More Great Cabs (and a couple other tasties as well!)
More Great Cabs (and a
couple other tasties as well!)
1987 Heitz Napa Cabernet
Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard
We tasted these in Cloudy Bay, on Sunday, after our visits to Storrs and Salamandre. Since Bree and 9-Ball had worked Day in the Vineyard again, we stopped and picked up four nice steaks and fresh sweet corn, and returned to Rancho califusa. Bree immediately dragged me down to "select" the wines for the evening. Yeah, right. He knew all along what he wanted to pull from his cellar, two beauties from the '87 vintage, and an old late harvest Riesling. Dinner was excellent, as usual, and the wines were marvelous. The Martha's (a first for Madame and me) is dark garnet with a hint of rust. The nose shows lovely, mature cigar box/tobacco/plum/cassis/dark chocolate, and these carry over onto the palate, along with what Bree says is Martha's signature eucalyptus character. Though there are still some tannins and acidity to resolve here, the wine is absolutely gorgeous! Pretty easy to see why this vineyard was held in such high esteem, until the phylloxera devastated it. The Mondavi Reserve (never had this one either) shows pretty much the same dark garnet with a touch of rust, and a cassis/plum nose with cigar box in the background. Bree noted black plum/black cherry flavors, and tobacco/leather nuances became more prominent with air. He described "a wonderful depth of fruit that needs another 2-5 years," saying that it was a little tight. He said that when they last had it a year or so ago, it had a "wonderful cassis/violet profile," but the floral qualities were nowhere to be found in this one. It did continue to open and become more enjoyable though; I was still sipping mine when the others had moved on the Riesling, and we became very good friends…
At this point, the Martha's is definitely showing better; indeed it's approaching its prime. But Bree says it'll be on its downside when the Mondavi comes into its own. Both seemed more Bordeaux-like than Californian, and that was just fine with us! The '79 St. Jean LHR is one of the most amazing wines I've ever seen, let alone tasted. It's certainly the most amazing Riesling, with a caramel color more likely to be found in a Tawny Port. Bree made mention of "the most delicate and tasty prunes," and there were raisin notes there as well. The wine was sweet and sticky, very much like an Aussie Tawny. Absolutely delicious!
1990 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander
We tasted the ’90 SO Alexander during Birthday-thon ’98, right after a 1996 Domaine Louis Moreau Chablis 1st Cru "Les Forneaux." The Director didn’t much care for the Chablis, but she sure liked the Silver Oak! Her first comment was "Major olives!" There's just a hint of rust to this dark garnet Cab, with big-time cedar on the nose that dominates, but doesn't overwhelm the rich perfumed red currant/cassis/plum/black cherry/cigar box/spicy cinnamon/chocolate bouquet. These follow through on the palate, along with good acidity and soft tannins. Absolutely delicious, this is still doing fine, and will certainly hold nicely over the next few years, at least. Might even improve some. It went really well with grilled lamb chops. (These notes are consistent with those taken regarding a bottle that Chanteuse opened for us last January.) Bree brought along the ’87 a few weeks later, and opened it a few days after Mo’Cool. It’s also a dark garnet with the barest hint of rust. Bree immediately commented on "tons of spice you can smell pouring out of the glass from five feet away." And there certainly is a lot of cedar/eucalyptus/saddle leather in the nose, as well. These follow through on the palate, with dense, concentrated cassis/plum and a soft velvety mouthfeel. This wine is either at or very close to its peak, and is absolutely delicious! Silver Oak gets criticism from some quarters for being overoaked, and there’s a good deal of wood here, to be sure. However, having said that, these are such tasty wines that I wouldn’t be one of those who make such charges. The stuff is just too damned good! Yummm… 1984 Newton Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
While shopping in the grocery store across from my work place a few days before MO’COOL/WAYCOOL, I noticed a stash of Newton Cabs and Merlots from the ‘80s, and was told that they’d just been released by the winery for restaurant allocation. Fortunately, Harbortown Market manager, Jerry, knew what these were all about and procured more than was meant for retail sales. I decided that these would be very interesting to taste with califusa and picked up a half bottle of each. The ‘84 is a dark garnet with some rust, and musty/mushroom/cedar/leather/cigar box/cassis/plum notes on the nose. The flavors show nice plum/cigar box, with good acidity and fully resolved tannins. Bree commented, "There’s more here than I expected!" This went well with grilled New York strips and Michigan sweet corn. The ‘85 is a darker garnet, with less rust than the ‘85. It has a similar mustiness, but is richer and more intense than the previous model. "There’s more of everything," as Bree put it. The nose shows very impressive cassis/red currant/plum aromas, with a big hit of mint. Again, the flavors echo, with good acidity. I found it to be very earthy and Bordeaux-like. The Director’s immediate comment regarding the ‘87 was "This stinks!" She was commenting on the fact that again, there was a certain mustiness about it. It was the least rusty of the three, with some aquarium over the cassis/red currant/plum/mint nose. Flavors were basically the same, but as Bree put it, "It’s almost too smooth. The acidity is too low, with nothing to carry the fruit message. It lacks structure, and is a few years past its prime." I would tend to agree with these thoughts, but it’s not like this is a BAD wine that you can’t still enjoy. califusa, who has more experience with these than we, described the three as reflecting their vintages accurately. The ‘84 is a little restrained, the ‘85 is classic, and the ‘87 is full and lush, having drunk well early. I’d also agree with these comments, but Madame didn’t like any of them, saying "These just smell like a dusty old cigar boxes to me!" With criticism like that, there was only one option, and that was to open a Mr. Ridge! The ‘91 Geyserville seemed to fit the bill, in theory, and indeed, it did so in fact. (OK, so there’s not a hint of a Bordeaux varietal in this! Who cares?!) Dark garnet, with no detectable rust as of yet, this has an initial stinky burnt rubber that does blow off, leaving only a lingering tarry element and a hint of the barnyard that accentuates the beautiful blackberry/black raspberry/black cherry/black currant flavors and aromas. Secondary notes of leather/cedar/black licorice/cardomon come out with air. There is still good tannins and acidity here, with a little alcohol on the finish. Bree opined that this "has evolved even more because of so much Carignane (30%) in the blend." He went on to describe it as being in the 2nd of three stages of evolution for Zinfandel, having moved out of the primary fruit phase, and into one where secondary spices start to develop. Still, he characterized the fruit as "so unctuous and rich," and we agreed with him completely. Finally, Madame was happy!
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