Q1 - 2019 Tasting - 1995 Vintage Napa Valley
NYC
Tasted Saturday, March 2, 2019 by retired_and_roving with 249 views
Introduction
The theme for this quarterly tasting was a deep dive into the 1995 Vintage of Napa Valley. Most participants brought Cab Sauv but one each of Merlot and Syrah ended up in the line-up. Interesting to taste the consistency of the vintage across producers - with of course more subtle differences due to style, location and storage conditions.
Flight 1 - The tasting (16 Notes)
16 wines in the line-up today
Closing
My favorites of the tasting were as follows:
Wine #3 - 1995 Pahlmeyer Merlot - 3 pennies voted by me
Wine #9 - 1995 Lokoya Rutherford - 1 penny voted by me
Wine #14 - 1995 Araujo Syrah - 1 penny voted by me
#3 was my clear favorite from the get go. I had to go back and retaste a number of wines (7,8,9,10,14) that were tied to get to my final votes. So I did side by sides of these and narrowed down that way.
#7 vs #8 - #8 wins
#8 vs #9 - #9 wins
#9 vs #10 - #9 wins
#9 vs #14 - tie
Group level Results:
21 pennies - #3 Pahlmeyer Merlot
8 pennies - #7 Caymus Special Selections
7 pennies - #1 Spottswoode from magnum
4 pennies - #9 Lokoya Rutherford
- #13 Vineyard 29 Cab Sauv Estate
- #14 Araujo Estate Syrah
- #15 Spottswoode from 750
2 pennies - #2 Harlan The Maiden
- #5 Dalla Valle Cab Sauv
- #6 Chateau Montelena Estsate
- #10 Forman Cab Sauv
- #11 Dunn Howell Man
1 penny - #8 Cardinale
- #16 Dunn Napa
0 pennies - #2 Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow
- #12 Lokoya Mt. Veeder
1995 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon
USA, California, Napa Valley
1st/16 wines tasted double blind. From magnum. Color is ruby red with some bricking around edges. Minimal aromatics. Tastes of red fruits (cherries and strawberry) and loamy earth with just a hint of sweet notes poking through on the finish. Nice - but second quartile on my scoring today.
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1995 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow
USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain
2nd/16 wines tasted double blind. Color here is more faded and much browner than wine #1. On the palate this tastes faded and dusty to me - past its prime - not a lot of fruit but not much else either. I suspect the bottle was poorly stored.
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1995 Pahlmeyer Merlot
USA, California, Napa Valley
3rd/16 wines tasted double blind. Dark dense red color - no fading. Fragrant nose of red fruit. Beautiful dark red fruits (bing cherry) with some dusty tannins, velvety mouthfeel and a long persistent finish. Really compelling and my favorite wine of the tasting (3 pennies voted). Also the overall group favorite - winning the tasting. These '90's Pahlmeyer merlots really outperform - lovely wines.
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1995 Harlan Estate The Maiden
USA, California, Napa Valley
4th/16 wines tasted double blind. Color on this has some browning. On the palate I am getting dark fruits, herbs, menthol and black licorice. Quite tasty but just outside the top quartile for me.
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1995 Dalla Valle Cabernet Sauvignon
USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
5th/16 wines tasted double blind. Color on this is dark ruby red, no signs of browning. On the palate blue and black fruits and quite a bit of herbal green notes coming through as well - some bitterness on finish. Solid middle of the pack for me today.
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1995 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate
USA, California, Napa Valley
6th/16 wines tasted double blind. The nose on this is very musty. The palate is strikingly lean and withholding in comparison to the previous wines. I suspect this may have been lightly corked - given the nose and lack of flavor profile.
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1995 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection
USA, California, Napa Valley
7th/16 wines tasted double blind. Color is ruby red and youthful - no signs of browning. This is quite a forward wine with lots of dark and red fruit - but there is still good acidity that keeps it in balance. Clearly a plusher wine but quite balanced in its style and maturing very nicely.
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1995 Cardinale
USA, California, Napa Valley
8th/16 wines tasted double blind. On initial tasting I found this a bit tight here, but when paired with food the wine came around. Dark fruits, with some grippy tannins still hanging on, hints of earth and leather and then a bit of alcohol flush popping through on the finish.
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1995 Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford
USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford
9th/16 wines tasted double blind. This was decanted for about 90 minutes prior to the tasting and then double decanted back to bottle. Color is ruby red. Nose is very fragrant and full of berries and earth. On the palate, red and blue fruits, but with a nice spine of acidity that hold together, some dusty earth here as well. One of my favorites - 1 penny voted.
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1995 Forman Cabernet Sauvignon
USA, California, Napa Valley
10th/16 wines tasted double blind. Quite a fragrant nose with some bramble and mint. This was probably for me the brightest of the wines in the line-up - more old world in style with ample acidity to support the dark fruits. Just outside my top three.
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1995 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain
USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
11th/16 wines tasted double blind. Initially the tutti-frutti/ cotton candy nose on this one put me off. Was really surprised on reveal this was a Dunn with such a forward nose. However the palate was very balanced and not forward at all. Good but not a stand out.
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1995 Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder
USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder
12th/16 wines tasted double blind. Color on this was deep dark red. The palate was more red fruited in profile than dark (no blueberry or blackberry) and what was most distinctive for me was the spiciness of this wine - cracked black pepper. Good
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1995 Vineyard 29 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena
13th/16 wines tasted double blind. This wine was late in the line up and really did not stand out in anyway for me. My notes just indicate "same, same". So while there was nothing wrong here - it just was not too memorable.
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1995 Araujo Estate Syrah Eisele Vineyard
USA, California, Napa Valley
14th/16 wines tasted double blind. Interesting this was the only syrah in the line up and one of my favorites today. Dark fruited with spice and savory notes and quite a persistent finish. The balance between the fruit, acidity and grip is just spot on for my palate. 1 penny voted by me.
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1995 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon
USA, California, Napa Valley
15th/ 16 wines tasted double blind. This was decanted for about 90 minutes prior to the tasting. This bottle did not show nearly as well as the same wine in the #1 position. It was okay, but a bit muted and not really standing out in the line up.
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1995 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
USA, California, Napa Valley
16th/16 wines tasted double blind. Minimal notes on this one - but general impression on the nose was a bit musty. Palate was fresher than the nose - but not a stand out today.
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