Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Vertical Blind Tasting

A generous member of the club set up this tasting of 1996 - 2002 Merryvale Cab Reserves (1998 was not in the vertical). It was a single blind setup, with each of the 12 guests asked to rank the wines and guess the years. Additionally, other Cabs were provided by the group and these were tasted non-blind but were not ranked.

The WS scores were given before the tasting:
1996 - vintage rated 90
1997 - vintage rated 94
1999 - vintage rated 88
2000 - vintage rated 78
2001 - vintage rated 96
2002 - vintage rated 95

• 1997 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 89 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted single blind in a Merryvale vertical. Some slight bricking apparent. Expressive nose showing menthol, tart candied cherry, raspberry, molasses, and spice. On the palate, fairly deep and rich with some tannins still showing. Finishes a little bit on the short side. I incorrectly guessed that this was the 1996. This definitely did not live up to the reputation that 1997 was a very ripe year. My #5 of the flight and the group's #3.

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• 2000 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted single blind in a Merryvale vertical. Nose showing dusty currant, graphite, and candied cherry. On the palate, good weight with a nice focused beam of spicy red currant. Long finish with a little heat and slight bitterness. I guessed this was the 2002 and was surprised that a 2000 was showing this well. My #3 and the group's #2 of the flight.

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• 2002 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted single blind in a Merryvale vertical. Forward nose showing menthol and eucalyptus. On the palate, bright cherry flavor, very rich and ripe, but not plummy. Some fine tannins but overall a little bit simple. Long finish with great focus of fruit lingering. I incorrectly guessed that this was the 1997. My #2 of the flight and the group's #6.

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• 2001 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted single blind in a Merryvale vertical. Some slight bricking apparent.Fresh nose showing menthol, clove, and spice. On the palate, ripe and chewy with some fine, sweet tannins. Some plum, but not the offensively overripe kind. Finishes very clean, but a little bit on the short side. I correctly guessed that this was the 2001. My #1 of the flight and the group's #5.

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• 1999 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 87 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted single blind in a Merryvale vertical. Nose a little tight but showing dusty currant, menthol. On the palate, shows the currant from the nose but this really was on the thin side of the spectrum and the least depth of the flight. Some fine tannins present as well. Finishes very tart and short. I incorrectly guessed that this was the 2000. My #6 of the flight and the group's #4.

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• 1996 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Tasted single blind in a Merryvale vertical. A little bit cloudy with some slight bricking. Heavy eucalyptus dominates the nose. A slight medicinal character was also apparent. On the palate, a nice beam of spicy and tart red fruit. Good acidity with some noticeable tannins. Medium length finish but seems to lose focus. I incorrectly guessed that this was the 1999. My #4 of the flight and the group's #1.

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• 2005 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 87 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  Very soft and lush. Lots of vanilla oak and rich fruit. No tannins to speak of and lacks acidic balance. No structure for aging -- I would highly doubt that this will improve over the long haul. Just not my style at all. Of the 12 Cabs we had at this tasting, this was number 10 (only the 2003 Scherrer and 1999 Heitz were worse to me). I now know for a fact that my palate does not align at all with Harvey Steiman -- 95 points? IMO, not even close. Frankly, I'm stunned at the number of 90+ tasting notes here for this wine. It is just not that good.

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• 1999 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon 83 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Strange bottle. The most remarkable aspect of this wine was the strange fishy smell and taste (my wife described it as caviar). This was on the thin side for a Napa Cab, and quite tart and acidic. Also had a kind of strange underlying sweetness to it. I'm not going to say this was flawed because it wasn't corked, had brett, or was oxidized, but it was probably not the best example of this wine either.

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• 2006 Provenance Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford 89 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Nice classic Napa cab. A bit heavy on the oak for my palate at this stage, but not overdone. Typical currant nose and flavor, fairly rich with some decent depth and concentration. A little on the rounder side, but there's some structure there. Not a great wine right now, but I'd give this a few years and this will likely improve.

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• 2002 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Oakville 92 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

  Beautiful classic Napa Cabernet. Powerful nose of currant and graphite. On the palate, rich, concentrated, and deep fruit with great balance and structure. Well integrated oak. Only knock on this is that the finish was a tad bit on the short side. This one should continue to improve for years.

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• 2003 Scherrer Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 81 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley

  Very sweet and simple with no structure to speak of. Not good at all and stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all of the other Cabs that were being tasted.

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• 2005 Jordan Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 87 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley

  Some good cabernet typicity but a bit on the bland side. Not bad at all, but fairly unremarkable.

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There were some rather surprising results with the group rating the two highest WS rated wines at the bottom (2001 and 2002, though, I rated these at the top). The other surprise was that the supposed horrible 2000 vintage was ranked #2 by the group. Personally, I found all of the wines to be quite good and only the 1999 to be noticeably inferior to the others (though still not bad at all).