4/16/2024 - G_H wrote:

What a sexy, sexy wine. Dark, brooding and intense. This has barely touched its maturity plateau.

4/16/2024 - G_H wrote:

Quite mature but beautifully balanced and a great length

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Surprisingly open and ready to go. Cherry yogurt, raspberries, vanilla, cassis. delicious!

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Ah how I love these very well made wines from cooler Napa vintages. Cool fruit, black berries, great length and depth with this particular napa fruit sexiness

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: As with many of these very ripe Napa vintages, I don't believe in their ageworthiness. This was very ripe, showed some plums, prunes, williams, creme de cassis and fruit in rum. Good, but rather to drink now than to keep

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Very floral, freshly ground white pepper, very finely ground black pepper, unripe peaches. A very elegant rendition, on the light side but very multi-faceted. Quite interesting and delicious

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Clearly prematurely developed, some sign of oxidation, not a correct bottle unfortunately.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: This was the last vintage in the original Screaming Eagle vineyard before replanting.
Very floral, salty, violets, medium bodied with a good length.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Cool, sweet fruit, licorice, cinnamon and a good length. I enjoyed this a lot fresh out of the bottle, but with 30-45 minutes of air, this became a bit too sweet for my taste. Started out at 95points and landed somewhere near 92-93

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Unfortunately this was an off bottle, showing some sign of oxidation and taint, not corked, but off.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: This, along with the 2001, was the wine of the night for me. Plums, licorice, violet, good sweetness, great structure and enough acidity will carry this wine many many years into the future.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: I tend to be a sceptic of 2002 Napa, given the issue with overripness, but this showed quite beautifully. Ripe but a decent distance away from overripe. Herbs, creme de cassis, good length and body.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: One of the stars of the night for me, this was so fresh and young with a brith red fruit, wild cherries and vanilla. Great acidity, good length. Many years ahead for this wine.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Very mature and very ripe, not slipping into overripness territory as other 97 do, but just on the edge. This also means that I wouldn't keep this for too long.Plums, medicine cabinet, leather, dried tomatoes. Good, but for me clearly lagging behind some of the other vintages.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Beautiful young fruit, super ripe cherries, vanilla, butterscotch, velvety and long. An underrated vintage.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Unfortunately this was corked, behind the taint you could see that this is a really great vintage of this wine.

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Still quite fresh and perfectly mature, even after two hours of air this didn't really budge. Nice blend of winter spices amd ripe fruit in the nose, wild red cherries and some black cherries mixed in, good minerality, great length. Delicious

2/28/2024 - G_H wrote:

Three decades of Screaming Eagle: Boysenberry, passion fruit, sweet greens, mirabels, much sweeter than what I'd expect from a Sauvignon Blanc. Decent acidity, medium bodied and medium length.

2/20/2024 - G_H wrote:

Stored at release in our mountain cellar, which is less stable with low of 45 and high of 50 but substantially colder than my main cellar at constant 53 F, this showed like an infant. Cassis, red fruit, great balance and a powerful finish. Clearly Chile, clearly great!

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

Not as great as other bottles, but still a very fine wine. Cranberreis, black cherries, chocolate milk with this dense ripe sexy california-meets-bordeaux structure.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

While there is a great aromatic mix of red berries and some tertiary notes like stables and leather, what really stands out ist the incredible structure that this wine has, that I can only describe as "towering".

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Candied sugar, burnt caramel, figs, chocolate. Good length and sweetness but it was lacking a certain cohesion and felt too heavy and a bit simple.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: After an initial jittery phase, this opened up and had some saffron, orange zest, almond, botrytis. while it had a good length it only had a medium body and lacked the punch you'd want from such a great vintage

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Sadly very corked

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Liquid butter, cherries, fresh. Great wine!

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Blackberries, cherries, chewing gum, very light on its feet but still a good length.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Fresh figs, fig-jam, melon, quite a lot of sweet notes like cooked plums, chocolate cream, mon-cherie. Some tomato paste added in for a savory element. Very good but somehow, despite the aromatic intensity, never hits that spot for me.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Plums, raspberries, spices, nice acidity. Very good but not one of the best examples.

This needs extensive time in the decanter. I'd recommend 6+ hours.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Not as great as another bottle I had a couple of years ago, but still very good. Intense, expressive nose, slightly lactic with some chocolate notes.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: This had a bit of a tough standing, given how well the bordeaux served previously showed.

A bit muted, slightly vegetal with a bit of fruit left. Perfectly pleasant but nex to the other wines it wasn't fun to drink.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Precise, cristal clear red fruit, nice sweetness mixed with some medicine cabinet notes and a hint of Chinese five spices. Beautiful!

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Winter spices, elegant, purple fruit, good but somehow this just didn't really hit the balance and remaind a bit bulky

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: My first really good experience with this legend. Red berries, charming and youthful. Intense yet elegant. Great!

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Dark fruit, plums, irish moss, raspberries (?), good length. Just slightly behind Haut Brion today.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Malt, cocoa, espresso, caramel, medicine cabinet, wonderfully creamy and long. LOVE IT!

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Sunday roast, very precise red fruit, great minerality, wonderful maturity!

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Mature Laville can be so fresh and deep at the same time and this was a prime example. Such a freshness coupled with this length is amazing! Wow

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Petrol, pear, saffron. Creamy, dense with a long finish and a great balance despite having a kiss of residual sugar and even botrytis.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Yellow fruit, perfectly pleasant although acidity is a bit low

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Great intense nose with yeast and creme brulee. No oxidation, great structure, good length, very fresh

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Red apple, some oxidative notes, some apple acidity, still good but much more evolved than the other wines next to it.

11/25/2023 - G_H wrote:

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Walnuts, yeast dough, brioche, good balance and still some freshness on the palate with a nice sweetness

2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): A curiosity. Very sweet and slightly alcoholic, but quite enjoyable for fans of the style

2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): Dark chocolate, molasses, still drinkable but definitely over the hill

2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): This bottle smelled more like nail polish remover than wine

2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): Not corked but completely gone with intense acetone notes

2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): Outstanding. Great mix of dried herbs, savory notes and black berries.

2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): Espresso, coffee liqueur, whisky smoke, dense, opulent and long.

With its long history, the consistently great winemaking and the many incredible wines they made, it's inexplicable to me why Mount Eden does not get more attention.

2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): This had a beautiful color but was badly corked.

The wine behind the cork was monumental, but the cork matched that level of intensity...

2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): This was another example of a "regular" Napa Cab performing really well. Four-fruit jam, violets in the expressive and sexy nose. Very long!