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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 88 pts. and median of 89 pts. in 33 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Dine&Vine on 6/7/2022 & rated 88 points: Yes this wine is definitely past its prime, but still delivers for 23 years old. Absolutely love the unique nose of the Alexander Valley Meritages from Estancia. Just intoxicating! Flavors have certainly waned but wow what an amazing run it had. Yum! (428 views) | | | Tasted by MuirVines on 11/7/2020 & rated 80 points: Held up remarkably well for being over 20 years old. Fruit flavors have mellowed considerably, yet after being decanted for an hour still has a subtle balance and the Cab Franc seems to be pulling through the most. Still drinkable. Probably at least 5-6 years beyond its prime but by no means a wash yet. (788 views) | | | Tasted by Mossrose on 9/16/2015 & rated 92 points: This delicious wine exemplifies how enjoyable Bordeaux blends from Alexander Valley get, as well as how they age very gracefully. Shows no sign of declining in quality at 16 years old. The color is dark purple, opaque with an inch pour, with a lighter purple at the edge. The nose is an inviting plum and cherry fruit. The wine entry features a soft and caressing feel buoyed by refreshing acidity, which endures for minutes after swallowing, slowly giving way to gently drying tannins. (109 views) | | | Tasted by BonnieM on 3/19/2009: Probably past its prime. Fruit beginning to fade. Enjoyable but I wish we had opened it a year or two ago. (6268 views) | | | Tasted by shank on 5/17/2008 & rated 87 points: Decanted for `1 hour and started to open up nicely. I agree that it needs to be consumed this year. Dark fruit with tannins that soften over time. (6352 views) | | | Tasted by winomoo on 2/15/2008 & rated 89 points: very impressive for this wine. Still with good fruit (6296 views) | | | Tasted by MattyMatt on 9/29/2007 & rated 89 points: Nice and fruity and mellow tannins but short finish. (6308 views) | | | Tasted by AGandhi on 9/15/2007: In our vertical tasting (1994-1999), this one was almost everyone's least favorite BUT that is because it was up against some serious challengers. The problem was that it was the young kid at the table and showed it through its tannins. It was a terrific wine (again, if this had been the only one we opened, we would have been blown away) but it was the last one of the 6 vintages and so was too tannic and unbalanced relative to the others. It didn't have the earth of the earlier vintages but its hard edge was still a beautiful example of a sassy-wanting-to-be-elegant CA cab (it's mostly cabernet sauvignon). It can certainly keep longer and you should be happy if you have one. We didn't taste it right out of the bottle but we'd have to agree with the others who tasted this year, you should decant this one. The above are our notes 2 hours after decanting. (4303 views) | | | Tasted by DeWiPe on 5/20/2007 & rated 92 points: Decanted for 2 hours. OutSTANDING this time around - easily the best yet. Rich, powerful, smooth - I wish I had more than one bottle left! (3290 views) | | | Tasted by DeWiPe on 11/18/2006 & rated 90 points: This one is definitely growing on me fast, especially for the $$$. NOT very distinguished straight from the bottle; it DEMANDS air time. An hour decanted really opens it up and shows off its potential. Huge QPR for my case buy, I'm already running low after consuming several and gifting others. I'm heading back to the store to see if there's any left!!! (3541 views) | | | Tasted by DeWiPe on 11/2/2006 & rated 90 points: Nice inviting nose, rich with loads of dark berries, solid depth and complexity with a long smooth finish. Definitely benefited from at least a little air time, 15 min in the glass. Probably drinking much better now, considering early reviews and tasting notes; not expert enough to say this will continue to improve or even hold though.
I'd decline to pay $30 apiece for this, as originally marketed, but for the one-time-buy price of $9 each, I got a case for the winter! (3626 views) | | | Tasted by Mallards on 10/22/2006 & rated 92 points: Just plain awesome. Very smooth drinkable and pleasant. Can't imagine this wine being any better than it is now. (3529 views) | | | Tasted by raadams on 5/19/2006: Definitely a drinking very differently than when I had upon release. On release it exhibited darker fruits and strong tannins. Now is showed sweet red fruit with almost no tannins. Kind of a bid fruit bomb with no real structure. Is it going through some kind of phase. It was not "bad" and did pick up a little through the night but not up to the standards for this wine through the 1990s. This was the strangest that I have every tasted and Estancia Meritage or 1999 Cal. Cab. (3699 views) | | | Tasted by davidandrose on 4/11/2006: Wife enjoyed enough that she and a few friends finished this off before I even got home. She was upset that we didn't have more, and compared this favorably to many of our pricier bottles. (3773 views) | | | Tasted by socidelvino on 12/3/2005: Beautiful meritage. (2049 views) | | | Tasted by raiderwes on 9/12/2005: very nice. (4006 views) | | | Tasted by Fookonson65 on 4/6/2005: A nice drinker... showing very well now. Had w/ steak... nose was powerful from the beginning. Soft tannins... very well integrated, with dark berry and cola on the nose. At first had a bit of green on the palate, but this faded quickly into nice jam, dark berry, and mocha. Medium bodied... not the most complex, but enjoyable. (3998 views) | | | Tasted by BryRis on 3/11/2005: Enjoyed a great bottle with Shelley and Tim from Pfizer. Dinner consisted of ribeyes, rice pilaf, asparugus w/Hollandaise. 1999 is drinking well with a little sedimnet in the bottle. Decant next time for at least an hour (4424 views) | | | Tasted by R2-D2 on 4/3/2003 & rated 83 points: This had such a distinct green bean and bell pepper taste, I wonder if it was the 2000 instead of the listed 1999. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the label. (186 views) | | | Tasted by R2-D2 on 11/17/2002 & rated 89 points: Another very forward pleasant wine. Chocolate, plums, sweet tannins, vanilla, toasty oak and spices. (168 views) | | | Tasted by La Cave d'Argent on 10/18/2002 & rated 86 points: Bright disc. Opaque purple/black with purple rim. Clean nose, showing moderately intense chocolate, currants, oak and blackberries. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, with ample slightly coarse tannins and similar flavors as for the nose. Medium, slightly astringent finish. (2645 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Estancia 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.Meritage The Meritage Association
What Is Meritage?
In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify hand-crafted wines blended from the traditional "noble" Bordeaux varietals including: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot and Malbec or Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Sauvignon Vert."Meritage," pronounced like "heritage," was selected from more than 6,000 entries in an international contest to name the new wine category. Meritage is an invented word that combines "merit" and "heritage" - reflecting the spirit of members of The Meritage Association. Meritage® is a registered trademark of The Meritage Association. To use this name on your wine label, please contacthttp://www.meritagewine.org/ about becoming a member.
Who's Legal?http://www.meritagewine.org/new_members.htmlUSAAmerican 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 CountyAlexander Valley Alexander Valley Winegrowers Association | Wikipedia
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