Napa Cab 95 Vintage Horizontal Tasting

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1995 Horizontal Tasting Flight Highlight Selection of Big Reds and Grilled Barbecue Beefsteaks and Lamb

It started with our anniversary celebration dinner a couple weeks ago when we ordered Pride Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from the Sullivan's Steakhouse winelist. We enjoyed the Pride so much we decided then we'd pick up from there with a follow on tasting of Pride from our cellar. So when our visit from Ryan and Michelle and baby Marleigh grew into a family and friends holiday weekend barbecue, the tasting plan started there. Joining us were Johnny & Erin, neighbors Matt & Amy, Bill and Beth, and later, Dr Dan & Linda.

Our collection of Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon includes an abundance from the 1995 vintage whose time has come to drink so we set upon a horizontal tasting flight from that year. Adding to the Pride, we pulled from the cellar Del Dotto and Elan. Bill and Beth joined and Bill brought from his cellar Constant Diamond Mountain and Freemark Abbey Bosche Vineyard cabernets from the same vintage to round out the horizontal selection.

Labor Day weekend barbecue ultimate wine flight

Prior to dinner we had a selection of artisan cheeses with shrimp cocktail brought by Bill & Beth, with a Carmel Road Chardonnay. The cheese flight highlighted the chardonnay as well as the cabernets.

Carmel Road Central Coast Monterey (Appellation) Arroyo Seco Vineyard Chardonnay 2004

Lemon colored, full bodied, complex citrus flavors with a buttery nut layer.  Probably held on to this too long as its past its prime and time to drink.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=592344






We grilled out steak kabobs, Ryan and Michelle brought a full side of lamb, and Bill and Beth brought New York strip and filet steak. Dan and Linda showed up later and Dan brought two big reds befitting a big Cab tasting, an Amarone from Villa Mattielli and a La Mitre Chateauneuf du Pape from Caves St Pierre. 

Villa Mattielli Amarone della Valpolicella
and
Caves Saint-Pierre Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Mitre 2010

Ryan manning the grill

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1995 Horizontal Tasting Flight

Elan Vineyards Atlas Peak, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1995

We first tasted and picked up this wine from the producers Richard & Linda Elliott-Smith during our 1998 Napa Wine Experience. 

Of the five eighteen year old '95 Napa Cab's tasted, this was the one showing the most diminution from age. Full bodied, with firm but well integrated tannins, the black berry and black cherry fruits are falling off a bit and giving way to tones of leather and tobacco, accented by anise, cedar and oak.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=72763

Del Dotto Vineyards Rutherford Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1995

Showing a hint of age but still life left in this eighteen year old - dark garnet color, medium-full bodied, hints of oak accent spicy forward black berry, black cherry and plum fruits with hints of cedar, leather, cigar box and vanilla with well-integrated tannins on a long complex finish. 

RM 89 points.  

http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=890767

http://www.deldottovineyards.com

Constant Diamond Mountain Vineyard Red Blend Wine 1995

From high atop Diamond Mountain at the northern end of Mayacamas Range above the town of Calistoga, Fred and Mary Constant and consulting winemaker Paul Hobbs produce Bordeaux style red wine blend wines.

We visited Diamond Mountain and Constant Diamond Mountain Vineyard during our 2011 Diamond Mountain Napa Valley Wine Experience. Sitting at the summit at the top of the mountain, the site offers spectacular views overlooking both Napa and Sonoma highlands from over 2100 feet elevation. Constant is among the oldest wineries in the valley with history dating back to the late 1800's.


Wow, what a surprise, we had tasted this wine previously with uninspiring results. Tonight, this wine overachieved, vastly exceeding expectations. Dark purple color, medium to full bodied, full forward flavors of black berry, raspberry and black cherry fruits with traces of anise, tobacco, tea and leather on a lingering, moderate, soft tannin finish.

RM 90 points.

Bill's tasting notes -

Deep indigo color in the glass. A bit more full bodied than I remembered. Deep flavors of dark berry...blueberry, dark cherry and raspberry, with some minerality on the finish. Not surprising, given this vintage was made in more of a Bordeaux blend style albeit a bit Cabernet heavy at (73%). Smooth integrated tannins. A nice bottle drinking at peak. Will last another couple of years but why wait?

WC 90 points.

Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon 73%, Merlot 18%, and Cabernet Franc 9%.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=36373


http://www.constantwine.com/

Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Bosché Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1995

Bill's tasting notes as posted on Cellartracker - "Medium garnet color. Spice on the nose...some pepper and a bit of clove. Full bodied with a interesting layers of plum, cassis, chocolate and eucalyptus. Just a hint of vanilla from light oak. Soft, integrated tannins provide some backbone. This is always a favorite and is drinking very well. More than held its own against a flight of '95 reds including Élan, Constant Claret, Del Dotto and Pride."

WC 92 points.

Another eye-opening standout of the evening, this was medium to full bodied with bright vibrant forward ripe plum and black raspberry fruits accented by tones of currant, clove, hints of vanilla and sweet oak with smooth polished silky tannins on the finish.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=780698


Pride Mountain Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1995

We visited Pride Mountain Vineyards and Winery high atop Spring Mountain of the Mayacamas Range overlooking Napa Valley to the east, and Sonoma Valley to the west during our Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 1999 and again in 2003. We've enjoyed Pride since and often 'gift' Pride to friends on special occasions. We're big fans of rich concentrated extracted mountain fruit and hold Pride Cabernet going back to the mid-nineties. We love the Spring Mountain expression of terroir which I believe is as complex and flavorful as the other popular mountain appellations.

Dark, full bodied, firm, initially closed and tight - decanted and set aside, after an hour and half it started to open up to reveal big full complex dark blackberry and black currant fruits accented by anise, with hints of spice, dusty cedar, and a subtle sweet dark mocha on the full firm lingering tannin finish.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=6236

http://www.pridewines.com/

Caves Saint-Pierre Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Mitre 2010 

Dan brought this CDP from the much heralded blockbuster 2010 vintage. Garnet colored, medium bodied, surprisingly light for such a hearty vintage, slightly earthy black cherry, leather and tobacco notes with modest tannins.

RM 87

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1616011












Villa Mattielli Amarone della Valpolicella 2009

Lacking the big body and complexity of an Amarone, ruby colored, medium bodied, still has that signature raisin and fig tones with hints of anise, cola, vanilla and nut on a modest tannin finish. 

RM 87

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1573099

While it was getting late for some, (Erin & Johnny and Ryan & Michelle set out to get grandkids home and to bed, and Amy was bidding farewell for the evening, wishing to head home, I held her hostage until she'd tasted a dessert wine), mid-way through the evening we opened a Ruster Ausbruch with chocolate, cheese and fresh fruits course.
 

Herbert Triebaumer Ruster Ausbruch Burgenland Neusiedlersee-Hügelland Rust 1996/1997

This is a Chardonnay blend of Fürmint and Gelber Muskatellier (Furmint and Gold Muscatel grape varieties). While this was no doubt straw colored upon release, over time it darkened to butter color, then weak tea colored, eventually darkening to the dark orange rust color it possesses now. Allowed to continue to age, this will likely eventually darken to dark strong tea color, although I suspect it won't necessarily improve the flavor and suitability of the wine. Some classic dessert wines are built to last decades, I suspect this Ruster Ausbruch is at or even past its peak drinking window. We still have a case of this wine, so watch this blog as we monitor this over the coming months and years.

The thick almost syrupy extracted sweet fruit has been offset by a smoky almond nut flavor. Rather than the highly desirable apricot or peach flavors, this tended to be more cirtus focused. This was a great complement to hard Parmesan cheese.

RM 87 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1455246

Later, deep in conversation solving the world's problems, I had long ago cried 'Uncle', as by this time my pallet or discrimination for tasting wine was gone and I was done tasting for evening. Linda, having not kept pace wanted another glass of wine so opened one of her favorites, a big Aussie Shiraz.

Ben Schild Barossa Valley Reserve Shiraz 2008

The story of the controversy of this label are chronicled in an earlier blogspot posting.  

The colour of this Reserve was deep dark Ruby Red and inky purple. Big, forward, thick, chewy, almost tongue-coating with huge aromas of blue fruits and violets give way to bright vibrant concentrated tongue coating flavors bursting with blueberry, black raspberry, ripe plum and chocolate, with hints of black pepper, spice and nicely integrated oak on a long lingering soft tannin finish.

My earlier review gave this 93 points (with a footnote of possibly warranting a 94) ... this time there re-emerged a bit of a graphite tone which detracted somewhat from the fruit so I took off a couple points.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1386115

http://schildestate.com.au/ben-schild-reserve-shiraz

20 year 93 napa cabs - Freemark Bosche - Del Dotto

Twenty year old Del Dotto and Freemark Bosche '93 Napa Cabs for 2013 New Years Eve Dinner

To celebrate the New Year 2013 at Bill and Beth C's, we featured twenty year old 1993 vintage Napa cabs for a gala dinner. Bill pulled a 1993 Freemark Abbey Bosche Vineyard and I brought a Del Dotto Rutherford to accompany beef tenderloins with shallots and mushrooms, escalloped potatoes and green beans. Prior to dinner we had lobster medallions in drawn butter accompanied with a flight of elegant whites highlighted by Fantesca Sonoma County Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2008. Other whites included Domaine Servin Les Clos Chablis grand Cru 2009 and 90+ Cellars Lot 2 Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 2011. To ring in the New Year, the evening culminated in Bill serving a Bollinger NV Champagne. 

Fantesca Sonoma County Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2008

We first tasted this wine at the winery with Bill and Beth during our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2009 visit to Spring Mountain. Heidi Barrett had just joined Duane & Susan Hoff at Fantesca as consulting winemaker and this was the legendary winemaker's first ever Chardonnay, showcased in this video on the producer's website. A superb accomplishment, indeed, in this refined Burgundian styled release fitting its elegant etched bottle and wood case packaging.

Butter colored, medium bodied, a symphony of well integrated and smooth crisp, bright, flavors of tropical fruit, melon, hints of lychee and under current of subtle citrus with a pleasant long lingering finish.

RM 92 points. 

Bill's tasting notes for this wine from Cellartracker:

Golden straw color in the glass. An interesting contrast to the '07. The '08 has overtones of peach and melon on the palate. The '07 leans more toward citrus flavors. Both are very clean and crisp on the palate, making Fantesca my favorite Chardonnay although I prefer the citrusy version. Very light on the oak. 

WC 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=872831

http://www.fantesca.com

90+ Cellars Lot 2 Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 2011

I've been looking for the right opportunity to write about this new label.  90+ Cellars has burst on the scene in recent years offering a wide selection of private labeled wines from around the world including Argentinan Malbec, Italian Pinot Grigio, Australian Shiraz and this New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. They buy and resell excess production from various producers under their own 'negotiant' label, often at a fraction of the offer's branded offering price. While such arrangements are typically discreet so as not to undermine the branding and pricing of the supplier/producer, the cat was let out of the bag so to speak when one of their recent offerings still had the original authentic corks in the bottles. Note the labels will  typically be very generic in nature regarding the source of the contents. Check the 'Lot number' on the label to identify each unique offering or to distinguish between various offerings similarly labeled.

90+ Cellars recent promotional tasting at local merchant

Don't count on all labels or subsequent releases to be this good since their offerings will vary from year to year based on what they can negotiate with their producer suppliers, but for the moment, this one is worth checking out.   

Under wide distribution, I've seen their displays of their family of wines at mega merchants Binny's here in Chicagoland to Super Buy Right Liquors in Thoms River New Jersey. This is a prime example of what in some cases are extraordinary high QPR value offerings (QPR - quality to price ratio). 
 
This Sauvignon Blanc is vibrantly expressive with tropical and citrus fruits with ripe melon and lychee with hints of herbal and gooseberry notes. Distributors notes - "Fresh, sweet fruit and crisp acid gives balance and an elegant structure with a smooth finish, a classic New Zealand sauvignon blanc".

RM 90 points. 

http://www.ninetypluscellars.com/

The Cabs ...

My unwindwine.blogspot.com here features many tasting journal postings for these two Napa Valley Cabernets - Del Dotto and Freemark Abbey. New Years eve provided the perfect opportunity to showcase this mini horizontal of these two 93's side by side. 

 I believe the '93 Del Dotto Cabernet was their inaugural vintage release. We've written about discovering Del Dotto back in the early years following their feature in Wine Spectator as one of the 'Undiscovered' new emerging producers on the Napa scene. (See series of Del Dotto features on our unwindwine blogspot.  http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/search/label/Del%20Dotto ).  

The '93 represents the oldest Del Dotto in our cellar and the beginning of a dozen year vertical of this wine. As such, this was the oldest Del Dotto cab we'd ever tasted and our first tasting ever of this vintage. I was anxious to see how this had held up and what this meant for our remaining collection holdings.

 D e l D o t t o Rutherford Estate C a b e r n e t S a u v i g n o n 1993 

Based on previous positive tastings of aged Del Dotto cabs, I was not surprised to find this twenty year old still holding up well. We decanted and aerated this upon opening, about two hours before tasting. The only sign of diminution might have been a slight astringency on opening which would be the case according to the tasting notes from the producer and from Wine Spectator for this release, shown below. The wine was most expressive about an hour after opening and then mellowed and softened a bit for the rest of the evening.

This wine was dark inky purple colored as seen in the carafe adjacent to the bottle, and full bodied. It opened with big full forward aromas and flavors of complex floral, cedar and spice with layers of concentrated fruit - cherry, black berry and plum, giving way to toasty oak and hints of cassis on a lingering floral and black fruit filled finish.

The blend is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. This was barrel Aged for 27 months in 100% New French & American Oak. 

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1000450

Winemakers notes:  
Big, slightly soft, plum jam, berry, violet, vanilla, toast nose, that leaves a slightly floral impression. Lush, softly textured and forward plum, berry, spice cake flavors. It has a supple and gently mouth coating finish lit up by plum, black fig, violet, toast and baking spice notes.
Only 497 cases produced.

Wine Spectators notes: "Packs a wallop with its rich heart of earthy currant, mineral, spice and cedary oak flavors. Smooth and rich, given its size and concentration of fruit flavors. Drinkable now, but should age into the next century with ease. 497 cases made." (04/07) 92 points. 

Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon Bosché Vineyard 1993

Like the Del Dotto above, we have much experience with this wine and have featured it in several earlier wine journal postings - see http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/search/label/Bosche including our recent mini vertical tasting of near vintage 91 and 92 releases of this wine.

This was an interesting tasting of these two '93s Napa Cabs, showing two contrasting styles with the Del Dotto exemplifying bold, forward fruit filled new world against the more subdued, complex old world Bordeaux like style of the Freemark Abbey Bosche', indicative of its longer history pedigree and pursuit of this label.


The Freemark was dark garnet colored with medium body, Bordeaux like earthy leather, graphite and creosote tones accent the cedar, mint and the black berry and black cherry highlights with a subdued finish. 

RM 87 points. 

Bills earlier tasting notes for this wine from Cellartracker:    

Medium red color with slight bricking around the rim. Some cedar and mint on the nose. No noticeable tannins, fairly simple but still significant fruit. Nice bottle of wine but time to drink.

Medium garnet color with a touch of orange on the rim. Opened with a musty nose but evolved over time to reveal some floral notes. On the palate, this evoked overtones of old world bordeaux with terroir dominating fruit. There were still hints of mint and eucalyptus that I normally associate with Bosche. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=13406 

More to come ...

Freemark Abbey Cab Vintage Horizontal Selection

Freemark Abbey Cab Vintage Horizontal Selection

For a festive holiday dinner at Bill & Beth C's, Bill pulled a selection of aged vintage Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignons from his new expanded cellar which now includes magnum racks. I added a Freemark Abbey Bosche 1992 to match with his 1991 which we compared with the Estate 1986 selection. For starters Bill opened at Freemark Abbey 'Bootleg' Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2003 which we enjoyed with aged sharp cheddar and aged gouda artisan cheeses and mixed fresh berries.

Freemark Abbey has a long storied history in Napa Valley dating back to 1886 at its location on Rt 29 just above St Helena. Its modern day name dates back to 1939, when the three owners – Charles Freeman, Markquand Foster and Abbey Ahem – combined their names to form the moniker “Freemark Abbey.”

The Bosché vineyard designated selection dating back to the 1970 vintage was one of the first designated Cabernets in Napa Valley, following the legendary Heitz Cellars Martha's Vineyard first gaining such status in 1966. The fruit is sourced from the historic John Bosché 23-acre vineyard on the Rutherford Bench which Freemark Abbey procures and bottles exclusively.

In 1976, when wine expert Steven Spurrier conducted the now legendary 'Judgement of Paris' blind tasting made famous by the book of that name by George Taber, and then the recent popular movie "Bottle Shock", that pitted the upstart wines of California against the establishment of France; of the 12 American wineries chosen to compete, only Freemark Abbey had two wines represented – a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon. In an upset that shocked the wine world, California wines won every category of the tasting, putting Napa Valley firmly on the world stage.

We're longtime fans of Freemark Abbey, witness by the fact we're opening bottles going back to the mid-eighties. Our Freemark Abbey experience highlights include our visit to the winery during our Napa Wine Experience 2009, when Bill and I had a fun time touring their library cellar with Cellar Manager Barry Dodd (Bill and Barry, left). That day, we purchased two aged vintage selections - 1974 and 1978 commemorating our anniversary years, which we tasted that evening across the road at Graystoke Manor at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in St Helena.

The '92 Bosche that I brought last evening is one of the remaining bottles that I arranged to obtain through winery partner Jeff Jaegar whom I met at a another Freemark Abbey event, a tasting at Binny's in Naperville, back in the early nineties. Upon learning of our collection of large format bottles commemorating our kid's birth-years, Jeff sent us an Imperial of 1981 Jaegar Vineyards Napa Valley Merlot which we served at daughter Erin's wedding.

This evening we enjoyed the Freemark Abbey cabernet sauvignons over dinner of stewed beef bourguignon on toast points with pearl onions, carrots, fresh mushrooms and spinach raggout. The  wines were further enhanced with a desert selection of fresh  berries and pecan caramel squares.

The flight:  

• Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1986
• Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Bosche Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1991
• Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Bosche Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1992
• Freemark Abbey Napa Valley 'Bootleg' Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

Freemark Abbey Napa Valley 'Bootleg' Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

 This rare limited release label is only available from the winery. It derives it name from the fateful miscue (or perhaps not?) in the barrel house when the wrong wines were blended together during the 2003 vintage. We discovered and tasted this wine during our winery visit in 2009. The resulting Blend was set-aside and bottled under this special 'Bootleg' label. 


The character and profile of this wine rendered it almost as an aperitif served with the predinner cheeses.

Dark purple garnet colored, medium bodied this exhibited super ripe almost raisiny black fruits and high alcohol essence of bourbon nose and tastes - layers of ripe dark berries, plum and prune, accented by high acid, oak, pepper and hints of 'Rutherford dust', eucalyptus and menthol. A bit over done for my preference but engaging none-the-less.

RM 86 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=798073 

http://www.freemarkabbey.com/ 

Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1986

What a surprise in this 25 year old. Who would expect this longevity in an Estate Napa cab? Like a wine of this age, upon opening and decanting this was closed and subdued with slightly tart black cherry fruit masked by leather, tobacco, tea and a slight earthiness. Over the ensuing three hours it mellowed and softened as the fruit exhibited more polish and balance with a surprising highlight of floral bouquet increasing throughout the evening. Eventually this could have passed as a vintage lower left bank Bordeaux save the modest tannins.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=835266
 
Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Bosche Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1991

This bottle was suprisingly lean and austere, not what I recall from this Napa vintage generally, but revealed such against the '92 which showed markedly differently. Garnet colored with a brickish rim, this was light bodied with properly balanced but slightly tart black cherry and black berry fruits accented by tobacco, tea, cigar box and leather on a short modest short finish.

RM 86 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=249611


Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Bosche Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1992


The highlight of the evening made for an interesting and fun vertical comparison. Still vibrant with life left, while nearing the end of its drinking window this has a fews years left and shows no signs of diminution. Dark garnet colored and medium bodied yet with distinctive 'legs' (or 'curtains' as my British friends call them), this exhibited polished and balanced concentrated black berry fruits with layer of spice, hint of smoke, eucalyptus, tobacco and spice box on a moderate smooth, integrated moderate tannin finish. 

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=12605