Community Tasting Note

• Decanting Queen Likes this wine: 90 points

  August 24, 2023 - 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.

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3 Comments

• sfwinelover1 commented:

  8/25/23, 6:38 PM - While I’ve not had the CS from this vintage, this vintage and 2000 are, IMO, the worst in my winedrinking lifetime, well below ‘03, ‘11 and ‘17. The ‘16 of this, which I got a half case of for $45@, was drinking really well as of my last tasting. With careful choosing, Sonoma cabs and BDX varietals can be really good, if not Napa quality (other than Verite and PM), at least better than Napa prices, IMO.

• Decanting Queen commented:

  8/29/23, 4:12 AM - Interesting you say that, I have had a number of lovely 98 Napa and Sonoma cabs that have aged beautifully. I think it really depends on the producer. You said you haven’t had CS, what wines from this vintage did you not like?
  And yes, Verite is an all time favorite although quite pricey!!! The ‘99 Verite muse is one of my favorite wines.

• sfwinelover1 commented:

  8/29/23, 7:46 AM - It’s been a while since I’ve had a ‘98 (with so many wines, a few bad ones tend to scare me off from further experimenting), but I recall the last to be a Montelena from about 5 years ago, which like a ‘00 I had at around the same time, was almost inert (and I like Montelena; a ‘05 I had a couple of years afterward was singing, although it took a while to get there). Fwiw, I’ve been generally the ‘04-‘10 run for good wineries for the past several years, even as a few of those wines, a ‘04 PM LP, a ‘09 Merryvale Profile and a ‘10 Beringer PR, have drank past prime. The further out from vintage year, the more important the storage (and/or provenance) and quality of the producer, let alone the vintage. I do love ‘96, ‘97 and ‘99. One of my WOTYs last year was a mag of the ‘96 Phelps Insig. Cheers!

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