Pride Mountain 11-Vintage Vertical Dinner

Singapore
Tasted Sunday, August 9, 2015 by Collector1855 with 522 views

Introduction

A prolific wine collector hosted this vertical over a terrific Chinese dinner. The wine stood out for its consistency and great tannin management with no drying or harsh wines even in bad vintages. In the warmer years the limitations of CabSav in Napa/Sonoma became apparent with the wine loosing some of its structure and aromatic complexity compared to more balanced vintages. I noticed that RP scored these warm vintages higher while I preferred the more moderate years (00,04,07,09). Such is personal taste.

Flight 1 - First series (5 Notes)

  • 1999 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 92 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Medium garnet. Discrete nose of pine and eucalyptus (very Napa) with some vanilla and oak. Enters the palate soft, tame and harmonious. A bit more aromatic presence and structure could have helped, a tad flabby for my taste and a slightly warm finish. Drink up.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2000 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 96 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Dark ruby. What a contrast to the tame 1999. With a cool and wet summer this is regarded an off vintage, also not scored by RP. For me this was one of the best wines of this 11 year vertical. Already in the nose it showed real complexity that went beyond the blue fruit / cassis spectrum with earth, grape stalks, pine and minerals. Great structure on the palate intermixed with the fruit. Some found it a bit too astringent but I though that was just the contrast to the slightly flabby 1999. If you are more of a Pauillac guy this is your wine. As I discovered later in the vertical I preferred all the cooler vintages as the warmer ones struggled to deliver aromatic diversity, freshness and structure.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2001 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 94 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Dark ruby purple core. Very different nose than the 2000. Much warmer with plum, cherry, sweet spices. Full bodied palate, enough acidity but slightly alcoholic finish. Good, but I wished it was more aromatic and refreshing.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 90 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    The weakest wine in this vertical, at least for my taste. Dark ruby with purple core. Already the nose greets you with a very strong scent of caramel, cake and caramel again. A very sweet palate with lots of alcohol, silky tannins but little lift. For some it's the sweeter the better in CabSav, not for me.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2003 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 94 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Medium-dark ruby. Nose of Eucalyptus, red current, cedar, olong tea. Very Napa in a good way. On the palate I am missing a bit of structure and freshness, again caramel tones are coming through. In the good but not great department.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

Flight 2 - Palate refresher (1 Note)

  • 2002 Arnaud Ente Meursault Clos des Ambres 97 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault

    From Magnum. This wine was served in the middle of the Pride Mountain vertical to refresh the palate and accompany a fantastic crab dish. It not only worked well with the dish but was an off the chart Chardonnay. It really had it all. Expressive nose of apple, tea leaves, vanilla, flowers, very complete with layers of complexity. On the palate incredibly fresh and unctuous at the same time. Fruit and acidity in spades and harmony. Everyone (including the frequent DRC dwellers in this round) was really stunned by this outstanding Meursault in Magnum. Wow!

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

Flight 3 - Second series (6 Notes)

  • 2004 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 96 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Medium purple. Classic Napa nose of pine, black tea, forest, cassis, complex. Enters the palate with real freshness and presence, nice and sappy with both good fruit and structure. Soft tannins, very good length. A very good CavSav, one of the best of this vertical.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2005 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 93 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Medium garnet. Nose of tobacco, caramel, sandal wood. Much more mature on the palate than the others, very tame with a sweetish alcoholic finish. Drink up.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2006 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 93 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Medium ruby. This comes form a so vintage as well. Nose of chocolate, dark fruit, caramel. soft and sweet on the palate gasping for some structure, again silky tannins. Looking at the vintages tasted so far I come to the conclusion that this wine generally has great consistency and very good tannin management (never drying, never imposing) but it could benefit from more aromatic presence and freshness.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2007 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 96 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Dark ruby, purple core. Reductive nose of pine forest, cedar, eucalyptus, dark fruit, black tea. Young and brooding on the palate with great structure, freshness and aromas. Will age for a long time. On e of my preferred wines of this vertical. Great!

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2008 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 94 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Medium-dark ruby. Nose of cassis, forest, mint, intermixed with some vanilla and toffee. Young and structured, soft tannins, on the palate, a bit alcoholic on the finish. This benefits from a few more years of aging.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2009 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 96 Points

    USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

    Medium ruby with purple core. Expressive nose of pine, wood, tea leaves grape stalks and tobacco. Enters the palate with great structure and mid mouth presence, very good lift and finish. Another vintage with lots of potential. Another winner of this vertical tasting.

    Post a Comment / 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

Closing

A magical and educational wine evening!

×
×