Clark Claudon Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Finishing out the year, we enjoyed a quiet dinner and peaceful evening at home watching a movie. Linda prepared filets of beef with baked potato and peas. I selected from the cellar this Clark Claudon Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. This is the same wine we had the other night for our gala family holiday dinner, so I could compare another vintage of this label of which we hold more than a dozen vintages. Such a tasting comparison between multiple vintages of the same label is considered a 'vertical' tasting. I opted for this ten year old 2006 vintage, at tens years of age, a benchmark tasting, and, to celebrate the tenth wedding anniversary of our daughter, Erin and son-in-law Johnny.
As I reminisced with a couple friends on the phone the last few days, its hard to believe it has been ten years since we hosted our daughter's gala wedding banquet at which we served a horizontal selection of her birthyear wines from large format bottles (shown right).
Tonight, with Linda fighting the flu, she wasn't up for any wine so, drinking alone, I opened a 375ml half bottle of this selection.
At ten years of age, this bottle is probably at the peak of its drinking window, matured to the point to reveal its true character and profile, but not likely to improve any further with age. Yet, this bottle probably has at least ten and perhaps twenty years of life, so no need to hurry consuming our stock.
Dark garnet/purple colored, medium full bodied, elegant, concentrated and complex but nicely balanced core of black berry and black currant fruits, accented by tones of cedar, spice, cigar box and hints of mocha and tangy sweet oak with a long smooth lingering tannin finish.
RM 92 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=773571
http://www.clarkclaudon.com/
Finishing out the year, we enjoyed a quiet dinner and peaceful evening at home watching a movie. Linda prepared filets of beef with baked potato and peas. I selected from the cellar this Clark Claudon Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. This is the same wine we had the other night for our gala family holiday dinner, so I could compare another vintage of this label of which we hold more than a dozen vintages. Such a tasting comparison between multiple vintages of the same label is considered a 'vertical' tasting. I opted for this ten year old 2006 vintage, at tens years of age, a benchmark tasting, and, to celebrate the tenth wedding anniversary of our daughter, Erin and son-in-law Johnny.
As I reminisced with a couple friends on the phone the last few days, its hard to believe it has been ten years since we hosted our daughter's gala wedding banquet at which we served a horizontal selection of her birthyear wines from large format bottles (shown right). Tonight, with Linda fighting the flu, she wasn't up for any wine so, drinking alone, I opened a 375ml half bottle of this selection.
At ten years of age, this bottle is probably at the peak of its drinking window, matured to the point to reveal its true character and profile, but not likely to improve any further with age. Yet, this bottle probably has at least ten and perhaps twenty years of life, so no need to hurry consuming our stock. Dark garnet/purple colored, medium full bodied, elegant, concentrated and complex but nicely balanced core of black berry and black currant fruits, accented by tones of cedar, spice, cigar box and hints of mocha and tangy sweet oak with a long smooth lingering tannin finish.
RM 92 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=773571
http://www.clarkclaudon.com/
