1998 Araujo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard

Community Tasting Note

11 comments have been posted

• Comment posted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine:

  3/26/2023 7:53:00 AM - Love these old classic wines! Always feel like a trip through time, and often times the wines are stellar! It also always makes me realize what a privileged life I lead and think about how few people ever get to drink these wines with this kind of age on them! Nice note, btw!
  
  FWIW, I typically do a quick splash decant to remove sediment, then back in the bottle.

• Comment posted by MJP Hou TX:

  3/26/2023 8:49:00 AM - Great tip on the filtering which is typically what I do directly into the glass which is less sexy and will get me kicked out of somm school! ;-)
  
  If you have any other recommendation I'll gladly take them. You have a deep cellar and experience palate to match!
  
  I hope you're doing well.

• Comment posted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine:

  3/26/2023 11:56:00 AM - Not sure how qualified I am to give recommendations and advice, but I can tell you what I like! First, I like a nice balance between fruit and tertiary flavors, especially if drinking in a group setting because the wine is more intellectual. I will say, I have seen many different palates, some preferring all fruit, and others preferring all tertiary (although they say they taste fruit, but I don't). I must have perceptible fruit to truly enjoy a wine, even though I can appreciate it if it is missing (probably the historian in me!). Having said that, most of the older California wines I have tasted are 1994s, for two reasons, it was a great vintage and, it is my nieces (twins) birth year, so we open bottles on their birthday (which is the same day as mine!) Of the 1994's I have tasted, almost all have been outstanding! (But as you know, setting, occasion and company all contribute to the enjoyment and the wine experience).
  
  Wines I have enjoyed from 1994 vintage include: Dominus, Mondavi Reserve (MacDonald grapes in that wine), Montelena, Anderson Conn Res, and Araujo Eisele.
  
  My all time favorite is 1996 Harlan, but I love Harlan, and 2001 and 2012 also are awesome. I have quite a few Harlan wines, but rarely open up a young one. I feel it is a waste, as other wines have tons of fruit for a lot less $$$....my thought is that I pay for age-ability, so take advantage of it. Plus, I have had the 2001 Harlan twice, and the first time, I preferred the 1996....last time I had the 2001, I thought it was on par with the '96.
  
  As far as prep, I recommend opening older bottles an hour or two before drinking, splash decant to remove sediment and taste the wine, then decide if it needs time in the decanter. Typically, I put the wine back in the bottle and put the cork in and stand it up in my cellar until ready to serve. Like you, I like to experience its evolution.
  
  On a separate note, Bordeaux has a much broader drinking window, and it seems many more ageable wines. I love 1982, 1989-90, 1996, and 2000 for older vintages of any top tier wine (First and second growths and a few others that are lower growths or not classified). I also highly recommend Vega Sicilia Unico...I am pretty sure those aged wines would be squarely in your wheelhouse as the fruit seems well preserved, but they have so much more going on. My fav to date is 1994 (go figure!), but I have not had more than a few of these. Hope I answered you and it helps! Hope you, and your family, are doing well also! Let me know if you ever make it out this way!

• Comment posted by MJP Hou TX:

  3/28/2023 8:33:00 AM - Thank you for taking the time to write all this out!
  
  Our palates seem to align in that we like fruit with secondary or tertiary flavors. I love wines that make you ponder and think. Also, like you, vintages that relate to personal milestones. I like to discuss what was going on during that specific vintage.
  
  And, I totally agree about 94 Napa. Fantastic vintage in the right hands. Thanks again for the suggestions and tips.

• Comment posted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine:

  3/29/2023 1:20:00 PM - You're welcome, and by all means, feel free to reciprocate! I would love to hear your recommendations....btw, I didn't mention Abreu, because I already know you have tons of those, and you have wayyyyy more experience than I tasting them!

• Comment posted by MJP Hou TX:

  3/30/2023 5:27:00 AM - Most of my experience with Napa from the 90's has been with Abreu & Araujo. Specifically Madrona ranch. Very different terroir notes but both are incredible wines with regards to structure and tannins.
  
  My guess is Capella or Thorevilos would favor Eisele in notes.
  
  Maybe some of the blue chips like Diamond Creek, Spottswoode, Heitz Martha's etc.. would be worth exploring?

• Comment posted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine:

  3/30/2023 9:24:00 AM - I agree! Only have a few vintages of Abreu, and most of them younger, so I have a little bit of wait on those (thankfully, I have other wines to drink while I wait!) I would add Dominus to that list...older bottles are pretty amazing!
  
  Funny, I drank many of those wines when I was younger, but who knew they would keep that long! Conventional wisdom at the time was 5-7 years for CA and 7-10 years for Bordeaux (with some exceptions from very good producers in very great years).....wish I had the foresight to save some of those!! Of course, now you have the other extreme from JG, who cellar tracker relies on for drinking windows, who thinks wines past their prime have yet to hit their ideal drinking window....go figure!
  
  I just recalled, you may want to try Arrowood Special Res. Those 90's are drinking remarkably well, and very reasonably priced.
  
  Cheers!

• Comment posted by OG-Wino:

  6/3/2023 3:04:00 PM - Just drank my last bottle of the '98 based on your comments.
  
  I'd probably score it a little higher when considering the 25+ years from a less-than-stellar vintage, and was similarly impressed by the secondary notes and missing the sweeter stuffing in the middle that this wine usually exhibits.
  
  As crazy as it sounds, as I followed this over the course of an 8 hour evening, I started to feel as though this wine might have one more chapter left.
  
  Wish I had another bottle to try in another 5 years. Community holdings in CT say that almost 50% is still out there. I find that hard to believe, but hoping it might be true!

• Comment posted by MJP Hou TX:

  6/4/2023 7:07:00 AM - @OG-Wino-
  
  Bottle variation might be in play as this is the only one of this vintage I've danced with. I've been picking them up as they enter the market and have not been disappointed by a single bottle yet.
  
  My score is skewed by some of the other 90's Araujo wines that had more of the mid palate sweetness you mention. I'd buy this vintage again in a heart beat.
  
  What's your favorite vintage to date?

• Comment posted by OG-Wino:

  6/4/2023 11:40:00 AM - Re: bottle variation, certainly possible, not to mention that my last bottle survived a move and a cellar rebuild, so it hadn't sat still for 25 years.
  
  Over the years, I'd say the two vintages of Araujo Eisele that really blew me away were the '95 and the 2012. I'd say '92 was close behind, but I drank through them a long time ago so I have no first hand experience how it has held up.

• Comment posted by MJP Hou TX:

  6/4/2023 4:16:00 PM - I recently had a 92 and I was blown away. 98 point experience for me.
  
  A recent 95 I rated a 96 and it had plenty of life left and might pass 92 in time. I have yet to try 2012.