This bottle had a whiff of walnutty oxidation. While it never quite disappeared, the wine was much better after 90 minutes, when the fruit really woke up and asserted itself and the nuttiness faded into the background. The least ripe and most mature wine in the group, this has a lighter fruit profile, is more autumnal, and has less palate weight. Not quite at the level of the others in the vertical on this showing, but it's still a very good bottle of aged cabernet.
Pure cassis fruit, fresh florals, cedary development, earth -- everything you could want in a mature Napa cab. Masses of earthy fruit on the palate, elegant and long, with the tannic structure just slightly outweighing the concentration on its own, so it's better with food, with smooths out the tannin. A lovely bottle, just edged for me by the bigger 1977.
Sort of in between the 1977 and 1974 -- it's riper than the 1974 but not quite as pure or complex, but without the richness and concentration of the 1977. But as the wines breathes up it picks up all sorts of interesting truffle and gravelly graphite nuances, and it's probably the most mineral wine in the bunch. Wonderful.
This is the richest, ripest, and youngest of the set. The fruit here is impressively deep ripe blackberries with blueish hints, but the wine maintains good freshness despite the ripeness, with a not-pyrazine but almost sage or rosemary-ish character lurking in the background and offsetting the fruit. There's less of the more mature cedar notes here, just a little bit of earthy, gravelly graphite to offset the fruit, but there's more concentration and length through the midpalate and finish than in any of the others. Beautiful and my favorite of the night, although I think the consensus had this just behind the 1974.
1973 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 90 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
This bottle had a whiff of walnutty oxidation. While it never quite disappeared, the wine was much better after 90 minutes, when the fruit really woke up and asserted itself and the nuttiness faded into the background. The least ripe and most mature wine in the group, this has a lighter fruit profile, is more autumnal, and has less palate weight. Not quite at the level of the others in the vertical on this showing, but it's still a very good bottle of aged cabernet.
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1974 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 92 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Pure cassis fruit, fresh florals, cedary development, earth -- everything you could want in a mature Napa cab. Masses of earthy fruit on the palate, elegant and long, with the tannic structure just slightly outweighing the concentration on its own, so it's better with food, with smooths out the tannin. A lovely bottle, just edged for me by the bigger 1977.
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1975 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 92 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Sort of in between the 1977 and 1974 -- it's riper than the 1974 but not quite as pure or complex, but without the richness and concentration of the 1977. But as the wines breathes up it picks up all sorts of interesting truffle and gravelly graphite nuances, and it's probably the most mineral wine in the bunch. Wonderful.
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1976 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Flawed
USA, California, Napa Valley
Badly corked.
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1976 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Flawed
USA, California, Napa Valley
Opened as a backup after the first bottle of the 1976 was badly corked, this was also corked, although not as badly as the first bottle.
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1977 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 93 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
This is the richest, ripest, and youngest of the set. The fruit here is impressively deep ripe blackberries with blueish hints, but the wine maintains good freshness despite the ripeness, with a not-pyrazine but almost sage or rosemary-ish character lurking in the background and offsetting the fruit. There's less of the more mature cedar notes here, just a little bit of earthy, gravelly graphite to offset the fruit, but there's more concentration and length through the midpalate and finish than in any of the others. Beautiful and my favorite of the night, although I think the consensus had this just behind the 1974.
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