WTN: Silverado and Pontet Canet

[Jenise]

1994 Silverado Cabernet Reserve, Napa Valley
Youthful maroon color. Bright nose and mid-palate of pure black currants with a bit of fennel and sea salt. A pine-y note and some raspberry jam showed in the finish. Toward the end of the bottle, some soy sauce appeared to, so this wine is heading downhill. Pointy people would only award it about 85 points: eminently drinkable but nothing special.

1999 Pontet Canet, Paulliac, Bordeaux
My first taste of the 99 Pontet. Drinking very well now--it tastes the same from the point of uncorking right through to the last sip in the bottle. Black cherry, black currant and plum, licorice and toasty oak, full bodied, and mostly resolved tannins. Should hold at this point for a few more years, but I didn't detect a long life ahead of that.

Wow. Pontet Canet is one of the few '99s that I didn't buy. My instinct was apparently correct. don't have any Silverado, either.

Got to start putting my '99s in some kind of drinking schedule on the bases of guessed trajectories. And I guess the prevailing informed opinion is that they won't develop much tertiary charm. Maybe a problem of low acid and phenolic immaturity - I don't know. It would be fun if they surprised everyone. The '97s were no surprise. Most ended on a similar note from when they started.

[Jenise]

Covert, I didn't know what to expect from the Pontets. For a long time--and in fact until about 6-8 months ago, the 86 (drunk too young, btw) was the only Pontet I'd ever had. But recently a 78 and an 85 really turned my head, so I decided it was time to try a 99. You know what, they're pretty darn good for the $18 ea I paid for them, but they're not in the same league as some other 99's like Leoville Barton. Or maybe I only like them when they're old?

Don't know, but the secondary market's a pretty good judge of character when it comes to Bordeaux, with the 05 coming out at $98 (an offer I got yesterday) that the 99 is on Winebid right now for just $25 indicates fairly low demand.

So you didn't buy the 99's. Do you own any other vintage of PC, or have you ever had any that impressed you?

It's odd: checking, no, except for 1997, of course, since I bought every 1997 known to God or man - nearly. I have used my multitudinous 1997 juggernaut multi-purposely, forming many opinions, justified or not, from that atypical vintage, alone. It's likely that I shunned anymore PC purchases from my impressions of the '97. And I even had a nice conversation with the property's charming owner at Zachy's - and sampled other vintages of PC there, as well, come to think of it. But I understand that the 2005 is wonderful.

[Jenise]

I have used my multitudinous 1997 juggernaut multi-purposely, forming many opinions, justified or not, from that atypical vintage, alone.

What a great, self-deprecating bloviation: you made me laugh out loud. Bravo! You definitely need to try Pontet again, I think it will talk to you in the same way that Grand Puy and some others do.

I resemble that. Bloviation is a great word, isn't it?

Okay. Will do. Still can't believe I don't have any.