecoach, up on Atlas Peak. That helps explain the wine’s beauty. It’s pure California, cult-style Cab, soft and generous, with voluptuously ripe black currant and black cherry flavors elaborately enriched with spicy, smoky, 100% new French oak. My only quibble is that it could use a little more subtlety. — S.H. (12/31/2007)
2004 B CELLARS BLEND 24 Cabernet Blend, Napa Valley
Mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, with some Merlot and Syrah, this is a dry, fairly tannic wine that’s a bit astringent now, and may develop in the bottle, to judge by the deep core of blackberry, cassis and cherry-chocolate. It’s very elegant. — S.H. (10/1/2007)
2006 B CELLARS BLEND 23 SAUVIGNON BLANC - VIOGNIER - CHARDONNAY White Blend, Napa Valley
This wonderfully rich wine combines the best of all three varieties to produce a complex white. It shows rich green apple, pineapple jam, super ripe apricot, honeysuckle and smoky oak flavors, and while it’s tremendously honeyed on the finish, it is basically dry. Crisp acidity, probably from the Carneros Chardonnay, provides needed balance. — S.H. (12/31/2007)
Food & Wine Magazine
Food & Wine Editor's Blog (8/15/2007)
Before zooming off to Maine for some much needed vacation, I tasted through a slew of recent releases, and, in there with the evil and the foul, found several winners. Without further ado: 2004 B CELLARS BLEND 24 is an interesting new negociant project, sourcing Napa fruit to make some very engaging wines, among them this blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 10% Syrah. It's very forward and fruity, round and plummy with some strawberry notes as well, but the tannins hold it all together. As our indefatigable wine department assistant Megan Krigbaum remarked, "It really wants you to be its friend." You will really want to be its friend, too, so that works out rather nicely, don't you think? 2004 B CELLARS BLEND 24, Napa Valley Ca, 75% Cab, 15% Merlot and 10% Syrah, this ’04 does well to typify the exciting yield of the ’04 Napa harvest. Sweet red fruit fills the palate with fresh raspberry and currants. Fine balance on the finish. Charles Olken, correspondent for Oakland Tribune dubs our white BLEND 23 "wonderfully unconventional".
Hi Times, Costa Mesa, CA – Top Wines of the Year California
2003 BLEND 24
Much like other innovative wines from Napa Valley, this beautiful blend showcases the more elegant, yet fruit forward side of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. B Cellars winemaker Kirk Venge, a rising young star in the wine world, combines the two into this electric representation of flavors. Couple that with its popularity with our customers, and how hard it has been to keep it in stock, and you have the makings for a top wine! Its magenta shade announces bright cherry pie, boysenberry, caramel and light oak. This has a strong depth of flavors framed by soft tannins and nice acidity. It shows beautifully now and promises to deliver over the course of the next several years.
Restaurant Wine Magazine
BLEND 24 • BLEND 25
“These are top Cabernet blends. Blend 24 is a fleshy, full bodied, moderately rich wine, with blackberry, red licorice, toast, cedar and vanilla aromas. Blend 25 is exceptional: supple, ripely flavored (blackberry, cassis), lightly oaky, and very long on the palate, with a persistent finish, with overtones of berries, cedar and toast. Both unfined and unfiltered.”
Page 30 Restaurant Wine Issues #125 and #126
"By far the sturdier, fuller and richer of the B Cellars brace, this dramatic wine starts with saturated, purple-black colors in the glass and follows suit in its deliver of a concentrated blackberry, black cherry, rich loam and creamy oak aromas. Full in palate weight and a touch blustery in its somewhat stiff but not excessive tannins, this wine asks for a three to six years in the cellar."
Robert Parker’s Wine Spectator
2005 B CELLARS BLEND 24 Cabernet, Merlot, Sangiovese, Petite Sirah Blend.
Exhibits a deep ruby-purple color, a big, sweet kiss of black currants, smoky oak, and a touch of forest floor followed by a heady, full bodied, rich style with good acidity as well as sweet tannins. — R.P.
2005 B CELLARS BLEND 25 Cabernet & Syrah Blend
Offers a big, sweet nose of blackberries, chocolate, coffee beans, and plums. Full-bodied with excellent fruit, low acidity and a broad, savory mouthfeel, it should provide plenty of pleasure during its exuberant youth. — R.P.
2005 B CELLARS BLEND 26 Cabernet Sauvignon
Full-bodied red displaying abundant quantities of créme de cassis, licorice, incense, and lead pencil shavings. Fullbodied, lush and seductive, it is impossible to resist now, but should age for a decade or more. — R.P.
2006 B CELLARS BLEND 24 Cabernet, Sangiovese, Petite Sirah and Syrah Blend
This is another juicy, succulent wine exhibiting a deep ruby-purple color as well as loads of créme de cassis intermixed with suggestions of graphite, licorice, oak, and black truffle. — R.P.
2006 B CELLARS BLEND 25 Cabernet & Syrah Blend
Offers copious quantities of fresh, lively, blackberry and black currant fruit intermixed with notions of bouquet garni, and earth. Enjoy this beauty over the next 5 or 6 years. — R.P.
2006 B CELLARS BLEND 26 Cabernet Sauvignon
Offers plenty of cassis and cedary fruit. Long and heady with velvety tannins, it is a seductive red to consume during its first 10-12 years of life — R.P.
2006 SANGIOVESE
B Cellars’ 2006 Sangiovese is one of the finest wines I have tasted from this varietal... it comes across as a distinctly Rhone-like red, displaying black fruit, earth, strawberry, red cherry, new saddle leather, and olive characteristics in its spicy personality. — R.P.
2007 B CELLARS BLEND 23 Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viogner Blend
Exhibits tremendous aromatics, a honeyed texture, a creamy mouthfeel, loads of tropical and citrus fruits, good acidity, and a long, dry, crisp finish. It will provide immense pleasure over the next year. — R.P.
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate scores:
2008
- B Cellars Syrah Caldwell Kruezer Vineyard – Rating: 88
-B Cellars Blend 24 – Rating: 91
-B Cellars Blend 25 – Rating: 92
-B Cellars Blend 26 – Rating: 89-91
-B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard – Rating: 91-93
-B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard – Rating: 93-95
-B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Syn3Rgy – Rating: 89
-B Cellars Petite Sirah – Rating: 90+
2007
- B Cellars Blend 23 – Rating: 90
“Exhibits tremendous aromatics, a honeyed texture, a creamy mouthfeel, loads of tropical and citrus fruits, good acidity, and a long, dry, crisp finish. It will provide immense pleasure over the next year.” – Robert Parker
-B Cellars Petite Sirah – Rating: 88+
-B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Georges III – Rating: 93
-B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard – Rating: 90-93
-B Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard – Rating: 91-93
-B Cellars Blend 26 – Rating 90
-B Cellars Blend 25 – Rating 90
-B Cellars Blend 24 – Rating 90
-B Cellars Syrah – Rating 85
-B Cellars Syrah – Rating 89
-B Cellars Syrah Caldwell Kruezer Vineyard – Rating 89+
From “The Best of Northern California 2007, 2006 and 2005” issue: “Proprietors Jim Borsack and Duffy Keys have hired Kirk Venge as their consulting winemaker, and the wines are clearly made in a fruit-forward style that should satisfy consumers and restaurants looking for immediate drinkability.”
– Robert Parker
DC Examiner February, 19 2008
2004 B CELLARS BLEND 24
I have long been a fan of winemaker Kirk Venge’s father, Nils, so it’s nice to see that the apple fell right next to the proverbial tree. This “Super Tuscan” styled wine is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, sangiovese and petite sirah and possesses wonderful flavors of bright red cherry, raspberry, dried spices and a touch of saddle leather on the medium-bodied palate. Sweet tannins and bright acidity keep everything in check and provide a lovely finish featuring a hint of smoky cedar.
2008 Houston Rodeo Wine Competition
2005 BLEND 24: Double Gold Reserve Class Champion Buckle Award
2005 BLEND 25: Silver Medal Reserve Class Champion Buckle Award
Tom Simoneau : Premiere Napa Valley
St. Helena Star : Star/NVV panelists chose favorite NV Premiere wines
The Napa Valley Register : Abundance of lipsmacking treats at Premiere Napa Valley