1969 Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon

Community Tasting Notes (10) Avg Score: 97.6 points

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  4/25/2022 - ShadowIII Likes this wine: 100 Points

  Only wine I have ever rated 100. Tasted blind. Simply stunning dark color, very youthful (at 52 years old), elegant and powerful at the same time, very complex nose of dark fruits, currants, cassis, cedar, spice, cardamom, leather, pencil lead, just kept evolving, adding new layers of complexity, well integrated tannins, superb structure, very long finish. Last time I had this wine was 15 years ago at dinner with the 1974 Heitz Martha's, 1941 Simi, the wine is more youthful and complex than over a decade ago

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  3/27/2021 - JonnyG Likes this wine: 98 Points

  A Memorable Saturday (Various Spots in the Santa Ynez Valley): A gorgeous bottle and an emotional experience, truly ticking off one bucket list wine dream I never thought would be fulfilled. A friend generously brought this mere weeks after having stumbled into it and some other random wine treasures, thrown into a modestly upsized deal that was otherwise focused on an old Chartreuse. Nice trade! Everything apparently came from a passive basement cellar, and the estate agent had full confidence in a $500 price for a set of 12 bottles, including this rarity, the first Charles Krug made by Robert Mondavi (we didn't get to this one) and a 375 of a '67 Mouton Rothschild (then a 2nd Growth), which was unsurprisingly DOA. So be it.
  
  Our apprehension around how the bottle would show was allayed immediately upon the extraction of the remarkably solid cork, as the aromas were easily detectable several feet away. Dark fruit, some smoke and coffee notes wafted up confidently. The wine was remarkably fresh, and showed real structure, with nearly resolved tannins discernible. It held steady in the glass for some ninety minutes, even taking on more weight with air. I can't say this was at peak, as the vibrant energy others have described was not so evident here. Just shy of perfection, TN-wise, but a solid 100 when emotion is considered. Such a remarkable treat.

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  10/25/2020 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote: 98 Points

  My second bottle of this wine both from the same source. Still so structured with tannins that start gripping after 30 minutes open in the bottle. Plenty of fading secondary notes but just amazed by the freshness and intensity of the fruit. Black berry, dark cherry, leather, eucalyptus, caramel, mineral and dusty earth. Tasted alongside 08 Hundred Acre Ark, 88 Mouton, and 15 MacDonald. Only the MacDonald was able to compete here. This won’t get better with time but still has 20 years to go.

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  4/13/2020 - vindictive wrote:

  bottle and fill excellent, cork was soaked to the top and extracted intact. Deep color, still has considerable weight. Classic California cab nose and palate. Held up very well over 4 hours. More weight than the 1971 Mouton, but not the nuance. Lovely wine from a very different era of California wine-making.

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  11/23/2019 - jrkennedy37 Likes this wine: 100 Points

  This bottle was perfectly sound and I see how it’s earned so much praise. Mouthfeel was delicate/light compared to the dark brooding fruit. The structure, particularly the acid, is what carried it in my opinion. It had a dusty/chalky/minerally nose and palate was an array of black fruit but with flowers, cassis and graphite in perfect balance.
  
  I’m no napa expert but I’ve had my fair share of old and young Napa wines of varying styles - I can’t imagine anything better than this coming out of Napa (cults are delicious but I appreciate the old world qualities more).
  
  Two hours in, the fruit faded and the structure became more prominent. Developed some of that cheesy wood aroma old Italian wines get and tannin was more apparent too. Still nothing out of balance, just shifted as the fruit dissipated.
  
  We put this up against ‘91, ‘97 and ‘13 Togni. The ‘97 was the most tired of the lot which is telling of the caliber of these wines; the ‘91 was most concentrated of the group and showed slightly different characteristics, including a green note on the nose; and, the ‘13 seemed relatively simple compared to the ‘69 Chap and ‘91 Togni, though it may simply be its youth. To be fair, we’re splitting hairs on the incredible oeuvre of Philip Togni who is one of my absolute favorite winemakers.

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