Three friends and I had a pleasant dinner together recently at a local eatery. The generic theme was "Cabernet" and the resulting bottles were an interesting mix. We started with a white and ended with two stickies that had been opened the night before.
2005 Chateau Carbonnieux Blanc Pessac-Leognan. The aromas of grapefruit, grass, lemon/lime zest are light and not too serious. It is similar in the mouth, where it feels fairly light-bodied, with a creamy texture and soft acidity.
1983 Mas de Daumas Gassac Vin de Pays de l’Herault. Solid dark garnet color with only mild bricking at the rim. It is dense, dark and tight on the nose at first, hinting at raw leather, dark berries and plums. Later in the evening, it also folds in an unusual but not unpleasant grapefruit note. In the mouth, this still shows some tannins but they are very nicely integrated. The wine presents a feeling of rich density and solid backbone. The fruit still feels tightly-wound and compacted, but the wine itself expands to fill the mouth nicely and exits with a big shot of spice and a faint touch of heat.
1990 La Dame de Montrose St.-Estephe. This wine presents a deep bouquet of horse hair, leather, a moderate manure note, faint cedar dust, very ripe cassis and dark brambly berries. Much later in the night, an herbal and green pepper note comes on strong. It is drinking extremely well on the palate right now, with very soft, fine-grained tannins, excellent layering, solid drive, a refined texture and fine overall balance. It finishes spicy and smoky. My and the group’s WOTN.
1997 Stonestreet Legacy Alexander Valley. This smells of warm, roasted dark fruits, a hint of fresh leather jacket, vanilla coffee and a certain graphite minerality note. It presents a luxuriant texture and plump weight in the mouth. The velvety tannins start out smooth but clamp down on the very spicy, woody finish—where they leave the mouth, gums and teeth feeling coated. This definitely feels like it needs more time. A few nights later, though, it seems less tannic and more charming—my wife really fell for it.
1997 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Napa Valley. This comes across as quite ripe, maybe even over-ripe on the nose, where one finds warm treacley red and black fruit aromas and a distinctive warmed oily Spanish nut kind of thing going on to go along with some refined oak notes. In the mouth, it exhibits excellent amplitude and a very even mouthfeel from start to finish. It is surprisingly cool-fruited after the warm roasty nose. It is certainly full-bodied, with chocolate and blueberry flavors wrapped up in a pleasing texture. Early sips seemed to end in an abrupt finish, but as the night went on, it grows longer and eventually does not seem like much of an issue.
1996 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley. Man, this is nowhere near ready. I’d read some recent notes suggesting it was in early stages of drinking well, but I beg to differ. Indeed, after a week in the refrigerator, it was showing much better than when first opened. The nose here is of cool blackberry, roasted coffee bean, volcanic rock, new leather and crunchy autumn leaves. It is super-thick and dense and extremely rich in the mouth—like eating Cabernet candy. It is full and mouth-filling. The tannins are hidden up front but they grow and grow until they absolutely dominate the back of the palate and the finish. Simply put, this is uber-tannic right now. I would wait 5, even 10 years before venturing back to this one.
1999 Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This is just lovely, and was a solid candidate for wine of the night. It offers an invitingly complex and soaring nose featuring aromas like crème de cassis, sugar-dusted blackberries, crushed raspberries, tomato concentrate, moss, tar oil, white pepper, chocolate and mocha all taking their turns. In the mouth, it is intense and densely fruited, yet exudes a sense of classiness. It has great verve and drive in the mouth, where tightly-wound but deliciously warm dark fruits dominate the flavor profile. The texture is plush and the whole thing is propelled through to a long, spicy finish, which unfortunately does show a dash of heat. This should be even more lovely with just a few more years of bottle age.
1996 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyards Napa Valley. This wine makes my list of all-time unforgettable wine bouquets. It is easily one of the weirdest-smelling wines I have ever experienced. This wine smells like a cross between chewable vitamins and dried fish food flakes--mixed into plaster and/or kindergarten paste. There is also a generic medicinal note to go along with band-aids and dusty old books. Much later, some faint cedar and Swedish fish candy notes come out, but it never loses that odd vitamin/fish food note. I experimented with the leftovers, coming back after a few days, a week and then 2 weeks. That smell never abated and if anything intensified with time. Just weird. Anyway, in the mouth (if anyone is still reading), it is much, much better. Indeed, it is pretty darned tasty. It features dark berry fruits and confectionery notes in a chewy, chalky-textured package with some chocolaty tannins hanging in there. It has a pleasant finish that almost makes you forget the nose (until you go back for another drink).
1994 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This Freemark Abbey offering is quite nice, tying the Hobbs for group WOTN runner-up. The nose is very nice, with creamy dark cherries, raspberries, dried blood, chocolate and mineral notes. It has excellent persistence in the mouth, where it is relatively full-bodied with a fine, easy texture. It comes across as pretty classic California Cabernet as it progresses nicely across the palate to a long, well-balanced finish.
1982 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Napa Valley. Corked.
2000 Chateau Senejac Haut-Medoc. This is still too young to really enjoy, as it is pretty tight and compact on both the nose and palate right now, even on days 2 and 3 in the refrigerator. It has some aromas of coffee, dark caramel and toasted herbs. In the mouth, it is barely showing itself, presenting a dry, compact, tannic profile. I wouldn’t try again for another 3-5 years.
NV Chambers Tokay Rutherglen Rosewood Vineyards Rare. On the nose, this is the pure essence of caramel, toffee and nuts, with figs and just the slightest hint of spirits underneath. For some reason, it brings to mind Belgian waffles with maple syrup and powdered sugar. In the mouth, it shows a lot of glycerin, with warm and gooey fig and date fruit. It finishes sweet, rich and full, and it seems to last for minutes.
1986 Graham Vintage Porto Quinta dos Malvedos. This is savory, meaty and smoky on the nose, and also features some briery dark berry fruits and leather aromas. It does not seem overtly sweet, nor is there much sense of alcohol spirits. It is very concentrated and focused in the mouth, with intense, sweet liquid black raspberry, fig and brown spice flavors. In many ways, it feels reined-in, but that does not prevent the finish from coming across as fairly explosive. A very nice way to finish the evening.
-Michael