Tasted Tuesday, June 25, 2013 by Wine_lvr with 690 views
Special thanks to the donor of for sharing these wonderful bottles and making this great tasting possible.
A wonderful series of wines out of very good and legendary Napa vintages in the 70s and 80s. The tasting really showed how nicely California Cabs of various pedigrees can mature...
All wines came out of the same cellar and were double decanted 1 hour before the tasting.
Mature, clear garnet color. Nose of barn, tar and herbal notes. There is still some sweetness around with hints of red berries and again the barn notes. Acidity is present but not disturbing (yet). This wine is already past its peak
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Clear garnet color. Hints of petrol in the nose, red berries and hints of carbon. Quite a lot of sweetness left and almost a bit Porty. Nice length. Now fully mature and should be drunk rather the sooner than the later.
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Clear garnet. Not too much in the nose but then initially wonderful in the mouth. Cooked cherries , sweetness ... wonderful wine and clearly 93 - 94 pts. Then after around 5 - 10 minutes the wine started to oxidize and faded very quickly. So a candidate for pop and pour and fast consumption. Now fully mature
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Ripe brick red. Very herbal nose. Unfortunately the tiny bit of sweetness (Berries) had no chance against the present acidity. This wine is past its prime.
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Deep garnet color. Cherries, tobacco and leather in the nose. Wonderful sweetness of raspberries and cherries. All very present. This wine matured very nicely and just shows how well Beringer PR can age. There is no hurry to drink this bottle.
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Clear garnet color. Tobacco and cherries. There was a wonderful Early Grey, berry and porty sweetness this wine all supported by the necessary flesh and power. Quite a surprise to see how nicely Duckhorn Cabs can mature. A nice which has still a few more years of life ahead but which I would drink now.
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Unfortunately a slightly corked bottle.
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Clear intensive garnet. Nose of cherries and "York" mint chocolate. Wonderful sweetness and very elegant. All so nicely balanced. WOW!
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Deep ruby red in color - one would expect a 10 - 15 year old wine. Nose of Cherries, Mint and Tobacco. This wine is very complex and has lots of juice. Currant, chocolate and black tea. This is still so youtful and has an enormous potentail to still evolve to a legend.
As a note, this was my best Martha's 85 so far. In previous encounters I was always quite confused by this wine, with many bottles seeming a bit flawed.
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I always love the old Mayacamas, especially out of the good years. The 85 was no exception ...
Clear garnet color. Very minty with cherries and strawberries. In the taste it showed hints of black tea, dark berries and a nice sweetness. Unfortunately all was a bit light and simple, especially when compated to the Martha's 85 and the Insignia 85 in the glasses next to it. Drink now as the wine is fully mature.
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My first encounter with this wine and unfortunately a bottle that had likely a minor flaw (old barrel / cork). The power and complexity of the wine was there, so was the fruit and the berries. But this bottle just seemed off so a rating would not do justice. Hope I get the opportunity to retaste one day as the wine showed great potential...
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This was somewhat a difficult wine and it separated the fellow tasters in two poles. Why? There were quite a lot of leather and barn smells to it so it is really a matter of taste if you like such types of wines. Reminded somewhat of an old St. Julien. Now to the taste, there were dark fruit and a bit of Port sweetness, but all covered again by an animalic taste. The wine still has a lot of tannins and IMHO tends to dry out. Drink now with food.
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Deep garnet. Again the typical Martha's flavors of Mint, tobacco and dark berries. Sweet taste of berries, black tea and chocolate. Just wonderful.
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Nose of red berries and hints of tobacco. Quite a bit of acidity and dry tannins. All a bit short. Quite disappointing
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Deep color. Nose of flintstone, cassis, grilled meat and leather. Has quite dry tannins but the sweetness (Strawberry) can nicely cover it up. Great wine and better than the bottle I had a few months ago. Drink now or within the next 5 years.
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My winebuddy gave me hint when I asked him about this specific herbal flavour. "Dill" he replied and pointed out that this is quite typical for Silver Oaks! Ok, Harlan tastes of sap and SO tastes of dill...good to remember for blind tastings...
So, ok I can confirm there was plenty of Dill in the nose...you either like it or you don't is what I guess. As for the taste, the wine had still some juice to it but also dry tannins and all seemed a bit out of balance. Defenitely not the caliber of the Martha's 87 and the Mondavi Reserve 87 in the glasses next to it. Drink now...
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Clear ruby color. Nose of flintstone and tar. Well intergrated tannins with a great sweetness to it. Well made wine and very balanced and elegant. Drink now - 2020
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After all the wonderful classical Martha's (78/85/87) this one was quite a differen wine. Not just the age, but the style of the wine. While the Martha's were classic this was a modern, quite alcoholic, fat and (over)extracted Cab. All well made but not Heitz!
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2007 Newton Chardonnay Unfiltered 91 Points
USA, California, North Coast, Napa County
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