Larry pulled out this auction wine last night for the cheese course:
1. MtVeederVnyd NapaVlly BernsteinVnyd CabernetSauvignon 1973: Med.color w/ slight bricking; classic aged Cab/pencilly/cedary slight blackcurranty/fruity rather complex nose; soft bit lean/tannic classic pencilly/cedary slight charred/oak light blackcurranty/Cab/slight herbal flavor; med.long cedary/pencilly/light charred oak light blackcurranty fairly complex finish w/ slight drying tannins; still in great shape and a genuine pleasure to drink but not gonna get any better; a wine that sorta whispers eleganty across the palate w/o a great deal of ruckus.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Mike Bernstein was a SanFrancisco lawyer who, with his wife Arlene, bought this property w/ orchards up on MtVeeder in the early '60's. They ripped out the orchards and put in grapevines to CabSauv and Zin (and Chard?) and made their first Cab in '72, miserable yr but it was a pretty decent Cab for that rain-besotted vintage. Their winemaker was Kim Giles.
They really hit the big time in '73 w/ this Cab. The Zin was dynamite as well. In addition, they produced a LateHrvst Chard (w/ a slight amount of r.s.) from Bob&Zelma Long's grapes, and an absolutely killer PS from the MarstonVnyd (along w/ FrankMahoney at CarnerosCreek) that was as inky/black as they come. Thru the mid-late '70's, the MtVeeder wines were some of my real favorites.
Then (for reasons I'm not sure) they put the property on the market and sold it to a Florida couple, the Matheson's, in 1982. They brought on PeterFranus as their winemaker and some pretty decent Cabs came from him in those yrs. Then the property was sold to Franciscan and went into a long/slow decline...from the wines I tasted. Hardly ever make an effort to try them anymore.
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Questions for the cognescenti:
1. Who was KimGiles and what other wineries did he make wine for??
2. What ever happened to the original BernsteinVnyd? Is it still producing? Does it still have any Zin??
3. What ever happened to Mike&Arlene Bernstein?? Once did a visit w/ Mike..very friendly/pleasant guy..even for a lawyer.
Tom