1984 Vintage Wines

In September 2000, I had the good fortune to drink from magnums of both Ch. Montelena and Silver Oak from 1974. Montelena was the hands-down winner.

Dana

] I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a 1984 vintage ] wine for her birthday dinner. Being that 1984 was an awful vintage for ] Bordeaux (Although $130 for an 84 Margaux was a bit tempting), I've ] concentrated on California. I would be open to other regions, but the ] availability of 84 wines is pretty limited. Some names caught my eye, ] Dominus, Silver Oak, and Montelena. Any suggestions on these or others, ] sub-$150? And how high is the risk of buying wines of this age from ] well-known retailers? ] ] Thanks, ] Andrew ]

Hi Andrew,

I've had an '84 Burgess recently that was excellent. Should be available for well less than US$150, if you can find it. As for risk, well known and better retailers have temperature control, and can trace the provenance of the wine. If your source can't do that, it's a bit of a crap shoot.

-E

^^ ||

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M.

I've had the Dominus & Montelena '84, but probably not recently enough to help much. Both were excellent. One producer, whose '84 was drinking well recently was Diamond Creek. I had a horizontal of all but the Lake Vineyard (don't know if one was produced in '84). Prices were in the US$150/btl range, which is about what the DC's of the 90's were running at retail. Seems that K&L had some DC '84 for ~US$125. Maybe a look at their Web site can yield some real finds.

Hunt

'84 was a very ripe, fruit-forward year and its wines aged faster than many expected. At this date, I'd stick with the known long-agers: Montelena, Ridge Monte Bello and Dunn Howell Mountain. All of them can be found for just under $150 if you look with

Mark Lipton

I was just commenting on my (limited) experience with the relative longevity of the Cabs from those two wineries. 1984 is different than

Cheers, Dana

Oh, I see, thank you.

M.

Recently had the '84 Montelena - highly recommended !