WallingfordHome
Member #354,277 signed up 10/5/2014
This Member Is a Fan(1)
-
redtooth113
67 Tasting Notes
Profile
Member since October 2014
This member's profile is not public.
Member #354,277 signed up 10/5/2014
67 Tasting Notes
This member's profile is not public.
1993 Joseph Phelps Insignia
3/10/2024 - WallingfordHome Likes this wine: 95 Points
OG California Cab, made when they made real, non-fruit-bomb cabs.
Details: Flawless cork, popped and poured with a ribeye dinner. Hardly any bricking. Did not decant.
Make no mistake, this is a massive wine, and 30 years on it is still huge, luscious, ripe, and full of fruit. So many years ahead for this one, and no way over the hill yet.
Acid? You betcha, balancing out those big fruit flavors. Soft muted notes of vanilla round out the almost forever finish.
Oh, that they still made this style of wine, maybe the closest of which today is my favorite Mayacamas. However, you can tell this was made in in the valley, and it’s not at all a mountain wine like Mayacamas, but I make the comparison to show restraint, if one can believe that in this wine. But, back in 93 when they made this wine did they know they were still making a “restrained” wine of balance?
Unmistakably California, and early style, and in my opinion, better than what is produced today.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (2)
1973 Bodegas Olarra Rioja Cerro Anon Reserva
2/26/2023 - WallingfordHome Likes this wine: 89 Points
Goes without saying that this is fully mature. Plenty of acid, a strong tertiary and almost Sherry notes, but lacking fruit like I’ve seen hold up in some older Rioja.
This bottle had luckily been stored quite well since purchase, and is a very typical old Rioja. Not spectacular, but a great fun bottle to have with dinner.
This is old school, Rioja which is still holding on, and still delighting after almost 50 years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1995 Portteus Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
2/12/2023 - WallingfordHome Likes this wine: 90 Points
Wow. Stored properly since its release.
Last bottle from my stepfather’s large Washington collection, most of which were sold off, but we kept two cases of odds and ends.
I had this in my personal cellar for six years as an oddity from Washington, but finally decided to pop and pour just to see how bad it was. I guessed wrong.
So bricked it was brown at the edges. Bordeaux like tertiary flavors, woods, mushroom, and some jolly rancher and gummy bear fruit still showing through. Amazingly complex, obviously fully mature, but quite delicious. Like drinking a lighter 1960s first growth Bordeaux.
Was this the rare survivor or would other bottles of this vintage be the same? We will likely never know.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment