1978 Robert Keenan Winery Cabernet Sauvignon

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 91.5 points

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  8/25/2022 - mrdreeg Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Nice to see there's another troglodyte holding a bottle of 78 Keenan in 2022. Mine had minor ullage which, as I've noticed on multiple old bottles, had no impact on the wine. Yes, 44 years of age, with still fabulous color, delicious flavor, perhaps less grip than a comparable high end Bordeaux, but I'm not complaining. Worth the wait.

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  6/28/2022 - Verb Likes this wine: 93 Points

  completely agree with Cheryl's 2010 note: "I never know what I'm going to get when opening bottles from the 70's" - even more so today - medium dark red with no hint of oxidation either on the nose or the palate - ripe cassis/blackberry nose, but not much in the way of complex aromas - full mouth with tannins fully resolved (abundant sediment in my Bartelli filter), acidity somewhat predominates over the fruit - medium length 20-30 sec finish - I'm always impressed with how well cabs hold up over time, in this case 44 years - we've always known that for Bordeaux, but clearly true of the best new world cabs as well - very glad I waited this long to open this greatly enjoyable bottle!

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  12/24/2020 - BeginTheBourgogne Likes this wine:

  Keenan 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon at 14.3% alcohol was regarded as a massive and portlike tannic curiosity on release. Today it would be about mid-range for a Napa cab, maybe even a bit less oaky than typical. I had original cases of Keenan cab from the late 70s and early 80s, now down to three bottles. For this particular bottle, wine from the top (a medium brick red) initially offered wonderful complex aromas but the palate was slightly unbalanced with a hint of leathery oxidation. The middle of the bottle saw the nose disappear but the wine itself became quite drinkable, some cassis and soft tannins. The bottom 1/5 of the bottle was diminished and had some sediment. This old wine is all about its nose and I would definitely advise to not decant, maybe pour into a brandy sniffer, close off the opening and let that nose develop for a few hours.

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  9/1/2015 - DaleW wrote:

  Also double-decanted before I left home. Ripe cassis, edging on hot, some earth and light barnyard, a bit clumsy. B-/B

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  3/23/2014 - DaleW wrote:

  I’ve had good bottles of this before, this one had a thoroughly soaked corked and didn’t show well. At first musty (though not TCA) and a tad fecal, that blows off and a couple hours later more dark fruit emerges, but by then it seems volatile. Wonder if I had tasted at one hour mark? C+/B- at end

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