Blind California Cult Cabernet Tasting

A group of us got together to have a blind tasting of CA Cult Cabs. There was the possibility that there would be some WA wines and Bordeaux mixed in here as ringers, but our host set up the flights well before the tasting and was the only one who wasn't tasting double blind.

We had a couple whites as a warm up and while the last of the setup for the tasting was being completed. I loved the Hoodoo Man.

• 2006 Sine Qua Non The Hoodoo Man 95 Points

  USA, California

  Nice nose of tropical fruits and spice, with an oily and rich palate packed with lemon/lime flavors. There was a note of some spicy oak that really showed up on the long finish. There was a mention about about Viognier possibly being in the blend. I didn’t know that, but that may help explain the tropical fruit flavors that are on the nose. A really wonderful white wine. This was a little cold when I tasted it, but the quality was still very evident.

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• 1998 F.X. Pichler Riesling Unendlich 93 Points

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

  My notes say that the label showed well over 15% alchohol. The wine sure doesn’t show it on the nose or the palate. Very nice citrus nose that also shows some botrytis and spice. The palate didn’t have nearly the amount of honeyed sweetness that I expected because of the nose, but there were nice lemon/lime flavors. Probably because I usually drink Rieslings like this on the younger side. Long finish – unending may be a stretch, but it’s still long... Not as distinctive as I had expected, but still very nice.

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What a great year to start a California Cult Cabernet tasting with! The 97 Leonetti was my favorite wine of the flight. I ended up ranking these: 97 Leonetti, 97 Araujo, 97 Bryant, and 98 Insignia (corked).

• 1997 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted blind. When I first smelled this wine, the first thing that struck me was cough syrup. There was just a slightly medicinal aroma on the nose that really stuck out. A few other tasters in the group picked up on it as well. With some time in the glass, there was also an aroma of boot polish that came forward along with the dark fruits. The palate revealed some rich cassis flavors, but it was slightly marred by heat. Once this was revealed as the 97 Bryant, I was really surprised. I hadn't tasted it before, and this wasn't what I thought a 100 point Napa Cab from 97 would taste like. This bottle had been purchased directly from the winery, but I guess these haven't aged as well as expected.

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• 1997 Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 95 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  Tasted blind. The nose had some great mint/eucalyptis that suckered me in. I loved this and didn’t pick it out as a ringer in the flight at all. I was actually thinking that it could be Martha’s Vineyard fruit. I’ll just embrace that, and be happy that I loved this glass of wine even though I usually claim that I don’t enjoy Leonetti Cabs. There was some brett that started showing up after some time in the glass. Not too much, but I’m fairly sensitive to it now. Another person in the group had called brett very early on while we were tasting this, but I didn’t get it until right at the end. This was my wine of the flight. I had tasted this wine a few years ago, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time. Either my palate has changed, or the wine has changed, or both. I would guess both...

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• 1997 Araujo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard 95 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted blind. Big cherry pie and vanilla aromas. The palate was packed with big cherry flavors. This had a great mouthfeel and a long finish. I was impressed with this wine, but really enjoyed the complexity of the 97 Leonetti next to this. The 97 Araujo honestly tasted like a much younger wine than any of the others in this flight. I’ve had the 98 Elisle and the 01 before, but this was the best bottle from Araujo that I have ever had. This was my second favorite of the flight, and was very close to being my favorite.

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• 1998 Joseph Phelps Insignia Flawed

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Corked. Too bad - would have been a nice addition to the flight if it were a correct bottle.

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This was an interesting flight of wines. There were a lot of guesses for Bordeaux ringers in this flight. My favorite of the flight was the 01 Dominus. I ended up ranking these: 01 Dominus, 01 Verite La Joie, 89 Pichon Baron, and 02 Pride Reserve.

• 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 88 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted blind. Major VA on the nose. Several in the group had trouble with the sheer amount of the volatility, and one member wouldn't even taste it. When I did taste it the first thing that stuck me was.. This wine was Hot, Hot, Hot! This was a very polarizing wine in the group. I’m a fan of the Foley style, but just couldn’t get past the volatility on this one. This was still drinkable because it is loaded with ripe and rich red/black fruits, but I would have to put it in the high 80s when rated blind. Once it was revealed as a Pride Reserve, it was hard not to try to like it more when viewing the label.

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• 2001 Dominus Estate 96 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted blind. I loved the nose of this wine. It was packed with great brown sugar and roasted meat aromas. Almost bacon fat-like. Many people wondered if there was some residual sugar in this wine though - someone even said it before it was tasted. Full of dark fruit flavors and a bit of sweetness on the palate that really helped the finish linger. That probably influenced me on my ranking, but I loved this wine even once it wasn’t blind anymore.

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• 2001 Vérité La Joie 96 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  Tasted blind. This wine had a very elegant nose, with some nice aromas of lead pencil shavings upfront that had a couple people thinking Bordeaux ringer (until the Real Bordeaux ringer showed up as #4 wine in this flight). The palate had chocolate, earth and red/black fruit flavors that carried through a medium-long finish. This was really a great wine that I ranked #2 in this flight, but was very tempted to switch to #1 after the reveal.

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• 1989 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Tasted blind. This wine had a very complex nose. I enjoyed the roasted coffee aromas here, but I was so seduced by the 01 Dominus in this flight that I just didn’t pay as much attention to the Pichon Baron as I should have while it was blind. The leather and hint of greenness were probably detractors for me in the context of a Cali Cult Cab tasting, so I didn’t rank this high in the flight. This was still an obviously well made wine that was very enjoyable and seemed like a much younger wine that it actually turned out to be.

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This was really another subset of the previous flight, but 8 wines to taste is just too many for most of us in the group to remember and rank. My favorite of the flight was the 04 Cayuse Widowmaker, though I think the 01 Sloan might have been able to take this flight if it had been a correct bottle. I ended up ranking these: 04 Cayuse Widowmaker, 01 Shafer Hillside Select, 02 Quilceda Creek, and 01 Sloan (corked).

• 2004 Cayuse Cabernet Sauvignon The Widowmaker En Chamberlin Vineyard 95 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

  Tasted blind... sort of. The unique bottle of the Widowmaker plus the sheer number of Cayuse fans that were in the room made it almost impossible for this not to get recognized even before tasting it. There was no funk on this wine. Not overly complex, but still very nice dark cherry flavors with some herbal notes. Huge mouthfeel and a long finish. My favorite of the flight.

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• 2001 Sloan Flawed

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Corked. This was a big bummer since many in the group hadn't tasted a Sloan before.

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• 2001 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District

  Tasted blind. Some light VA on the nose. The palate had some very rich cassis/blackberry flavors and a nice earthy note. Pretty well balanced too. This would have been in the outstanding range for me if it weren’t for the nose.

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• 2002 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 90 Points

  USA, Washington

  Tasted blind. This brought the heat and the volatility right away. Wow, there was a lot of the Sharpie smell on the nose of this bottle. This was almost as hard for me to drink as the 02 Pride Reserve. I’m wondering how it would have shown next to the 01 Dominus? This was a disappointment for me and a few other people in the group. Once it was revealed, a few people were noticing the blueberry nuances of the palate, but I just didn't get them in this showing. I had ranked this last in the flight.

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We were just starting to enter the new era here. The wines were obviously younger, bigger, and higher in alcohol. This was like a dream flight for me. The 05 Screaming Eagle was the best wine that Ihave ever tasted - and I said that before it was revealed as Screaming Eagle! Guess I'll be chasing the dragon for a while now... I ended up ranking these: 05 Screaming Eagle, 05 Harlan, 06 Colgin IX, and 03 Leoville Poyferre.

• 2006 Colgin IX Estate 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted blind. My notes had vanilla, caramel, chocolate, and spicy currant. I think this could have benefited from a bit longer decant as the nose was the least expressive of this flight. After we weren’t blind any more, another taster said that he was getting some olive notes, and then I could pick that out also . I probably underrated this wine just because it was grouped into this utterly amazing flight.

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• 2003 Château Léoville Poyferré 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Tasted blind. The nose had Big time Brett and saddle leather aromas. This was just hard for me to focus on – especially being grouped into a flight with 05 Harlan and 05 Screaming Eagle. This was easily identified as a Bordeaux ringer. It did have nice red fruits and a licorice note that I enjoyed, but that brett just took away a lot of the fun for me. My full attention went to other wines in this flight after they were revealed, but again this was another very well crafted wine that just didn't hit my sweet spot in comparison to the other wines in the flight.

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• 2005 Harlan Estate 97 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted blind. A nice cherry/chocolate nose, but the palate was a bit different than I expected. It had really rich currant and mocha flavors with a leathery-like note as well. This had excellent balance though, and had a very dense mouthfeel but managed not to be heavy at all. This wine remained beautifully balanced through a very long finish. Ranked 2nd in the flight for me - only behind the 05 Screaming Eagle.

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• 2005 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 100 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

  Tasted blind. Wow! The first thing that I wrote down in my notes was Opulent!!! (I seriously put 3 slammers at the end of it too…) This is my new benchmark for what a 100 point wine should be… It was almost depressing to have it revealed to be Screaming Eagle, because now I really know how great a Screaming Eagle can be. There is no denying the greatness of this wine, however, there was nothing “elegant” about that wine as I have often heard it described. Maybe that was the way some of the older vintages were made, but elegance wasn’t what made me love this wine. This has to be the best balanced wine that I have ever had. Balanced to the point of almost not being able to deconstruct it, or even want to. It just is what it is, and it is Perfect!

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Another subset of the previous flight. Though the 05 Robert Foley Howell Mountain Cab sure would have been fun to taste next to the 05 Screaming Eagle! The 05 Robert Foley Howell Mountain was my favorite of the flight. I ended up ranking these: 05 Robert Foley Howell Mountain, 04 Cadence Bel Canto, 06 Scarecrow, and 06 Futo. A really nice showing from the Cadence amongst some heavy hitters!

• 2006 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Tasted blind. The nose had some licorice, currant and oak aromas. The palate was not one of the more expressive in this flight. It was fairly consistent with the nose, and had a medium-long finish. Once it was revealed as Scarecrow, I had a hard time believing that I had ranked it so low in the flight. This was my 3rd tasting of the 06 Scarecrow, and I had loved it the previous 2 times, but the Rutherford dust just didn’t come through here, and this didn’t have the fullness or lushness that the 05 Screaming Eagle did, or that the 05 Robert Foley Howell Mountain Cab did right after this wine. Being sandwiched between my two favorite wines of the night probably did affect my perception to some degree - but it still wasn't a great showing. This had been decanted for about 7 to 8 hours prior to the tasting.

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• 2005 Robert Foley Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Vineyard 98 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

  Tasted blind. Another Wow wine for me! Just huge ultra-ripe cherry flavors with some nice mixed berry flavors and caramel mixed in there. This is the Foley style that I am a fan of – not like the 02 Pride Reserve that had a lot of VA earlier in the tasting. I really loved this wine - a clear favorite of the flight. Would have loved to have tasted this one in the previous flight next to the 05 Harlan and 05 Screaming Eagle... No wonder you have to enter a lottery of the mailing list members just to purchase a bottle of this. It's really amazing! I have not always been a big fan of Howell Mountain wines, but there was not a trace of the loamy-like flavors that I sometimes find off putting in Howell Mountain wines.

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• 2006 Futo Oakville 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

  Tasted blind. The nose of this wine showed some volatility along with cedar and dark fruit aromas. The palate had mostly cedar and ripe currant flavors. It also had fierce tannins that I didn’t enjoy. I knew this as the Futo just from how tannic it was. This wine had been decanted for about 9 hours prior to the tasting, and it barely put a dent in them. I know that 25% of this wine is a blend of Cab Franc, Merlot and Petite Verdot. Wonder what role that played in the final ratings. I've been fairly disappointed in the 06 Futo both times that I've tasted it. This just isn't my style.

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• 2004 Cadence Bel Canto 93 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

  The nose initially had a multi-vitamin like aroma that quickly blew off. This wine didn't get the benefit of a decant period like most or all of the other wines in the flight. This was the only wine in the flight that had a significant amount of Cab Franc. I think it was like 50% Cab Franc? The palate had nice chocolate and cherry flavors. Very nice wine.

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This was hands down the finest night of wine drinking in my life. What an amazing event! It's going to be a long time before I want try to tackle another CA Cult Cab tasting - this one was just too good!