1978 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 91.7 points

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  10/8/2023 - YagerWine wrote: flawed

  Maderized. Bummer.

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  2/5/2023 - Cailles wrote: flawed

  30x California 1978: So many wines from this great Californian vintage at the age of 45 certainly qualifies as a “once in a lifetime” event. A few observations: 1) The quality was very high (almost all my ratings above 90pts). And only four faulty wines (2x corked, 2x over the hill/flawed, sadly those two were the Ridge Monte Bello and the Phelps Insignia). 2) The wines are ready to drink, the tannins have melted but the tension and freshness remain high - across the board. 3) There is still lots of fruit left and I was surprised how most wines didn’t show lots of tertiary aromas (find me the Bdx 1982 without tertiary aromas!). IMO, more than a handful of the wines could continue to improve for a few years. 4) Style wise, these are obviously quite different from today’s Napa wines with much less ripeness and more mineral accents. But hardly any wine we had would be mistaken for a Bordeaux in a blind tasting (unlike 80s/90s Dominus). 5) Best reds: Inglenook Limited Cask, Beaulieu GDL Reserve, Stags Leap Cask 23 4.5l (all 96pts), Heitz Bella Oaks, Simi Reserve, Stag’s Leap Cask 23 0.75l (all 95pts). The best wine overall, however, was the magical Late Harvest Riesling from Phelps (98pts).
  
  TN: Completely corked.

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  8/11/2022 - YagerWine Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Beautiful mature California Cabernet. Eucalyptus, tea and some fruit on the nose. Silky mouth feel. Tannins resolved. This wine continues to be one of my favorite Napa Cabs of the 70s...

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  8/9/2020 - aaacerbic wrote:

  From a half bottle. Decent drink but past peak. Showing oxidation. May not have been the best bottle.

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  8/16/2012 - S Spade wrote: 92 Points

  Purchased from a local wine shop that had stored the bottle in its cellar since release.
  Classic Cabernet flavors of dark fruits, dried violets, and a hint of iron. An elegant wine with a beautiful acid balance. Ideal as a food wine, but also good to have a glass by itself beforehand to appreciate how even standard wines from that era can age well. Holding the score down a bit for a lack of complexity, but a a real pleasure to try. Acid starts to stick out a bit on day two, so I doubt there's any upside.

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