External search
Google (images)
Wine Advocate
Wine Spectator
Burghound
Wine-Searcher
Vintages
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
Show more
From this producer
Show all wines
All tasting notes
|
| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.2 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 97 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Vinnut on 2/5/2024 & rated 87 points: Deep dark garnet in color with clearing at the edges. Full, forward & attractive nose of ripe fruit aromas of cherries, blueberries & somewhat plummy with overtones of herbs, minty, spices, soy & toasted oak/vanilla notes. Medium bodied with a good concentration of balanced & smooth textured, somewhat simplistic, ripe dark fruit flavors of cherries, blueberries & stewed prunes with herbs, spices, minerals & toasted oak/vanilla. Lingering finish. Drinks quite well at 26 years of age, but it is at or near its peak of development, so I wouldn't age it any further. (287 views) | | | Tasted by Decanting Queen on 8/24/2023 & rated 90 points: Our last bottle of the night, pnp’d after the 1976 Rioja we had planned was corked!
I always love old style cali cab and this was no exception. Although on the downside of its drinking curve, still plenty of mature plummy fruit. Lots of worcester sauce and savory spices—something that made me want to eat it but couldn’t quite name it. I did note some ‘cap gun gunpowder’ that was very faint, I’m not sure I would call it a sulphur flaw. There was something about this that despite its age made it seem a bit rustic or rough around the edges—the alcohol and acid had some pointy elbows at times. Agree with Mark that our old Arrowoods are drinking more smoothly. (1452 views) | | | Tasted by Mark1npt on 8/24/2023 & rated 90 points: Final wine of the 1st night opened by my host, DQ.
Pnp'd into our glasses. Still very dark in the glass, little signs of aging. Nose of black plum, not stewed. A hint of creosote with a kerosene top layer that an hour later turns to gunpowder, of all things. Maybe a slight Sulphur flaw, IDK, it's really hard to tell but I find it enjoyable and intriguing at the same time. Palate is well integrated, with nice acidity and smooth tannins matching the fruit level. Just not many layers to it. DQ and I both remarked about how much more we enjoy an old Arrowood of a similar age. 90 at best for me and nice to try one of these this old! (1538 views) | | | Tasted by robmatic on 8/19/2023 & rated 89 points: Considerably better than the bottle we had several months ago, this one was much fresher, structured, and vibrant. I'd still call it a bit tired, but it was pretty enjoyable. (517 views) | | | Tasted by robmatic on 3/6/2023 & rated 86 points: This bottle was pretty tired. While still holding on, the fruit was fairly weak, and the sheer age of the wine was not quite enough to redeem it. (869 views) | | | Tasted by Bruce 1er on 6/17/2020 & rated 92 points: 3d bottle. Complex, harmonious with good fruit and earth. A beautifully matured wine. Really blossomed after an hour. (2543 views) | | | Tasted by James Kim on 6/5/2020 & rated 91 points: Decanted for 3h then back into bottle. From Jay B. Tasting note is 6h after decant. Classic aromas of cassis, cedar and pine, and mild leather. Palate with cassis, dried cherries, cedar, leather, and a hint of earth. Moderate tannins with nice acids. Pretty and elegant. 91+ (2169 views) | | | Tasted by rmcnees on 4/25/2020 & rated 88 points: At twenty-two years of age, this 1998 vintage release was still drinking nicely and holding its own, despite being from a lackluster vintage.
The color is taking on a slight opacity and grey hue and the fruits are starting to give way to non-fruit flavors so it is starting to decline and should be consumed over the next year or so.
There was dense sediment in the bottle. This was dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, firm structure, tightly wound but nicely balanced with complex black currant and black cherry fruits with sharp acidity accented by briary herb, earth, cedar, hints soy and anise with moderate tannins on the long finish.
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/04/chateau-st-jean-cinq-cepages-cabernet.html (2318 views) | | | Tasted by Bruce 1er on 2/17/2020 & rated 94 points: 2d bottle. Slight brown in the rim. Fruit: plums, tart cherries, cassis. Earthy, with fine tannins. (2456 views) | | | Tasted by Life is a Beach on 12/15/2018 & rated 88 points: The wine looks inky colored. The legs are medium. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like prune. It tastes like blackberry. The body is medium/full. The wine has smooth texture. The wine finishes short. The wine has low acidity. (2794 views) | | | Tasted by Bruce 1er on 11/10/2018 & rated 93 points: Very tight on uncorking, it opened nicely after about 30 minutes. It has evolved to a complex wine, predominantly underbrush, briar, earth, with fruit taking a background (dark cherries). (1539 views) | | | Tasted by Wineson on 9/23/2015 & rated 90 points: Good but a little lacking in character. (5576 views) | | | Tasted by JKIndy on 7/12/2015 & rated 87 points: Definitely past its prime. Improved with decanting but overly dry and thin flavors. (5630 views) | | | Tasted by H2OGEO on 6/30/2015 & rated 91 points: Still very nice. Chocolate overtones with dark fruit. (5462 views) | | | Tasted by ken-yyz on 1/3/2015 & rated 90 points: Solid bordeaux blend from California. Not showing its 16 years of age very much, with lots of ripe lush fruit. It's smoother than my last bottle (several years ago) and drinking beautifully. The finish is a little clipped otherwise this would be a blockbuster. Great nonetheless. (5614 views) | | | Tasted by rineyb on 9/14/2014 & rated 90 points: Very nice after it opened a bit. Probably at it's peak (6150 views) | | | Tasted by Old Vino on 4/25/2013 & rated 93 points: This bottle deserves well above CT score - very enjoyable. (5105 views) | | | Tasted by danscellar on 4/15/2013 & rated 91 points: I tend to really like Cinq Cepages and I like this one too. I will stick to my previous note, not the best vintage but still very nice. Color getting a bit brown on the edge, nose a bit funky and earthy out of the bottle. Still brings good fruit and balance give it an hour or two of air and this wine comes on. Enjoy, I am sorry it is my last bottle!!! Drink now it is very good and very unlikely it will get much better. In fact likely on the very slow downslide. (4754 views) | | | Tasted by RedorDead on 2/27/2013 & rated 88 points: End of the road (5104 views) | | | Tasted by NathanT on 2/25/2013 & rated 91 points: Beautiful Sonoma fruit exploded out from the bottle the minute the cork was popped, and the aroma continued to amaze from the glass. The palate followed with a nice blend of bright fresh savory fruit with the concentration bordering sweet/ stewy?. I didn't expect that after all the talk about the 1998 vintage in cali. the finish was rather short, but that just made me reach for the glass more often, which I don't mind for this bottle. popped and poured. (4310 views) | | | Tasted by aimandel on 7/12/2012: Still showing well. A little leaner and more refined than the 97-certainly a better food wine (5035 views) | | | Tasted by C Mackay on 2/26/2012 & rated 92 points: still drinking very nicely. I was expecting most of the fruit to be gone, but the wine delivered a very nice, medium bodied, balanced experience. I have one more bottle and won't waste too much time before enjoying. (3457 views) | | | Tasted by RR47 on 1/30/2012 & rated 88 points: Muted nose of cherry and learther. Quite soft in the mouth with black-cherry like flavors. Good acid balance and soft tannins. Nice medium length finish. This needed 2+ hours to get really opened and enjoyable. (3344 views) | | | Tasted by wconnolly on 11/24/2011 & rated 88 points: Deep purple color. A bit musty on the nose upon opening. Must blew off but not much replaced it. Very soft, well balanced light fruits on the palate. Smooth tannins. Great accompaniment to Thanksgiving meal. (3599 views) | | | Tasted by gdbarton1@gmail.com on 9/12/2011 & rated 94 points: Very dark purple, opaque. Big black fruit, cedar and eucalyptus, classic California Cab nose. Full bodied, big, mature black fruit, great fruit and spice, balanced, mature but still strong flavor, semi sweet black fruit finish, soft tannins. Wonderful, mature, classic styled California Cab (3697 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Chateau St. Jean Producer website
Founded in 1973, Chateau St Jean has long been recognized as a leader in Sonoma County Vineyard Designated wines. Winemaker Margo Van Staaveren uses her more than 35 years of vineyard and winemaking expertise with Chateau St Jean to highlight the best of each vineyard in every wine. Cabernet 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 SauvignonUSAAmerican 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 Sonoma CountyMendocino CountySonoma CountySonoma Coast |
|
