Well, I was tempted to title this entry as "The Day I Discovered I Despise Old Cali Cabernet", but I didn't really think it was a fair fight to make such a declaration. Some important age-worthy Cabs were missing from the table and, while these were from the most highly regarded vintages of the 1990's, it doesn't necessarily make them age-worthy.
So, the set-up: Jar is not open for lunch, but we had a regular guest ask if we could host a lunch for his wine tasting group. Suzanne put together a three-course meal to match with reds, a cheese course and dessert. Ten guys showed up, each with a bottle in hand, and the horses were off and running. The theme was California Cabernet from 1994 through 1997. The wines were broken into flights by vintage and poured with each course. An informal tasting, the guys voted on their favorite from each flight.
I sat down with all of the wines after the event had ended to revisit some old acquaintances from years ago. The players in this particular show were all very familiar and read like the wine list from a Ruth's Chris or Morton's Steakhouse. "Boring", is my first repsonse, but I always like to offer myself a little reminder that these wineries are so highly established for a reason. And then Preech (our Chef de Cuisine) walks up and says "Beringer used to make some good wine back in the eighties", almost as if he heard my thoughts and responded.
The first flight included a wine that was completely outside of the theme: Leonetti's 1993 Merlot from Washington. It was tragically corked. Next, the Caymus 'Special Selection' 1994 which was decidedly one of the wines of the tasting for me. Ripe blackberry and black cherry, cigar box, cedar and spice, soft tannins and still vibrant fruit. Drinking great today! The Dunn 'Howell Mountain' 1994 was the wine I would have suspected to like best, but really wasn't giving up much today. Very reluctant nose, but typical dusty, herbal Dunn-style. Very lively acidity and tannin, but the fruit was challenged. Perhaps in a dumb phase?
The second flight started with the Flora Springs 'Rutherford Hill Reserve' 1995 which I could barely get past the nose to taste. The volatile acidity on the nose was horrific but the palate came across okay with ripely flavored black fruits that tasted sweet like cherry candy. Showing as I expected was the Silver Oak 'Alexander Valley' 1995, which had its typical dill note on the nose, but little else. Same for the palate - completely over the hill and lacking fruit, but with the body of a somewhat youthful wine. A Pride 'Reserve' 1995 was finished at the lunch so I did not get to try it.
The third flight featured the Beringer 'Private Reserve' 1996. It was at this point I looked at Preech and asked "Is my palate off or do these wines all taste like nothing?!" My notes simply read: lacking anything - dry, astringent and not much fruit or nose. Following that was the B.R. Cohn 'Special Selection' 1996 which was all kinds of disjointed: a slightly unappealing cocoa note (if that's even possible...) with black cherry that came together like a $.99 box of Queen Anne Cordials that someone left in the cabinet for two years. There must've been some residual sugar because it tasted sweet, dry, old, and funky all at the same time. Thank God for the Peter Michael 'Les Pavots' 1996 which showed perfect balance and restraint. The fruit was ripe but integrated, and the tannins were present without being astringent. Cedary and herbal notes with spice played in nicely. I think this one can even go a little longer.
The final flight included a "wringer" that turned out to be the Napa Valley Reserve 1997, made by Bob Levy and Bill Harlan. One suspects this wine must be leftovers from Bond or Harlan and it kind of tastes that way. While owning some of the ame trademarks and elements of those two wineries, they just don't seem to come together as seamlessly. The espresso, graphite, cedar and black fruits are all there, but this bottling is more bitter and astringent on the finish. The tannins are still ripe and coated in fruit, but not as much. I did like this wine, but as a comparison to its siblings, it tastes like a third label. I poured the Beringer 'Private Reserve' 1997 next, which I did not get to taste, but have had plenty of chances to taste and felt like it was gone many years ago. Next, the 1997 Phelps 'Insignia' which I've had varying experiences with over the years. In fact, there were actually two different bottles and they were wildly different in flavors. I believe one of them was cooked or faulty in some way, to be honest. The better of the two bottles showed balanced fruit, a dusty character and was drinkable but not exciting. This wine is an enigma to me. And everytime I decide it's just gone for good, a brilliant bottle will come around and pull the rug out from under me. Sadly, this was not that bottle... And finally, the 1997 Dominus: an overlay of black cherry and currant, anise and earth. Nothing exciting here and surprisingly not as much in the Bordeaux-style as one would expect. Decent and probably as good as it's going to get.
I'm not going to get up on my soap box about European wines, but when these wines from California reach this age where minerality would really begin to show through, it becomes glaringly obvious that we just don't have that kind of minerality here at all. Clearly the wine world is in flux and it will be interesting to see what happens down the road when these New World-styled Bordeauxs reach maturity. Will they still be capable of expressing the same minerality as they did when made in a more archaic/classic style? We'll see in about ten more years...
I'm not encouraging anyone to go out and dump all of these wines down the drain! I'm simply stating that in a completely critical and analytical frame of mind, these wines were not really impressive. To ME! Some were good, some tragic, and many in the middle-of-the-road. If I popped the cork on one of them for dinner one night at home, I would drink it and be happy I had the experience. Mostly, I'm just really glad I sold many of those wines a few years ago for a healthy profit.
Wine is foremost about what you like and I just seem to have really outgrown this phase... And I'll outgrow the phases I'm in now, likely. But being comfortable knowing and saying what you like is more important than anything, especially when it comes to wine. Not being afraid to try new things is a pretty close second, but like mom always said, "How do you know you don't like it if you've never even tried it?"
No comments:
Post a Comment