Double decanted an hour before a rich red pasta dinner. This is too young now but I think it's going to be really good, thus the rating. It's difficult for me to predict how much more time it needs, but I think 3-5 years is probably safe. It is slightly lighter in color than the 2002 I tasted a couple of years ago, but the wines are similar at 5 - overly tannic now - but enormous fruit waiting to explode when the tannin fades. I notice others are rating it around 90. I can't help but think they are going on what it tasted like over the last couple of years, not where it's going. I think it's another Foley Pride winner.
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I wasn't sure a 25-year old Gorth Cabernet would still be in it's peak drinkability years, and iniatially thought my concern was warranted. This wine was tasted like a great cabernet, five years past its peak, out of the bottle. The taste was dominated by pepper and oak, but not much fruit. However, within half-an-hour, the flavor began to escalate into an explsion of life. Just delicious. As usually, I opened a second bottle, just for the fun of a small blind tasting, and saved about 3-4 ounces for the next day (the other bottle was a 1983 Rutherford Hill Cab). The Rutherford was quite good when first opened, but didn't improve much. In contrast the Groth was even better the next morning, and better still, the next evening. I have some 87 Groth and am anxious to find out if the 84 was exceptional, or if Groth is a much better producer than I was previously aware.
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First, note that this is Stags' Leap Winery ("s" appostrophe), esily confused with the more famous Stag's Leap Cellars (appostrophe "s"). This lowered my expectations. Then there is the concern that a 15 year-old Merlot, any 15 year-old Merlot, is past it's prime and rapidly heading towards flavorlessness. However, my understanding is that much of the best of Bordeaux, including Petris, is made with as much as 100% Merlot (I don't know about the First Growths), and those wines are expected to be improving 30 years hence, so I suspect the "Merlot concern" concern is more myth than reality. Whatever, our reaction to this was, "Wow." I had a couple of better, "on paper" bottles in reserve, but this puppy was good right out of the bottle, and a genuine delight 30 minutes later. The balance was excellent, still some tannin with the finish, which I like, but bursting with delicious fruit throughout. I don't use terms like, "pencil lead," but if I did, and liked it, I'd probably rave about the pencil led and apricot. We opened two bottles for four people so there was enough to sip three or four times the next day and it was even better. Since I only paid $30 for this bottle, if rating it, "among $30 peers," it would be a 98 or 99. The 92 is on an absolute scale. I've had many, many hundred dollar plus bottles that weren't nearly as good.
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2004 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
1/11/2010 - Napa144 wrote: 97 Points
Double decanted an hour before a rich red pasta dinner. This is too young now but I think it's going to be really good, thus the rating. It's difficult for me to predict how much more time it needs, but I think 3-5 years is probably safe. It is slightly lighter in color than the 2002 I tasted a couple of years ago, but the wines are similar at 5 - overly tannic now - but enormous fruit waiting to explode when the tannin fades. I notice others are rating it around 90. I can't help but think they are going on what it tasted like over the last couple of years, not where it's going. I think it's another Foley Pride winner.
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1984 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon
12/18/2009 - Napa144 wrote: 94 Points
I wasn't sure a 25-year old Gorth Cabernet would still be in it's peak drinkability years, and iniatially thought my concern was warranted. This wine was tasted like a great cabernet, five years past its peak, out of the bottle. The taste was dominated by pepper and oak, but not much fruit. However, within half-an-hour, the flavor began to escalate into an explsion of life. Just delicious. As usually, I opened a second bottle, just for the fun of a small blind tasting, and saved about 3-4 ounces for the next day (the other bottle was a 1983 Rutherford Hill Cab). The Rutherford was quite good when first opened, but didn't improve much. In contrast the Groth was even better the next morning, and better still, the next evening. I have some 87 Groth and am anxious to find out if the 84 was exceptional, or if Groth is a much better producer than I was previously aware.
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1994 Stags' Leap Winery Merlot
12/15/2009 - Napa144 wrote: 92 Points
First, note that this is Stags' Leap Winery ("s" appostrophe), esily confused with the more famous Stag's Leap Cellars (appostrophe "s"). This lowered my expectations. Then there is the concern that a 15 year-old Merlot, any 15 year-old Merlot, is past it's prime and rapidly heading towards flavorlessness. However, my understanding is that much of the best of Bordeaux, including Petris, is made with as much as 100% Merlot (I don't know about the First Growths), and those wines are expected to be improving 30 years hence, so I suspect the "Merlot concern" concern is more myth than reality. Whatever, our reaction to this was, "Wow." I had a couple of better, "on paper" bottles in reserve, but this puppy was good right out of the bottle, and a genuine delight 30 minutes later. The balance was excellent, still some tannin with the finish, which I like, but bursting with delicious fruit throughout. I don't use terms like, "pencil lead," but if I did, and liked it, I'd probably rave about the pencil led and apricot. We opened two bottles for four people so there was enough to sip three or four times the next day and it was even better. Since I only paid $30 for this bottle, if rating it, "among $30 peers," it would be a 98 or 99. The 92 is on an absolute scale. I've had many, many hundred dollar plus bottles that weren't nearly as good.
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