WTN: Dunn de Dunn, Dunn, Dunn

[David M. Bueker]

• 1991 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley - USA, California, Napa Valley (1/22/2025)
  Fully mature and elegant - wait…is this actually Dunn, or did I open something else by mistake?
  
  Shockingly light bodied when I first opened it, it fleshed out 30 minutes later, but never went beyond medium-bodied. The aromas were pure Cabernet - cassis, a touch of tobacco leaf (old school!), cedar, and just a touch of spice. Tannins almost completely melted away, so the mouthfeel was quite smooth, but with good acidic bite. Not sure I would have pegged this as a Napa wine blind, as on the whole it reminded me a lot of a top vintage of Chateau Beychevelle.
  
  Not at all what I was expecting, but a wonderful bottle to celebrate my birthday.

• 1991 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley - USA, California, Napa Valley (1/22/2025)
  Fully mature and elegant - wait…is this actually Dunn, or did I open something else by mistake?
  
  Shockingly light bodied when I first opened it, it fleshed out 30 minutes later, but never went beyond medium-bodied. The aromas were pure Cabernet - cassis, a touch of tobacco leaf (old school!), cedar, and just a touch of spice. Tannins almost completely melted away, so the mouthfeel was quite smooth, but with good acidic bite. Not sure I would have pegged this as a Napa wine blind, as on the whole it reminded me a lot of a top vintage of Chateau Beychevelle.
  
  Not at all what I was expecting, but a wonderful bottle to celebrate my birthday.

Sounds about right for that bottling. About a decade ago, we blinded a friend (French chemist from a family of Beaujolais vignerons) with the '90 Dunn Napa. He pegged it for a left bank Bordeaux, and thought it was Merlot heavy. He nearly fell out of his chair when he saw what it was (he'd spent 2 years at Stanford and knows Napa wineries pretty well).

[David M. Bueker]

Nice to know I am not crazy!

I have very little experience actually drinking Dunn. I have a lot more experience putting the bottles back into the racks after going "no, not yet."

Nice to know I am not crazy!

I have very little experience actually drinking Dunn. I have a lot more experience putting the bottles back into the racks after going "no, not yet."

Well, the Howell Mtn bottling is a different beast. I've never known one to be fully ready -- usually, there are still some rather rough tannins lurking in the finish. Granted, I have limited experience with them, mostly through a close friend who's a pharma exec in the Bay Area and who has a cellar of CalCabs.

I only own the Napa now, after too many "brutal, but lots of potential" Howell Mtns.