TN:Two 1978 California Cabs

Opened by friends last night at dinner:

1978 Chateau Montelena (mag)-Still dark in the glass with a faint hint of brick at the edges. Power house nose of black fruits, cassis a bit of earthy barnyard and some cedar. The wine is sweet and silky on the palate with a ton of creme de cassis and blackberries. Some light dusty mineral notes and black coffee comes through on the finish. The tannins are well resolved yet still a bit of grip keeps things clean on the finish. This wine will last another ten years easily. Just a wonderful example of California Cabernet. A+

1978 Ridge Montebello Cabernet-Totally gone over the hill. Brownish pink in color, nose of sour cherry and Madiera. The fruit was gone leaving only a sour bitter mess. The bottle was well kept and the cork was perfect.

Reply to
Bi!!
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This doesn't surprise me at all. We've had this wine (750 mL) twice: the first time was a bottle that I bought at release that I opened in '86-'87 with my future wife -- she'll tell you that that wine may be one reason that she married me; by total coincidence, an acquaintance here at Purdue brought the same wine to a dinner about 4-5 years ago and it was still in magnificent shape, much as you describe. It made me wish that I'd bought more and kept it longer, but storage conditions back then in my life were not what they are now :(

This *does* surprise me. I've seen posted notes about this wine elsewhere that indicated a mature but far from OTH wine. Could yours have been heat-damaged at the time of purchase? Weird.

Thanks for the interesting notes, Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

I do not have any Ridge Monte Bello 78, but I still have a bottle or two of Ridge York Creek CS 1978. When last tasted a year or so ago, It was quite good and still holding well. In my limited comparisons, Monte Bello usually is slower to mature than York Creek. Thus I was surprised that the the 78 Monte Bello was well past the peak. Of course with wines this old, we have all found bottle past their best. Sometimes you can have a cork with a tiny groove that lets just a bit of air in and over a long time. Such a micro flaw may not cause gross leakage from the bottle. It might cause the wine to age fast or even spoil if there is enough air contact. Of course if other bottles from the same case also have a problem, faulty storage conditions at some point become more likely.

Reply to
cwdjrxyz

Too bad about the Montebello. In its day it was a great wine but I haven't tasted that in a '78 in 10 years.ii

Reply to
Lawrence Leichtman

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