WTN: You better, you better, you Betz

[David M. Bueker]

2007 Betz Cabernet Sauvignon Pere de Famille
Another one from the Saturday tasting. The Betz Cabernet was predictably large scaled, full of dark, cassis and blackberry fruit, and quite lush on the palate. It did have underlying structure, but not in such a way that any but the geekiest could find it. Based on the initial impressions I was scanning the wine for identifiable faults rather than just enjoying it. There was no heat, nothing awkward or out of place, just this mass of fruit. It was a very well made wine, but in a style I have moved past.

[Jenise]

Most of my experience with Betz has been with pre-2000 vintage wines, in particular the 99 of this very bottling of which I had six bottles. And that one is the Leoville Las Cases of Washington wines--definitely not one that would have inspired the things you said about the 2007. And structure has been the crowning glory of all two or three of the other Betz wines I've tasted. Point is--my experience is so paltry it speaks to nothing. But 07 was so atypical a vintage--big and soft--that it would be unfair for you to draw a conclusion about anybody's house style based on something from this vintage. '08 is more your, and my, kind of vintage, so is '10, and '11 will really separate the men from the boys.

[David M. Bueker]

I have had other Betz Cabs, but tastes of 2005, 2006 and 2007 have left me cold.

Which leads one to ask when it was that Bob decamped?

[Jenise]

Which leads one to ask when it was that Bob decamped?

The sale was less than two years ago, Hoke. Or at least I remember thinking that up thru about 2009, all the work was his.