Tried these two last Sun at Pig+Fig from Blair's cellar:
1. Montevina Barbera ShenandoahVlly/AmadorCnty (SpecialSlctn; 14.5%; EB) Plymouth 1980: Dark bit browning color; quite smokey/cedary/pencilly/oak fairly spicy/Barbera/dried febbel seed/Italian sausage quite spicy fairly complex nose; lightly tart/tangy slightly dried out light Barbera/spicy/Italian sausage some cedary/pencilly/oak slight Amador briary complex flavor w/ light drying tannins; very long rather cedary/pencilly/oak/smokey slight Barbera/spicy/Italian sausage bit drying light briary/blackberry/Amador complex finish w/ light tannins; starting to dry out a bit but still speaks strongly of Barbera and ShenandoahVlly; still hanging in there but a bit past its prime. $5.00 (CB)
_______
2. CarnerosCreekWnry 100% CabernetSauvignon Calif/ShenandoahVlly/AmadorCnty (EsolaVnyd; 13.9%; Bttld: Jan 1977) 1975: Very dark color w/ some browning; some chocolaty/bit herbal CS/black curranty fairly cedary/pencilly/smokey/cigar boxquite complex old Cab beautiful nose; soft rather cedary/pencilly/cigar box/oak rather chocolaty/bit herbal/CS lightly briary/AmadorCnty fairly complex flavor w/ light gentle tannins; very long/lingering rather ripe/chocolaty/bit herbal CS bit Amador/briary complex finish w/ light smooth tannins; still in beautiful and speaks strongly of Esola Cab; probably better 10 yrs ago, but still amazingly good. $8.00 (H-T)
________________
A weeBloodyPulpit:
1. This Montevina was made in the hey-day yrs of CaryGott. Montevina has never hit the strengths of his wines from the early '70's to the early '80's, when Cary left. This was probably Cary's best Barbera ever, so not surprised it was still doing good. Cary was really the one who put Barbera on the map in the ShenandoahVlly. DarrellCorti showed one of Cary's early Barberas to a Piemontese winemaker, who was blown away by it and declared it one of the best Barberas he'd ever tasted. And, as they say, the rest is history.
_______
2. This was, I believe, FrankMahoney's first EsolaCab. He had been making Esola (and ChetEschen/now Rinaldi) Zin from '73 and this yr decided to take some of Ernie's Cab as well. '75 was a very ripe yr for Esola Zin, but that did not show in his Cab. Frank continued to take Ernie's Cab because it was so dark and he often used a bit to give a color boost to his Stelzner NapaVlly Cab. Frank's EsolaCabs always spoke more of ShenandoahVlly briary and only hinted at CabSauvg. But they were always my preferred Cab to Frank's Stelzner.
Tom