Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2002
Returning home from weekend getaway, we grilled T-Bone steaks on the grill, served with spinach and baked potatoes.
As a wine accompaniment we pulled from the cellar this Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet.
We visited the Harris' Paradigm Oakville winery during our Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 1999. We still hold more than a case from a half dozen vintages of this label dating back to the mid-nineties.
Tonight, this was enjoyable and the tasting notes and rating was consistent with earlier published notes, our last tasting of this label was in 2020.
Previously we we tasted this label two years earlier in 2018 in a comparison tasting with two other Napa Cabs. At that time I wrote, "Perhaps an unfair comparative tasting of three diverse Napa cabs, the
Paradigm was slightly narrower and single dimensional compared the
mountain fruit and complexity of the Bordeaux blends. It was delicious
never-the-less and a top performing Napa Cab."
At twenty-one years of age, this is holding well and not showing diminution
from aging, but certainly not likely to improve any further. As shown, the fill level, foil, label and most importantly, the cork, were all in ideal condition. The cork was starting to be slightly soft, but likely still has several years of integrity left.
This is labeled 'Estate Bottled', meaning all the grapes were sourced from producer owned vineyards on the property.
This was dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, bright tangy black
cherry and black berry fruits accented by notes of anise, tea, spice box
and hints of dark mocha, caramel, and leather.
RM 90 points.
Day two, the remains of this clearly showed its age, with much of the fruit overtaken by wood, cedar, smoke, forest floor and a bit of funkiness. Pop, decant, pour, drink-up. Don't hold.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=196146
https://paradigmwinery.com/
@ParadigmWinery
