1980 Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Community Tasting Notes (15) Avg Score: 91.1 points

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  3/26/2024 - Professor_Budge Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Drinking nicely pnp. Mature Cabernet nose with some cassis, dried fruit, saddle leather, coffee, cedar. More tobacco leaf on the palate with plenty of fruit and medium + acidity. Integrated fine tannins come through with some air. 80s Napa is in such a good drinking window right now.

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  12/9/2023 - MJM4032 Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Purchased this bottle at the infamous Sam’s in Chicago on 10/23/83 for $12.95. I agree with the experience most of the other tasters have had - an excellent bottle of cab that has held up exceptionally well over 43 years. Thank you Bernie Portet!

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  7/30/2021 - GrapeScott wrote: 92 Points

  From a mini-vertical of '77, '78 and '80. Pristine cork, and mid-neck fill. To my surprise, this was the wine of the flight, despite being from the "weakest" vintage. I've had a handful of '80 Napa cabs now and am beginning to appreciate the character of the vintage, which seems to me to be a bit "under ripe" and green compared to other years from that decade, but powerful and structured, and they have developed very nicely with age. This shows a lot of tobacco leaf, green peppercorn and saddle leather on the nose. It has an extremely youthful garnet-purple color, nice acidity, and a bit of chewy tannins on the back end. I suspect that in this trio, this has the longest life ahead.

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  9/4/2020 - GrapeScott wrote: 90 Points

  1980 was not a particularly good vintage in California, but in my experience, CdV makes ageless wines, so when I saw this at auction, I figured it was worth a flyer. Good fill (base neck) and excellent color; dark ruby-purple with no signs of bricking; looks like a 5-year old wine. Classic aged cabernet nose, with cassis liqueur and minty eucalyptus. On the palate, this is well into its secondary development, with some coffee/toffee notes on the back end, to go along with cassis and cedar. The fruit is thinning a bit but still holding, with nice acidity and a smooth finish with only a whisper of tannins. An intriguing wine, and yet another example of the truly excellent cabs being made in CA in the mid-'70s and early '80s.

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  3/17/2020 - Quiet Lion Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Decanted and served. This is the oldest bottle of Clos du Val I've had and it is still showing strong with plentiful mature fruit and tannins and luscious acid. Did anyone realize how well these cheap wines aged? Remarkable.

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