WTN: No Reservations?

[David M. Bueker]

• 2003 Chateau St. Jean Merlot Reserve - USA, California, Sonoma County (12/29/2024)
  From my late father’s cellar, there were several bottles of this, so I took one home to check it out. It’s certainly still drinking well if chewing on furniture is your idea of a nice glass of wine. Banquet tables use less oak. If I was a fan of heavily oaked wines I would have liked this more, but two years in oak prior to the assemblage, and then a third following the blend is beyond my tolerance.

[Jenise]

Ugh, the curse of the sappy, heavily oaked Reserves. I haven't kept up with California wines since moving north 21 years ago, but I have the impression that Reserve lines aren't commonplace among newer wineries. Up here we don't see it much--the Boudreaux you asked about the other day is one of the few that come to mind.

[David M. Bueker]

Oddly enough I doubt the fruit was too sappy. It’s still there and not in any way extreme. It’s just buried in an oak casket.

[Jenise]

I was thinking of the last Pride Reserve I had. There were exceptions where the Reserves were the better, more ageable wines (like Mondavi) but I got to where, between oak and OTT concentration, at most wineries I typically preferred the non-Reserve wines.

Ugh, the curse of the sappy, heavily oaked Reserves. I haven't kept up with California wines since moving north 21 years ago, but I have the impression that Reserve lines aren't commonplace among newer wineries. Up here we don't see it much--the Boudreaux you asked about the other day is one of the few that come to mind.

I was a California Cab fan back in the day (being a native Californian) but it bothered me when so many CA wineries started removing their best Cab lots to make (higher priced) reserve bottlings without reducing the prices of their now-diminished regular wines. But that opened the door for me to find good wines at reasonable prices (and moderate alcohol levels) from other regions and countries. The only CA Cab in my cellar now is a bottle of cheap meritage that someone brought to a dinner a year or two ago. It will probably stay there.

A quote from Richard Eccleston: "Oak should be a seasoning, not a sauce."

-Paul W.

That was the year that Steve Reeder left as winemaker. The styles changed after Dick Arrowood left to found his own winery. I preferred his wines.

[David M. Bueker]

That was the year that Steve Reeder left as winemaker. The styles changed after Dick Arrowood left to found his own winery. I preferred his wines.

Arrowood was the winery that turned me into a wine geek. The ‘92 Arrowood Merlot captivated me. No looking back after that.