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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.5 pts. and median of 94 pts. in 387 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Francophile1 on 1/25/2024 & rated 93 points: This has aged beautifully. Fully mature. Tertiary notes that resemble left bank Bordeaux (tobacco, cedar, anise, leather) with added menthol and eucalyptus and a touch of new world Cab. Sauv. sweetness on the finish.
This would be fun to taste blind as a Bordeaux ringer, but I expect discerning oenophiles could tell this was California Cab with the sweet finish. (1147 views) | | | Tasted by North Willis on 1/1/2024 & rated 96 points: Enjoyed with a birthday dinner of New York strip steak and mushroom risotto. Cork was a bit dry but pulled out nicely using Durand. Decanted with very little sediment. Straight into glasses. This is drinking fabulously - showing tertiary notes but not at all tired or even close to being over the hill. Perfectly balanced, with a palate that builds and builds and fans out into an array of complex notes. Napa cabs from the early '90's are really quite special and I'm glad to have sat on my only bottle for many years. I see the CT community is cellaring a good percentage of this vintage - lucky group. No rush at all. (1140 views) | | | Tasted by ZionWino on 10/20/2023 & rated 96 points: An outstanding showing for this wine, exemplifying the wonderful characteristics of a well-aged California Cabernet: sweet tobacco, red currant, cedar, graphite, blackberry, and earth. Graceful and balanced with resolved tannins and mild acidity. A beautiful and lengthy finish made it even more special. A superb wine! (1657 views) | | | Tasted by Kbentley007 on 10/7/2023 & rated 95 points: Mature but not past its prime. (1707 views) | | | Tasted by bobvictor on 8/8/2023 & rated 93 points: Mature but still going strong. Excellent wine (2177 views) | | | Tasted by pavel_p on 7/23/2023 & rated 94 points: Bottom neck fill. 6 months since my last bottle. Decanted in a narrow water carafe for about 15 min and drank over 1.5h. Dark garnet with translucent rim and almost no bricking. Muted upon pulling the cork but opens up quickly and does not need much more air than this.
Horses for courses. Looking at the last taster's note, I obviously have a very different perspective and preferences when it comes to red wine. To pick up the argument made below, it is actually the young high end Cabs/Bdx blends that I drink as an "academic assignment", i.e. at the en arrivage UGC Bdx tastings. It is no doubt interesting and educational to explore a Cab blend at such an early stage, and to see how specific producers do relative to their peers. And in the last few years it has been even enjoyable to drink and not to spit the best wines at such a young age. Still I would never even consider wasting a bottle of 2010 Cheval Blanc today, let alone a 2018 Lafleur or 2020 Cheval Blanc. To me this feels like skipping the main course, and just going for the lava cake at dinner...
Back to the wine. The 94 Mondavi Reserve is a really great Napa Cab no doubt. Feels now perhaps just a touch past its very peak, with plenty of tobacco and leather notes starting to dominate the still solid dark fruit core. A touch of sweetness indicates either a very ripe (80s?) Bdx vintage, or as it happens to be Napa - but there is acidity too,,. Tannins are almost entirely resolved by now. Medium (+) finish. Great Cab - will not improve from here but no hurry either. (2156 views) | | | Tasted by csimm on 6/6/2023: TOP SHELF WINE WEEKEND: The roots (literally) and history of this wine are indeed an interesting lineage to follow insofar as the To Kalon fruit and the MacDonald connection. For that, I am forever appreciative to have tried this wine. I have to respectfully differ from a few of my Cellar Tracker colleagues in that it feels as though the wine itself is past its prime. A noteworthy academic assignment to be sure, and one that is fodder for curious conversation and debate, but it did not offer much to me beyond a light brown Colheita tawny port thing, with sherry, leather, nuts, and maybe a fleeting hint of golden raisin to add “complexity.” In reality (my reality at least), the profile is mostly just walnut powder and wood at this point, with a bitter finish signaling that the departure of the fruit happened some time ago. One can certainly embark on an archeological mental expedition with this wine and try to pick pieces out of it that may have been or could have been back in the day, but for me it’s more of a fossil hunt at this stage.
I see a lot of high scores here, so I don’t know how much of that is the romance of what this wine represents for folks (which is pretty cool) or how much is just a complete wiffle on my part to not “get it.” The scapegoat is usually, “Well, you just don’t understand old wines.” I mean, I kinda think I do, every once in a while at least. It’s not that complicated, right? Maybe I’m just someone who, when the breakup happens, I don’t ever feel the need to look up my old high school girlfriend decades later. Sometimes things end and it’s over. Keep calm and carry on; the beat goes on; keep on keepin’ on, and all that.
A moment of silence for the ’94 Mondavi. A precious light that once shone down from the heavens like a beacon of hope to all grapes of the world, red and white alike. May those who continue to taste its fictional fruit carry the palate memory across the threshold of wine eternity. Life may end, but love for the 94 is evermore. Vinespeed my once-joyous juice. (4799 views) | | | Tasted by bsumoba on 5/28/2023: Memorial Madness at Case de Chris y Melissa - Day 2 of 2: I didn’t give this wine much attention after the first pour and taste. Not a ton going on for me. Almost no finish and all tertiary. I heard this was a bit better with some air, which is somewhat backward but not uncommon. (2757 views) | | | Tasted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine on 5/28/2023 & rated 95 points: Wild and Crazy Memorial Weekend - Sunday (Chris' Castle aka Melissa's Manor): This wine is a testament to great grapes, great winemaking and lucking out into a great bottle! I sent this wine to Alex MacDonald quite a few years ago and he saved it! He knew I would be attending this tasting, and he brought this bottle to share with me and others!
This wine is pure elegance in a bottle! I refer to it as a 1994 MacDonald, because even though he wasn't making wine back then, his grapes make up the core of this wine! For those out there that want to get an idea of how MacDonald wines will age, I recommend seeking out a bottle of this!
The wine shows plenty of black and red fruit, old leather notes, earth and some spice and toasty oak. It strikes a nice balance between fruit and tertiary goodness I seek in a wine. Definitely a head-turner and not past its prime as CT suggests. A solid 95 for me and a pretty good value for a wine at almost 30 years of age! (2393 views) | | | Tasted by WineBurrowingWombat on 5/28/2023 & rated 92 points: Memorial Day Weekend, Day 2: The Great Gatsby: A funky green forest floor nose, earth and dark red fruits but on the fading side.
Flavors of stewed plums, damp earth and decaying twigs.
Very soft and almost ethereal, but the flavor profile this time around obviously showed their age and not too well this time around unfortunately. (2272 views) | | | Tasted by Lipsman on 4/24/2023 & rated 94 points: A well bricked bottle, last of a few cases over the years. Last tasted in 2016. It is finally showing it’s maturity with leather, cherry, and earthy elements, balanced with supple spices from the completly melded tannins. Really wonderful. One of the best California Cabernets ever produced. (1575 views) | | | Tasted by Joealex on 3/25/2023 & rated 96 points: Well, what can I say about one of the best wines of great 1994 vintage in Napa after almost 30 years? It delivers!
First of all this wine is in completly different style compare to post 2011 cabernets produced in Napa. Is is not overripe, not massive, not overhelming, not alcoholic, not ultrabodied. There is not any trace of exagerration in this wine.
Smell is mix od red fruits ( raspberries, strawberries, red currants) & black fruits ( plum , black currants) with hint of licorice and forrest flor, very nice and complex however not so intense like modern Napa cabernets.
Pure magic is on palate. This is compact wine - medium body, well hidden alcohol beautiful balance of accidity, friut sweetnes and like silk tannis. Albeit is isn't big it has so complex, layered personality and profound taste that it's hard to imagine that winemker ( Tim Mondavi) achived to fit so many niuances in so delicate and elegant wine. It is not about power or ultra concentration, it's all about finesse, delicacy, complex and balance. I can not afford for Romanee Conti but Reserve 1994 should be the same case and style. If you love big & bold modern cabernets from Napa, this wine may be surprise for you as it comes from completly different era of winemaking and weather conditions. It's such a pity that no longer such wines in Napa are produced like in legendary period 1990-1997. I think this wine ( cost ca. 200 USD) can stand against modern Napa gorillas as Promontory, Hundred Acre, Scarecrow, Sloan, Dana Estate etc which cost 3x or 4x price. Unbeliveable QPR. (1400 views) | | | Tasted by Dionysos55 on 3/24/2023 & rated 97 points: Malgré ses 28 ans,la robe reste d'un beau grenat à peine teintée de quelques notes de brique...Le bouquet est phénoménal n'ayons pas peur des mots:cela commence avec des notes de chêne merrain (reliquat élevage) et vanillées,suivent à l'aération des arômes de cassis,cèdre,cuir,terre,réglisse,bref toute la panoplie du CS y passe...C'est magnifique d'intensité et de complexité.Et miracle la bouche enchaîne avec une élégance,une suavité exceptionnelle.Longueur admirable.Bref,grand vin,très grand vin !!! Pa surpris d'ailleurs lors d'une dégustation anniversaire en 2015 il avait dominé les autres 1994 de la soirée entre autres Léoville Las Cases,Cheval Blanc,Clinet,Le Gay...Du lourd du très lourd il m'en reste une bouteille youpie (1417 views) | | | Tasted by BradE on 12/24/2022: Older Mondavi wines are ageless and indestructible. Very nice. (1962 views) | | | Tasted by pavel_p on 12/23/2022 & rated 95 points: Slow ox'ed for about 20 min. Bottom neck fill. Stunning wine. Garnet with some bricking towards the rim. Beautifully aromatic nose with some dark fruit but more tobacco and leather notes, similar flavors on the palate, medium body, excellent concentration and depth of the remaining fruit at almost 30 years of age, tannins almost entirely integrated, good length too. Wow.
My wife thought it was sweet (for a Cab) without knowing what was in the glass, I thought this would do really well as a pirate in a 95/96 First Growth tasting. (1900 views) | | | Tasted by galewskj on 11/12/2022 & rated 94 points: Group dinner with Marvin (The Kenwood): This had an intriguing palate of tea leaves, underbrush and spice. Blue fruit, perfumed, lots of pepper, savory vegetal qualities. (2254 views) | | | Tasted by WineBurrowingWombat on 11/11/2022 & rated 95 points: Wine weekend in the Twin Cities; 11/10/2022-11/12/2022 (Where the frosty air is refreshing.. kind of): N: Dark red flowers, a teasing of tertiary notes (so nice), elegant dark red fruits, rotten mushed oak in a good way and gentle fermented notes.
P: Still a good amount of elegant, dark red fruits on palate with soft savory earth and minerals.
A nice transition point between flavors of primary/secondary to tertiary. The gentle touch of tertiary flavors is very pleasant. It's not too strong while those who still enjoy fruit and secondary notes should be able to appreciate that they haven't completely gone into the background, a very nice melding of flavors. I feel like these can be hard windows to catch.. I mean who the hell knows when tertiary flavors begin to creep unless you have two cases?! Anyways.. awesome. 95-96 (2672 views) | | | Tasted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine on 11/11/2022 & rated 95 points: Friendly get-together - Big CA Wines!: This is the third time I have had this wine, and I never tire of it! MacDonald grapes in a classic wine! Nose shows lots of florals and fruit, turning to leather, tobacco and earth. Palate shows lots of dark fruit (black and red) balanced with plenty of tertiary goodness, including some forest floor, old leather and some spice....oak was well-integrated and finish was medium-long. Just a pleasurable wine! I preferred the SQN, but it this wasn't far behind! Easy 95+ (2185 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 11/11/2022 & rated 96 points: Dinner with Marvin (The Kenwood, Mpls, MN): Dark red color. PNP, drank a glass over 2 hours. Stunning, classic, complex, with amazing high toned character and lift on the nose, so earthy, leather, perfumed, funk, saddle leather, black currants, with citrus infused top notes. Long, medium bodied, and graceful as these aged Mondavi's are. Drinking beautifully. So, so glad I've got some of these. My WOTN. (1541 views) | | | Tasted by vanpe003 on 10/26/2022: Steven appeared to like this, draining the bottle dregs and all, which was a millennial mistake. Threw a fair amount of sediment. The taste I had, balanced, reminiscent of Bordeaux. (1538 views) | | | Tasted by zimmy07 on 9/4/2022: Not sure bottle was in best condition, cork slightly pushed in and cork had some soak. This was a few years past prime, I have had these before and know that was bottle condition and not the wine. This was still good, a bit of plum and stewed meats as it was past prime, but great dark fruits, gritty tannin and mid palate. If in good conditon, I bet this wine is great. I wont score but this was still 90 points (1751 views) | | | Tasted by Peter Spijker on 7/24/2022 & rated 94 points: Very consistent with my last bottle at Christmas. Lots of blueberry, some blackberry and dark cherry, cedar, cigar box, graphite, earthy notes and still quite present tannins. Medium + length finish with good elegant acidity. This bottle may go for quite some years still, but I'm not sure the fruit will hold. Very much Bordeaux-like. (1952 views) | | | Tasted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine on 7/20/2022 & rated 95 points: Opened for my twin nieces birthday, they were born in 1994. I inquired Alex MacDonald where his grapes were going in 1994, and he replied that they were being sold exclusively to Mondavi for their reserve wine. So I purchased a couple bottles on the secondary market (relatively reasonably priced). Opened this bottle as part of our birthday celebration....my birthday is on the same day.
The wine showed plenty of floral notes initially, and added some dark fruit, some leather and some earth with additional air. On the palate, the wine was seamless, showing no heat and a nice balance between fruit and tertiary goodness. A perfect balance for my palate! Black and red fruit with some old leather, some earthy notes and some bramble. A medium long finish that compelled you to take another sip. Great "old school" cab that has rewarded those still holding on to this wine! Easy 95 and no hurry to drink, but very rewarding now! A great way to lead off our birthday celebration! (2386 views) | | | Tasted by petitblanc on 4/17/2022 & rated 91 points: Evolving well, this has lost much of its dark cherry fruit and is showing more earthy than when last tasted, but it is still pretty in the glass, light, clean, structured and vinous. This could certainly hold for a while longer, but for my palate this will not give any more pleasure with further aging. Fine pairing with a roast leg of lamb. (2479 views) | | | Tasted by martin_e on 4/3/2022 & rated 90 points: Spicy and aromatic. Tastes like aged Bordaux with its characteristic tobacco and species, except for a couple shortcomings - not fully integrated dry tannins and overdone oak. It fills like loaded American oak, but upon some investigation, it seems they used 100% French oak. One way or another it's a bit out of balance (2376 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| The World of Fine Wine, September 2016, Issue #53
(Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Vertical Tastings of Mondavi’s Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and I Block To Kalon Vineyard Fumé Blanc (May 2016) (5/1/2016)
(Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. | By Elaine Chukan Brown
JancisRobinson.com (4/25/2016)
(Robert Mondavi, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Horizontal Tasting of Napa Valley’s 1994 Cabernets (Jul 2015) (3/1/2015)
(Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. | The World of Fine Wine, March 2011, Issue #31
(Robert Mondavi Cabernet Reserve) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (6/29/2009)
(Robert Mondavi, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Sep/Oct 2007, Issue #11, Road Kill II: More Highly Rated Wines of Very Questionable Merit
(Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon “Private Reserve”) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (5/25/2003)
(Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve) 1994 Cali Cabs Blindtasted (Screaming Eagle, Harlan, Bryant, Araujo, Abreu, Shafer HS) (Skirball Center, Los Angeles, California): Berry, slightly fishy nose; overwhelmingly tannic palate; medium tannic finish 87 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of The World of Fine Wine and Vinous and JancisRobinson.com and View From the Cellar and RJonWine.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Robert Mondavi Winery Producer website
Producer websiteCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonReserve The Wine News | Wine Country This Week | Wine Lover's PageUSAAmerican 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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