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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.2 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 158 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by smoothjazz on 1/11/2024 & rated 94 points: Outstanding wine still after 36 years; opened with a three hour decant and returned to the bottle and taken to the monthly Wine Group tasting. It was really appreciated by the group many which do not have Napa Cabs this old in their cellars. It stood up well with other high end Napa Cabs. (86 views) | | | Tasted by alittle on 7/26/2023 & rated 95 points: Textbook example of the better side of California Cabernet. Sitting comfortable at or near its apogee, but should hold for quite some time. (930 views) | | | Tasted by Wine Canuck on 7/26/2023 & rated 93 points: A few epic bottles in July: This pours deep ruby in the glass, with light bricking. The initial impression is this is quite deep, rich and ripe. The nose shows blackberry, cassis, brown sugar, kirsch, graphite, lead pencil, celery seed, black licorice, and espresso. The palate is very deep and rich, loaded with blackberry, cassis, showing buried medium minus tannin and medium acid. The finish comes across quite tarry with an aniseed character. I found this almost a tad too dark and ripe, lacking the breadth and complexity of my favourite Dominus. Worth noting that the two other experienced tasters I drank this with liked this significantly more than me. (1302 views) | | | Tasted by rnellans on 2/12/2023 & rated 92 points: Cassis, raspberry, and spices. The palate is full bodied and nice texture with plush tannins, Soft. Less complex. Tough competition with 89 Lynch Bages and 89 Pichon Lelande. (1870 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 2/9/2023 & rated 97 points: Going Up The Country: Suburban Bliss & Wines to Match (Craig & Nita's Place): Very dark red color. PNP, drank a glass over 2 plus hours. This was truly impressive as well. The pedigree is clear when a wine of this age just keeps getting better and better in the glass. Its been about 5 years since I last had this, and this bottle was truly memorable. This so my kind of nose, filled with seductive pencil and fine tobacco notes, cassis, smoke, crushed violets, black raspberry, and wood spices. The palate is full bodied and perfectly textured with plush interwoven tannins, tobacco, pencil, cassis and dark black and blue berries, gravel, scorched earth, and amzing length. Simply gorgeous, served next to an impressive '05 that has all the earmarks of becoming what the '87 is down the road - maybe even better. Thanks to Candie for shopping at the impressive Siggy's Wine Emporium. 96+ to 97pts. (2145 views) | | | Tasted by chablis28 on 2/9/2023 & rated 96 points: Chef Don Saunder's food entices 7 city dwellers to our place in the exurbs! 8 of us plus Nita & Joe enjoyed Don's magnificent food tonight 30 miles from downtown Minneapolis. What a night!! CV,KB,SS,CS,DM,DD,LI, & DS. With a quick decant & one of our last wines of the evening, this was superb! Thank you Candace! This got better & better in the glass & shows the magic aged CA cabs made in a classic style can achieve. Docile but fresh mature red fruit, mineral, cigar, spice, hint of herbs and all-round tertiary charm. This is at peak and I'd drink mine sooner than later as this is near perfect right now in Riedel Burg glass. 14.1 alc went completely unnoticed. A stately terroir mature "claret". Loved this tonight with Don's venison course and along side Dave D's fantastic '05 Dominus. (1967 views) | | | Tasted by Gargantua on 1/22/2023: Green bell pepper, juicy black cherry, and sweet earthy brown leaves. Still feels youthful and grippy—years left in the tank here, for sure. Dried rose petals and caramel, sweet tobacco, and old pennies. Lovley wine, and a great magic act with the youthful profile at 35. (1374 views) | | | Tasted by Pitkin_CT on 12/23/2022 & rated 97 points: Fantastic ! (1267 views) | | | Tasted by Cailles on 10/23/2022 & rated 92 points: Heitz MV vs Dominus: 1983/1987/1991. Heitz Martha's won the battle (95.3 pts average vs 93.7pts for Dominus) thanks to more complexity and rounder, completer structural frames. My WOTN was the 1983 MV (rated 97 pts) thanks to an ever changing, highly complex aroma play, with a superb, elegant structure. In its first few years, Dominus (maiden vintage 1983) produced very classically shaped Bordeaux blends, great but often a bit square and with some hard edges. 1983/87 were no exception. In the 90s that changed (proved here by a superb 1991). All in all, lots of excellent wines and all worth chasing.
TN: A bit muted nose, not giving much. A touch of minerality and some dark fruit. The palate this is very mineralic, slightly watery with some dark berries, missing a bit of charm. Fresh and with still noticeable, slightly angular tannins and lots of cut. With time the wine opens up and gets more creamy with fine elegant chocolate and dark and red fruits coming forward. My guess is that this would have needed a much longer decant as it improved by the minute. The best moment was the last sip where it showed more and showed more round and was drinking on a 92pts level.
Decanting: Two hours in the decanter seem to be needed here (at least). (1681 views) | | | Tasted by Burgnick on 6/8/2022 & rated 93 points: Decanted for 30 mins before serving. Tobacco, cassis, forest floor, charcoal and herbs on the nose. Palate is very smooth and elegant with resolved tannins. Drinking very well at peak but likely to stay here for a long while. (1601 views) | | | Tasted by Peech on 2/5/2022 & rated 95 points: served 1 hour and 15 minutes after opening without decanting. very smoky, heavy tobacco, a hint of sweetness on the palate, a little chalky and dirty, very smooth on the palate, and somehow leaner on the nose. (1822 views) | | | Tasted by NickNYC on 9/21/2021 & rated 93 points: bottled opened a couple hours before dinner. complex nose, appealing, mostly on tertiary notes(tobacco, eucalyptus). the palate is velvety, medium body, good length and fresh. not sure it will get better but no hurry. (2504 views) | | | Tasted by Cailles on 9/19/2021 & rated 94 points: Mini Dominus Vertical 87/95/02/15. No notes taken. Right after opening, there was not much fruit and the wine showed a bit astringent. A double decant to get rid of sediment and 4 hours later, the wine was singing. A fine dark fruit core, some red hints, wet forest floor, some black truffles, a nice minerality on the nose and palate. So much finesse and elegance, clearly reminiscent of a well mature left bank Bordeaux. This vintage has not the depth of the best vintages but is nevertheless spectacular.
Decanting: A double decant 4 hours before consumption seemed perfect. It needs air. (2834 views) | | | Tasted by joshabramson on 9/1/2021 & rated 94 points: Took a few minutes of air to come together. Very nice wine, old Bordeaux vibes for sure. Fruit is still in good shape, if not a little bit thin on the finish. A good vintage for Dominus, but not a great one. Still very nice to drink right now, but not improving from here. (2367 views) | | | Tasted by Dcalef.calef@gmail.com on 12/20/2020 & rated 94 points: As advertised;Napa meets Bordeaux. Stony structure and opulent fruit. 1st bottle in 10 years and it didn’t disappoint. (2801 views) | | | Tasted by Papies on 11/9/2020 & rated 94 points: Decanted and really required to help the wine develop.
Another great experience of an era in Napa that we love. 80s and early 90s Napa from the classicists like Togni, DOminus and co are unique experiences and this 87 did not fail us at all. For sure there is a lot of bottle variation but even with this in mind we have never been let down by these wines.
Well evolved but healthy and with presence, earthy, tobacco soft cedar and in a way at start with its herby side reminded us of well aged Margaux. Alive and kicking even at this age, silky tannin, elegant and just superb 93-94 (2745 views) | | | Tasted by Jd6725 on 9/18/2020 & rated 92 points: Birth year wine. First time trying this in a couple of years. Came out with a great nose, a sort of green peppery/cedar mix. A little light at first, but seemed to gain some weight after an hour or two open. Probably past peak but still very drinkable. (2126 views) | | | Tasted by aquacongas on 9/6/2020 & rated 95 points: not blind, Best vintages of Dominus, all bottles perfectly stored (subcription) and decanted for 2 hours
Comparable to 85, not so shy and a bit fruitier. It has not the Tannin structure of the 85 but it is a powerful balanced Cali Cab. In the finish Cassis and dark chocolate. 95+ (2351 views) | | | Tasted by aquacongas on 7/14/2020 & rated 92 points: blind
Still very drinkable but a bit declining, lost a bit tension, tertiary aromas combined with some left black berries. 92 (2521 views) | | | Tasted by smoothjazz on 3/27/2020 & rated 97 points: From a case purchased upon release from Zimmerman's (Chicago) in 1990. Tight and a bit musty upon opening; decanted for 2 hours; took to my wine tasting group blind which fooled everyone. Most thought it was an Old World Bordeaux around ten years old. Even though I have moved this wine 5 times over 3 states with one year in an inside commercial storage unit, this 87 Dominus was superb. I don't have a lot of flowery adjectives to describe it. This is a wine that you regret not buying another case. (2017 views) | | | Tasted by napasoutherner on 2/23/2020 & rated 96 points: I loved this wine! Really wasn’t expecting much from the 1987s; however, this beauty just took our breath away. It was up against some 2011 Burgundies and a 1985 Rioja and the Dominus crushed them all. The nose is what grabbed us first. Deep and dense. Dark, cigar box, chocolate, and dark fruit on the palette. Long enjoyable finish. Definitely need to buy more of this! (1907 views) | | | Tasted by SoundinBetween on 12/3/2019: Dominus Estate 1983-1995 Vertical (RPM Steak): Huge nose of spice, purple plum, raspberry, and a strong vegetal note of wasabi? Seems strange but nose was very alluring. Exceptional flavors of cassis, red fruits and tobacco. Excellent tonight, approaching plateau of maturity. (1130 views) | | | Tasted by Nanda on 12/3/2019 & rated 92 points: Dominus: 1983-1994 (RPM Steak): 86/87/88: Fairly dense and non-delineated aromas of plum and cigar ash. The palate is so concentrated and rich. Wow - impressive. Tannins are still gritty. Impressive in how primary this still shows. Upside from here. (2440 views) | | | Tasted by vindictive on 11/17/2019: still plenty of life, decanted for a few hours and opened up nicely, good California cab from this era (2105 views) | | | Tasted by Goldstone on 4/18/2019 & rated 92 points: Pre-Easter Long Lunch - Older Napa Cabs (Amuse Bouche, 22/F Hennessey Centre, Wan Chai, Hong kong): Decanted for 2 hours before serving (which seemed about right). Dusky but clean-looking ruby. Nose is divine...warm and welcoming, with sunny red and blue fruit, some earthy cedar chippings. Palate has a fabulous depth of rich fruit-driven freshness and medium-acid brightness followed by easy soft but still structured Pomerol-like tannins. Very resonant and with mounting reverberance as it warmed in the glass. Fabulous and still young... still secondary. Touch of liqueur on the finish. This has a decade or two ahead of it. Drank alongside the Dominus 1997 and it was not easy to spot which was the younger wine. Gorgeous....I love Dominus. 92+. (2821 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Dominus Producer websiteRed Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.EstateIn the United States, "Wines with “estate bottled” designations must: a) also designate an appellation of origin or an AVA, and both the vineyards and the winery must be located there; b) the grapes must come from vineyards owned or controlled by the winery; and c) the wine must have been produced, from crush to bottle, in a continuous process without leaving the winery’s premises."
- WINE LABEL FAQS: A QUICK SUMMARY OF LABEL DESIGNATION RULES" by David E. StollUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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