1. Home
  2. General Wine Forum
  3. Californnia Retrospective

Californnia Retrospective

I was invited to a friends cellar last night for a retrospective of California Cabernets wines from years past. He collected cases of these wines over the years and wanted to see how they all faired. Stored in an underground cave at roughly 50F. I brought my last bottle of 1974 Heitz Martha's Vineyard. VIrtually every wine was in pristine yet mature condition. No over the hill wines, no brown acidic messes. I kept only cursory notes.

1974 Heitz Martha's Vineyard-Cinnamon, mint and cassis. Brillant vibrant flavors. A+

1979 Burgess Napa Valley Vintage Selection Cabernet-Thin and weak in the mid palate. A bit of berry and some residual tannin. C+

1979 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill-Lead pencil, think Mouton. Currant and cedar. B

1981 Phelps Eisele Vineyards-Dusty Napa notes. Still strong fruity component. Black cherry. B-

1982 Chateau Montelena Cabernet-Very deep black fruit, creme de cassis, anise and black coffee. Still stunningly fresh. A-

1984 Phelps Insignia-Total class, rich currant and blackberry fruit. Smooth tannins. Layers of flavor. A

1985 Robert Mondavi Reserve-Very youthful. Plummy, ripe and silky. A

1985 Opus One-A bit more complex than the Mondavi yet the lineage is clearly Mondavi. A bit more grahite, anise, spice and cedar but clear plum and cassis notes and slightly tough tannins A-

1988 Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet-A bit lean and green. Some cedar and leather. A bit of black cherry. C+

1989 Flora Springs Reserve Cabernet-Intense and ripe. Loads of black fruits but a bit of banana that I found strange. B

1992 Caymus Special Selection-Very, very rich and supple. Like silk on the palate with explosive cassis and vanilla. Fantastic A+

1985 Far Niente Cabernet-Concentrated flavors of black cherry. A bit of black coffee and black pepper. B+

1985 Christian Moueix Dominus-Very ripe dark fruit. Ripe, sweet black berry and black cherry. A bit of tannin but still quite smooth. B+

1986 Cain V-A bit thin, most mature wine of the evening. Cedar, tobacco, currant and oak. B-

1986 Beringer Private Reserve-A bit earthy and herbal. Fairly heavy in the glass. Very ripe red fruit and plums. B

1987 Beaulieu Georges de la Tour Private reserve-Quite Bordeaux like. Cedar, leather, mint and cassis. More acidity than most of the other wines.B-

1987 Shafer Hillside Select-Still inky black. Quite concentrated flavors of black cherry, blueberry, currant and chocolate. A+
Reply to
Bi!!
Loading thread data ...

The Burgess was good in the mid-80's but not a lot of stuffing so not surprised it is dead by now. Had the '88 Dunn myself and was not too impressed. Still way to tannic with too little fruit. Not sure where they got the rep to charge the way they do?

Reply to
Lawrence Leichtman

IIRC, Randy Dunn was the winemaker at Caymus during the mid 70's to the mid 80's where he made his reputation while Caymus was a rising (and well deserved) star in Napa. I think his wines have changed a bit since his earlier efforts in the mid to late 80's.

Reply to
Bi!!

Well, they are still tannic beasts that sometimes never tame. I have two bottles of the '95 Howell Mountain left and don't know when to open another as the one I opened last year was hard as a rock and didn't open after an hour.

Reply to
Lawrence Leichtman

I guess I should have been more specific. I've found his later wines...from 2000 on have been a bit less tannic and more approachable from a younger age.

Reply to
Bi!!

I quit buying after '99 due to the high levels of tannins.

Reply to
Lawrence Leichtman

Wow, Bill! What a fantastic lineup of older CalCabs. That '74 Heitz Martha's was the wine that started me down this path of winegeekery way back when. You obviously have good cellaring conditions, as your wines sound like they were in pristine condition. Bummer about the Burgess and Dunn, but in the latter case it's a vintage problem with '88 being arguably the most dilute year of the '80s (vying with '89 for that honor).

Larry: I've had much better luck with Dunn's Napa bottling, which only needs 10-15 years of aging to be enjoyable. I'm still sitting on my '90, '94, '95 and '99 Howell Mtns, too, and am beginning to consider writing them into my will ;-)

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Yes,it was my last bottle of '74 Martha's and they were all memorable. My cellar holds aboout 5000 bottles and I have an industrial grade cooling split cooling system that maintains 53F and

70% relative humidity.

I'm with you on the Dunn's Napa bottling. I do agree with Larry that the Howell Mtn is just too tannic to ever lighten up I still have a couple of '85's that will never resolve. It did change a bit after the 2000 vintage

Reply to
Bi!!

I tend to agree with the Napa connotation for the Dunn. I have had much better luck.

Reply to
Lawrence Leichtman

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.