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High End Napa Cabs - Blind
Edina Country Club, Edina, MN
Tasted November 2, 2014 by rocknroller with 432 views
Introduction
This was high end Napa Cab/blend event with a 100+ price point. The wines were sampled single blind, evaluated and then tasted again unblinded, Voting for WOTN was done before unveiling the wines. Blind tastings can be so humbling.; but I will revel tonight going 6 for 6. The next time will likely not be so kind :).
Flight 1 - Opening Wine (1 note)
White
2009 Ramey Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard
94 points
Medium gold color. PNP, drank 1+ glass over an hour. This was a second opportunity to drink this wine over the last 4 months and again was quite a treat. I love this wine. The nose has toast, lemon, floral notes, dry earth, smoke, butterscotch, and vanilla. The palate delivers everything, balance, finesse, lemon, lemon oil, toast, full body without being heavy, great purity and focus, and very long finish. 94+ to 95pts.
Flight 2 - Main Event Wines - Blind (6 notes)
Red
1995 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate
96 points
Very dark red, showing only the slightest margination of color. PNP, drank 2 glasses, the first blind, over 3 hours. This was simply glorious from the outset. The nose was splendid, offering a complex array of earthiness, funk, licorice, leather, and violets, along with some cassis, and balsamic. The palate is endearing, elegant, suave, balanced, medium body, dry earth, earth, fine tannins, a mix of red and black fruit with red predominant, lovely texture and fines grain tannins along with a very long finish. I pegged this from the start and loved every minute of it. My and group WOTN with 5 of 6 first place votes.
Red
1999 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select
93 points
Very dark purple red color, no apparent bricking. PNP, drank 2 glasses, the first glass blind, over 3 hours. This showed some typical Shafer character upfront, black and blue fruit, savory, roasted meat. The palate has ample glycerin, full body, good concentration, blackberry, cassis, blueberry, very big, wood spice, wood, a bit of heat, long finish. This improved some with time in glass. Still seems young, but where will it go over the long haul...
Red
2001 Dominus Estate
94 points
Very dark red color/purple, no bricking. PNP, drank 2 glasses, the first blind, over 3 hours. Interesting from the get go, my impression was this was the Dominus, given the vintage and a PNP, I figured this would need some air to open, and that was correct. The nose slowly evolved to be great, with cedar, dill, dry earth, blue fruit, berry, creme de cassis, deeply earthy and mushroom notes. The palate shows its youthfulness with its french oak , wood spice, black and blue fruits, tart acids, with plenty of silky tannins, and a long finish. I thoroughly enjoyed this wine. It is young and needs a couple hours of decanting or give it 2-3 years more. This will be fabulous! 94+(+)pts.
Red
2005 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select
95 points
Purple red color. Decanted for 6 hours. drank 2 glasses, the first blind, over 3 hours. Great wine, great nose, very balanced, The nose has the big black fruits along with the blueberry notes, earth, violets. The palate is full bodied, concentrated, deep and lush but not over the top, blueberry, blackberry, cassis, cedar box, and a long finish. There is just the slightest hint of alcohol here; nominal and not an issue. Notched this one too. Very, very good and my #3WOTN by a hair over the Dominus (which I think will be better in the long run though).
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Red
2001 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection
96 points
Very dark purple/red color. Slow -O for 3 hours then an immediate double decant. Drank 2 glasses over 3 hours, the first blind. I was quite sure this was the Caymus from the start I loved the old world nose with plenty of forest floor, damp earth, mushroom, creme de cassis fruit, red berries. The palate was a wow moment, intense, vibrant, so deep and flavorful, but with finesse, creme de cassis, raspberry, framboise, chocolate, great acidity, and long, long finish. This is in a wonderful spot now, but the scary thing is I think this will continue to evolve for 5-10 years. My #2 WOTN , 96(+)pts.
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Red
2002 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon
92 points
Very dark purple red color. Drank 2 glasses over 3hours, the first glass blind. The nose has lots of oak, new oak, wood, black fruit. The palate is dense and chewy, glycerin, alcohol, oak, spicy, huge legs, blackberry, blackberry liqueur, firm tannins. This was the last wine poured and it was quite obvious that this was the Quilceda. Big, boisterous and hot Maybe this will tone down, but I won't be holding my breathe.
Flight 3 - Dessert Wine (1 note)
White - Sweet/Dessert
1975 Château Suduiraut
flawed
Corked...a very, very big bummer. Maybe we can revisit this down the road.
Closing
These were some pretty darn good wines, so expectations were understandably high, nonetheless, the idea was to drink them blind and try to remove at least some of the potential bias. WOTN voting was done on the typical 3-2-1 voting.
WOTN was the 1995 Montelena Estate (3+3+3+3+3+2=17pts)
#2 WOTN was the 2005 Shafer Hillside (3+2+2+2+1=10pts)
#3 WOTN was the 2001 Caymus SS (2+2+1=5pts)
#4 WOTN was the 2001 Shafer Hillside (1+1+1=3pts)
2001 Dominus (1=1pts)
2002 Quilceda Creek (0pts)