Last night with grilled venison chops and oven roasted beets and yams. I haven't opened a '97 Beringer PR for a number of years. I opened and decanted (there was a fair amount of sediment) and started drinking upon decanting. The wine was still deep inky almost black with just a hint of clearing at the rim. The nose was pouring from the bottle while I was decanting. Great depth in the nose of crushed currants, creme de cassis and smoke. In the glass the nose continued to evolve showing black fruits, vanilla, anise, and that distinctive Napa dust aroma. Still fairly hefty in the glass with substanitial forward concentrated black fruit, berries, plums and cassis. Smooth as silk and well framed by plush yet firm tannic structure. As with most '97's fairly low acid but the wine wasn't cloying nor did it overpower the food. So far I've been impressed by most all of the '97 Napa Cabs that I've opened recently and the concerns about them falling apart hasn't happened as far as I can tell. Certainly an "A" on the Dale Scale.
- posted
17 years ago