Pilcrow Napa Pym-Rae Cabernet at Harry and Izzys

Pilcrow Napa Valley Mt Veeder Pym-Rae Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2014




Visiting Indy and dear friends Eric & Cathy, we dined at Harry & Izzy's steakhouse. Imagine my surprise and delight to see this label on the winelist. Ironically, I brought a Marco Di Guilio Mt Veeder Napa Cab from our cellar to drink before dinner. We all visited Mt Veeder together  during our Napa Valley Mt Veeder Wine Experience 2011.

Recently, I wrote in these pages about Marco Di Guilio Pym Rae Vineyard Cabernet and about the end of an era of Robert Craig sourcing grapes from this vineyard over more than two decades. That was do to the passing of vineyard and estate owner Robin Williams and the sale of the property to a third party.

Meanwhile, in the interim, Sara Beers founded the Pilcrow label sourcing fruit from the property and released this label for two years, the 2014 and 2015 vintages.

Harry and Izzy's is the sister restaurant to legendary St Elmo Steak House, an institution in Indianapolis since 1902. It is named after the owners Harry Roth and Izzy Rosen, longtime friends since High School and partners in St Elmo since 1956. After decades of building St. Elmo Steak House into a hugely successful business, they recently opened Harry and Izzy as a more casual and trendy chic environment.

Earlier in the evening we drank the Marco di Guilio Mt Veeder Progeny Vineyard Cabernet 2001. The ideal drinking window for this wine is probably in between the eighteen year old and the four year old, one probably slightly past its prime but still very much in its acceptable  drinking window, and the other a few years away from reaching its apex.Then at dinner, we found the Pilcrow and naturally jumped at the opportunity to try it.

Pilcrow Napa Valley Mt Veeder Pym-Rae Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Pilcrow was a labor of love for proprietor Sara Beer, her first winemaking project, this was her inaugural vintage, sourcing fruit from this legendary vineyard that supplied grapes to Robert Craig for over two decades. This all came to an end when the vineyard was purchased by the Tesseron family, known for their fine Cognac and Château Pontet-Canet of Bordeaux. Hence, Sara Beer's Pilcrow label only lasted two vintages through this and the 2015. 

This was was opaque garnet-crimson colored, medium full bodied with black berry and black currant fruits accented by creme de cassis, leather and tobacco with notes of lavender, cedar and cacao with lingering structured but smooth tannins. 

This showed some bright acidity and tartness begging for more age and time to settle and integrate, this will probably improve for five to ten years and be at its apex for another ten years or more. 

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2630771


https://www.pilcrow-wine.com/  
See the notes the Mt Veeder Cab below to imagine how this will age over time.

Marco di Guilio Mt Veeder Progeny Vineyard Cabernet 2001

This is one of several vineyard designated select labels from winemaker Marco Di Guilio. At seventeen years, this is probably past its prime but not yet showing any serious diminution from age, but not likely to improve any further.

Consistent with early tasting notes in 2009 and 2011, "Dark inky color. Full bodied, big floral nose. Mouthful of black berry, sweet black raspberry (more predominant a few days later), cedar, spicy oak and a slight hint of anise; full finely integrated polished tannins on a long flavorful finish". The fruit flavors are just beginning to give way to non fruit tones of leather and tobacco leaf. Hence, my review is reduced from 92 to 91 points.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=42933

http://www.harryandizzys.com/

Pride Mountain Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

Before dinner we also opened this Pride Napa Cab, 2002 from high atop Spring Mountain in the central Mayacamas range on the east facing slopes above St Helena. We visited the winery back in our Napa Wine Experience back in 1999.

This was bright garnet colored, full bodied, bright vibrant forward black berry and black cherry fruits with notes of mocha chocolate and hints of cedar and expresso with smooth silky tannins on a smooth polished lingering finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=21855

https://www.pridewines.com/

Big Cab Napa/Sonoma Trio Key Surf & Turf Dinner

Big Cab Napa/Sonoma Trio Key Surf & Turf Dinner

For an end of week Friday night surf & turf dinner, Linda prepared Sockeye Salmon and NY Strip steaks accented by rice pilaf, bacon wrapped green beans and baked potatoes and Beth brought a dinner salad. I pulled two 1995 Napa Valley Cabernets and Bill brought a Sonoma Reserve Cab to round out the big red flight.

The mini horizontal tasting staged Snowden and Pride Mountain Napa Valley Cabernets alongside a Chateau St Jean Reserve Sonoma Cabernet from Bill's cellar. We have visited each of these producer's over the years during our Napa/Sonoma Wine Experiences.

We were joined by son Ryan who snuck out of the to come over for an impromptu tasting.

We met with Scott Snowden as a featured producer at a dinner we hosted at Brix in St Helena back shortly after they were 'outed' by Wine Spectator Magazine in their feature 'An Undiscovered Dozen' about several emerging hot producers of Napa Cabs. Over the ensuing years, we met with and acquired each of the twelve labels of which we still hold many yet today. We hold a half dozen vintages of each of these labels opened tonight. They seem to be aging the same following the same aging profile.

After dinner fresh baked dark chocolate brownies with fresh berries and Beth's chocolate and crunchy butter toffee highlighted the red wines as much as the beef and pre-dinner artisan cheeses.

With the Salmon course we tasted:

Fritz Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2008.

Butter colored, medium bodied, slightly tart on opening with layer of acidity, tone of green apple, tropical fruits, hints of lemon and nutty almond.

We tasted this a month ago when the tartness and acidity conflicted with lobster tail and lemon, but tonight it complimented the sockeye salmon nicely.

RM 87 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=772492



Snowden Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1995

We still hold more than a half dozen vintages of this label from their early days through their first decade, and including some recent releases as well. 

Surprisingly, this was the most expressive of the three wines tasted tonight. There seemed to be a role reversal between the Snowden and the Pride from what I would have expected. Our tasting experience of the Snowden this night was consistent with my tasting notes of the previous tastings back in 2005 and 2007. 

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, aromatic black berry and black cherry fruits accented by tones of earthy leather, graphite, tea and herbs turning to anise on the lingering tannin laced finish.

Tonight, the Snowden had the same profile as before except that after a couple hours it opened to reveal a sweet Bing Cherry tone that lingered through the evening. The next day, this returned to black fruits with smokey black tea and anise the following day, with a slight mustiness set in, and it seemed to lose its balance and come across a bit flabby while maintaining its firm backbone .

RM 91 points. WS gave it 93 back on release.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=322981


Pride Mountain Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1995 

We visited the winery high up at the top of Spring Mountain and acquired this wine back during our Napa Wine Experience 1999 and again in 2003. We also most recently featured this wine at our 95 Horizontal Cab tasting two years ago. Tonight's tasting experience of the Pride fit my tasting notes of the previous tasting back in 2013.

While my inventory says this is my last bottle, I found a mixed case with four more up on the top rack of the cellar. Nice discovery since this is aging well and promises to hold on for a few more years. 

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

RM 90 points.

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


Chateau St Jean Sonoma County Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

We visited the elegant Chateau and Estate in Sonoma Valley with Bill and Beth during our Napa Sonoma Wine Experience back in 2009 when we tasted and Bill acquired this label. Chateau St Jean is one of the classiest producers and wineries in Sonoma Valley with its expansive grounds of stylish gardens and old world style Chateau and accompanying buildings - one of the most picturesque and authentic old world style sites in the region. Its one of our favorite producers in Sonoma that we've visited on numerous occasions including that visit.

This was dark garnet colored with medium body. It was the most polished and smoothest of the three wines, partly due to the Sonoma Cabernets being a bit softer and perhaps also because this is a Reserve blend rather than a firmer narrower Napa Cab, and as such had less backbone and structure than the other two wines but was more complex. Dark berry fruits and predominated with tones of black berry, black raspberry and touch of black cherry turning to tones of subtle mocha, hints of leather and cedar, and smooth soft tannins on the moderate finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=659625

Good Grief.

Linda noted this the next morning as she unloaded the dish washer. Even for a seemingly simple tasting, five of us and four wines tasted .... we still managed to use a large selection of wine glasses, and this doesn't count or show the water glasses!

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

Opus One Pride Highlight Anniversary Dinner

Opus One Pride Highlight Anniversary Dinner

To celebrate our anniversary, we dined at Sullivan's Naperville with dear friends Beth and Bill C. For the occasion I pulled from the cellar a wine befitting the occasion, OPUS One. I chose a '96 vintage following our horizontal tasting from that vintage the other night.  Also, that was the vintage we tasted on our first visit to OPUS during our Napa Wine Experience 1998. To round out our dinner feast we selected from the wine list Pride Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2010. Prior to dinner Bill and Beth treated us to Tattinger Champagne.

The wines were all spectacular and paired perfectly with the food. Naturally we all dined on Sullivan's aged prime steaks - Bill the mushroom stuffed filet with Bordelaise sauce, Beth had the filet, Linda, the filet with the peppercorn cream sauce and I had the filet, artfully prepared 'Pittsburgh' style with lobster tail surf and turf. The spinach and dinner salads were perfect. The chocolate and berry deserts were spectacular.

We added cheddar au-gratin potatoes and creamed spinach side dishes.  Aaron provided superb service - cordial, attentive, informative and gracious in decanting and appropriately handling of the wines. The finale to the gala evening was a cellar tour (pictures coming).

OPUS ONE 1996

The joint venture of the two masters of these top wine producing regions, Baron Phillip Rothschild of Mouton Rothschild from Bordeaux and Robert Mondavi from Napa Valley. I admit I've often considered OPUS as over-hyped, over priced and over played, the choice of image conscious drinkers with more money than taste. Tonight, OPUS lived up to all the hype and exceeded all expectations. In fairness, I think many of our OPUS encounters that left something to be desired were due to drinking it too early, too young. Tonight, the 1996 was at its prime and showed off the best of what OPUS can be.

The Opus was dark inky purple colored, medium to full bodied. It opened with a huge nose, reminiscent of a classic Margaux from the mid-eighties. Elegant, complex, smooth and polished it was a symphony of black fruit flavors accented by harmonious tones of leather, tobacco, lead pencil and soft tones of cassis and a hint of mocha. Decanted, over the course of the evening the fruit became slightly muted giving way to classic left bank Bordeaux earthy leather, but never losing its harmonious balance. The fragrant finish continued to linger for minutes.  

RM 94 points. Had the fruit held, I would have given this a 95.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=305

http://www.opusonewinery.com/

Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

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. Being huge fans of rich concentrated extracted mountain fruit, we 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.

So it was a tall order to select a wine that would complement Sullivan steaks during a special occasion dinner up against the legendary Opus One. We weren't disappointed as the 2010 Pride stood tall holding its own against such formidable expectations. All of use were pleasantly surprised by how well the Pride showed, especially given its youth.

We decanted the Pride before serving. It was bright garnet colored and was full bodied with complex, nicely balanced bright vibrant forward expressive ripe black raspberry fruits with a layer of sweet mocha, tones of tea, tobacco and cassis with hints of vanilla and soft oak with firm gripping but manageable tannins. Delicious already, this will no doubt improve with further aging for a decade or more. I am anxious to open and compare some of our vintage bottles.

Fruit is sourced from 53% Napa/ 47% Sonoma. The blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and 7% Petit Verdot.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1480956

http://www.pridewines.com/

Chateau Brane-Cantenac Margaux Bordeaux 2004

After dinner we retreated to the C's for dark chocolate mud cake and fresh berries and Bill opened a 2004 Brane Cantenac Margaux.

Bill's posted his tasting notes - "Deep maroon color. Some light floral notes on the nose. Leather, earthy and full bodied on the palate. Integrated tannins are ready to drink now."

My notes - Dark garnet colored, medium bodied, subtle earthy, leathery black cherry fruits with a touch of anise, slight floral and spice on a lingering moderate tannin finish.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=108850

Cellarcrashers ...  The picturesque Sullivan's Naperville working/showcase wine cellar ...

Sullivan's showcase working cellar.

Sullivan's working cellar interior.

Cellarcrashers, Bill and Rick

Large format Imperials - Halo, Opus ... . Party!

 

Cellarcrashers ... anniversary couple - Linda, Rick ...

Tie in the wine again, I hate it when that happens!

PlumpJack Winery Napa Valley, Oakville, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1997

PlumpJack Winery Napa Valley, Oakville, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1997

This was the third vintage of this wine - 100% Estate Cabernet Sauvignon made entirely from grapes grown in the vineyards adjacent to the PlumpJack Winery located on Oakville Cross Road in the Oakville AVA in Napa Valley. We tasted and purchased this wine during winery visits in 1998 and 1999, the first tasting being prior to release from the barrel. We hosted then associate winemaker Mary Pisor at a gala dinner at Meadowood Resort at the base of Howell Mountain in Napa (pictured below). The release notes called for this  wine to age up to fifteen years. Indeed in its fourteenth year it's starting to show its age and is beginning the final stage of its drinking profile. It is still holding its own and is very presentable - not yet diminished in decline, however.

We served this wine at a gala family dinner at home with grilled beef tenderloin and salmon dinner with L, sis Dr Pat, Lauren, Erin & Johnny. Chosen from the cellar commemorating one of the favorite Napa wineries of L, Erin and Johnnie, we gathered on the eve of the mother-daughter 5K run at Montrose Harbor on Chicago's lakefront in which we had four generations represented - Evelyn, Linda, Erin and Lucy, and three generations with Pat, Lauren and Teo. 

Firm, medium to full bodied, the black cherry fruit is a bit subdued overtaken by anise, a layer of spicy oak with hints of nutmeg, dark chocolate, vanilla and a tone of cedar and toasted oak on the finish. RM 89 points.
 

 

Pictured above, wine flght from our 1999 Meadowood Resort PlumpJack Wine Producer dinner - Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet Sauvignons - Venge Vineyards Penny Lane Reserve 1995, PlumpJack Reserve 1995 (pre-release hand labeled bottle), and PlumpJack Estate 1997, served with top-flight of 1995 Bordeaux - Chateau Pichon Lalande 1995, Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1995, and Chateau Cos d' Estournel 1995. Our wine group with Mary Pisor pictured below.

During our Napa Wine Experience visits of 1997 through 2000 we hosted gala tasting dinners with the 'Undisccovered Dozen' emerging new wine producers to watch, featured in an article in Wine Spectator Magazine. Many of these producers released their inaugural vintage releases in or about the 1994 vintage. Those producers and winery visits included Plumpjack, David Arthur, Clark-Claudon, Robert Craig, Del Dotto, Elan,  Paradigm, Pride Vineyards, Snowden, Nils Venge and White Cottage and are featured on my winesite http://www.unwindwine.com. An complete index of my tasting notes of these wines over the years is on the site at this link to California Producers Index. These producers make up a foundation of our wine cellar collection even today. In many of these wines, we still have vertical selections of these wines, some dating back to those early release vintages. I'm missing one which will come to me at some point - I don't remember what I don't remember!