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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.1 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 132 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by joshabramson on 11/24/2023 & rated 93 points: Purchased at auction from the collection of the winemaker who had stored the bottle at the winery since release. Solid old Napa, drinking well, but not particularly memorable and was very much outclassed by the 84’ Diamond Creek we drank next to it. (942 views) | | | Tasted by BradE on 11/21/2023: A lonesome single hiding in a box. Lovely fruit, beautiful wine. A nice surprise, although it shouldn't be a surprise. Mid 80's was a great period for Cali cabs. (971 views) | | | Tasted by rmalloy on 10/31/2023 & rated 94 points: Impressive. A tangy savoriness like you find in traditional Rioja and Brunello. Lots of cigar and leather. Bursts of rose and menthol aromas. Big tannins. It's a wild ride of a wine. (712 views) | | | Tasted by brigcampbell on 4/3/2023: Blind. I was all over the map on this one but ultimately thought it was a brunello.
Dark plum and sandalwood with an oaky cherry finish. Shocking how useful this wine is. (1619 views) | | | Tasted by norsktorsk on 11/5/2022 & rated 95 points: This has held up so well. nice fruit. big mid palate. long finish. (1812 views) | | | Tasted by petitblanc on 10/1/2022 & rated 88 points: Beautiful, very deep, youthful color. Nice balance on the palate, fruit and pleasant secondary notes try to peek through, but the overall package is marred by a bitter cedary element. No improvement with air. (1560 views) | | | Tasted by Ben Christiansen on 10/17/2021: They smells rasinatied. Ans on the palate too. (2741 views) | | | Tasted by adnorthup on 8/7/2021: decanted 3 hours. impeccable provenance. Color shows no sign of age. Nose is so fresh and full of red fruit. The red fruit carries into the first sip, still tannic structure present, starting to have secondary flavors but tastes 20 years younger than it is. (2834 views) | | | Tasted by the godfather on 6/20/2021: Bangin wine, plenty of life in it (2211 views) | | | Tasted by Goldstone on 6/16/2021 & rated 93 points: Older Californians Surt & Turf Dinner (McKay's, The American Club, Exchange Square, Central, Hong Kong): Drank alongside the 1996.....great pairing. Very fresh looking deep semi opaque ruby jewel. Nose is mint and cedar. Palate is very fresh and lifted with good acidity. Complex blend of cigar box, cedar, lots of blackberry fruit with nice blackberry pips tannin. Resonant and quietly reverberant on a mounting finish. Lovely. Still so fresh and years ahead of it. So moreish. Loved it and was a clear notch above the 1996. 93+ (2050 views) | | | Tasted by oldwines on 4/18/2021 & rated 94 points: Brought to the restart of our Philly centric wine group. Decanted several hours before bringing. Color was bright medium to dark garnet with just a little bricking, apparently much less so than when first decanted. Still delicious with lots of both primary and secondary flavors just bordering on tertiary. Nose and palate run the gamut from black plum, blackberry, tobacco, cedar, sous bois, graphite, lavender and chocolate. Great texture and mouth feel. Superb balance. Lovely wine. Plenty of life left. I always love the 1987 Cali Cabs I have tasted! (2322 views) | | | Tasted by Frank Murray III on 1/27/2021: Wines Done Blind (Zoom!): This was served blind. There were lots of guesses as to what it was: Nebbiolo, Cab, etc. My guess was aged Cab, given the tobacco, cigar box aroma that the wine beautifully exhibits. Tangy, plummy, with creamy red berry that is alive, vibrant. I decided to not drink the entire 4 ounces, instead saving a few ounces to retry the following day. I really wanted to appreciate this wine, to give it the air and another context to taste it once more. There is no fade at all in the color, as it is showing what I'd deem to be a color more consistent with a much younger red wine. The aromatic persists from yesterday, and as one of our guys last night called it, an 'intoxicating' aroma. I agree. This wine is damn near 35 years old, and it's still frigging fresh. Yes, some of the spice box/tobacco note is into the palate, yet all that does is add more to the complexity and beauty. It has the same plummy, cedary, currant fruit, and while I typically don't get all that excited (well, not much at all) for older wines, this is a beauty. Still plenty of tannin and freshness here and I don't see why this can't go another decade, perhaps to the 40 year old mark? Really a treat to drink something like this. (2137 views) | | | Tasted by nywine68 on 1/15/2021 & rated 93 points: Bottle and cork in pristine condition. Very smooth with the tannins beautifully and completely integrated. Still full of life and fruit. Mature leather and earthy notes balance the stewed blackberries. Just enough acidity on the finish to keep it from being flabby. This is not as explosive and fruit forward as other 87 Cali cabs but nicely understated and elegant. Really enjoyable. (1417 views) | | | Tasted by iamandyc on 12/26/2020 & rated 92 points: Opened to enjoy on Xmas Eve with my younger daughter who was born that year. The wine was dark with almost no bricking. The palate was silky smooth with nice aged dark fruit. Still has a few years left in it but it is on the downward slide. Some subtle secondary notes. Lovely is the word that came to mind. (1552 views) | | | Tasted by JDB's Cellar on 12/13/2020 & rated 89 points: The cork was a little soft pulling, with some seepage almost to the top.
The nose was very pleasant, but with some vigorous swirling and putting my nose deep in the glass there were faint hints of a formaldehyde aroma.
The taste is a little light, as if the bold strong Cabernet flavors are aging away. Its still a very pleasant taste.
Definitely think this wine is past its prime. If you have it in your cellar, enjoy it now before its too far past prime. (1531 views) | | | Tasted by Tony Simo on 11/21/2020 & rated 93 points: Even though the cork was saturated the wine was quite enjoyable. Certainly at, but not beyond its peak. One can tell this was made in the days before over ripening became fashionable. The wine has a solid structure with the customary earthy notes one gets with a well made 30+ yr cab (1390 views) | | | Tasted by aquacongas on 7/14/2020 & rated 94 points: blind
At his peak. Balance between fruit, and tertiary aromas. Powerful, good length. I guessed California because of the lush fruit aromas. 94 (1866 views) | | | Tasted by Jeff Leve on 2/26/2020 & rated 90 points: Easy to drink, the wine is soft, full-bodied, and quickly provides a juicy sweet mouthful of ripe, dark red fruit. But there is not much complexity. It is basically one nice note. I like the note, but the wine seems to be fading. Drink up if you are sitting on any as it is only going to continue declining from here. (4486 views) | | | Tasted by mdvillaverde on 10/6/2019 & rated 93 points: Similar notes to May 2019 tasting. Has held up well for what it has to offer. (2286 views) | | | Tasted by bestdamncab on 9/24/2019 & rated 96 points: Nose of black berry, saddle leather, and plum, same on the palate, big body, very tasty, elegant, delicious, time to drink up, Bordeaux like as typical with Beringer Vineyards, mouth filling fruit, and a long, flavorful finish and aftertaste. (2355 views) | | | Tasted by Ben Christiansen on 9/22/2019: Still alive. (2401 views) | | | Tasted by bestdamncab on 8/19/2019 & rated 95 points: Nose of black berry, tobacco, saddle leather, and floral notes, same on the palate, big body, very tasty, at peak so enjoy now rather than later for sure, Bordeaux like as typical with Beringer Vineyards, mouth filling fruit, savory, elegant, and a long finish. (2127 views) | | | Tasted by crazybird87 on 5/18/2019 & rated 94 points: WoW !! Rien d’autres à dire (1806 views) | | | Tasted by mdvillaverde on 5/1/2019 & rated 92 points: 13.3% ABV. I let it breathe for 30 minutes. With a wine this old, doesn't seem like it should require much time out of the bottle. Still has a lively nose. On the palate, leather, dried herb and plum notes. Light, but that can be expected for late 1980s Cab I suppose. (1452 views) | | | Tasted by Truthinwine on 1/3/2019 & rated 95 points: Still very alive, this wine showed a rusty garnet body indicative of its maturity. The nose was meaty, floral, tar, leather while the palate profiled blackberry & glimpses of its original acidity/tannin. (1937 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Beringer’s Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: One of Napa Valley’s First Cult Wines (Jul 2015) (7/1/2015)
(Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Mar/Apr 2009, Issue #20, The Golden Age of California Cabernet Sauvignon- Part Three
(Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve) Login and sign up and see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Bonus Articles, California Cabernet Sauvignon: A Tale of Two Epochs (June 2003)
(Beringer “Private Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, September/October 2002, IWC Issue #104
(Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (8/7/2009)
(Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve) Corked, big time | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (9/25/2008)
(Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve) Group's #1 (my #2) – 18 pts; 3 1st place vote, 4 2nd place votes, 1 third, 0 last places – Medium cherry red color with pale meniscus; mature mushroom, mint and leather nose with a green note; tasty, herbal cassis palate with fine grained and firm tannins; medium-plus finish 92+ pts. 92 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and View From the Cellar and RJonWine.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Beringer Vineyards Producer websiteCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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