1985 California Cab Tasting

Tasted Friday, March 4, 2005 by steffenpelz with 2,097 views

Introduction

7 of us met at the house of a friend's to taste through a string of 1985 cabs while having feast. The menu was created by our generous host and his significant other. The menu consisted of:

- Winter Black Truffle Soup
- Winter Salad with Blue Cheese and Candied Pecans
- Roasted Prime NY Strip with Port Wine and Mustard Sauce (with sides of Foie Gras Flan and Raoasted Buttenut Squash Hash)
- Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
Individual Chocolate Lava cakes with Espresso Cream Sauce

Upon arrival at Rick's home, we toasted with Delamotte NV Champagne and then continued with a bottle of 1989 Laville Haut-Brion while the food was being prepared. We were then "clued in" to the tasting format of the night. We would be tasting all wines blind, and all wines had been selected by our host from the following list (in alphabetical order):

Beringer Reserve
BV Reserve
Burgess
Caymus Napa Valley Cuvee
Caymus Special Selection
Dominus
Duckhorn
Grgich Hills
Groth
Hess Collection
Heitz Bella Oaks
Heitz Martha's Vineyard
Heitz Napa Valley
Kathryn Kenedy
Kendall Jackson "Cardinale"
Kendall Jackson "The Proprietor's"
Kenwood Artist Series
La Jota HMS
Laurel Glen
Chateau Montelena
Mondavi Reserve
Opus One
Joseph Phelps Eisele
Joseph Phelps Insignia
Santa Cruz Mtn Vineyards
Silver Oak Alexander Valley
Spottswoode
Stelzner
Sterling Reserve
Vichon
Vichon "SLV"

Once dinner was ready and the format clear, we got going on our togh night:

Flight 1 (9 Notes)

The first flight consisted of the nine wines that had previously been selected by our host and opened as well as decanted a couple of hours in advance. The wines are listed in the order we tasted them. At the end of the flight, the wines were revealed.

  • 1985 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Sonoma Mountain 85 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain

    Healthy ruby color. Still big and surprisingly tannic. Off-putting flavors of bell-pepper, dill, and cucumber though that are too prevalent for the remaining fruit.

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  • 1985 Dominus Estate 94 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Clear ruby color. Nose of a classic left-bank Bordeaux. Pauillac maybe? Still incredibly tannic, big wine that shows beautiful cedar and black truffle flavors. I called this one blind as the Dominus. Everything an aged Cal Cab should and can be. My WOTN.

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  • 1985 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve 79 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    I think this one may have been corked. Showed really trange and had an off-putting nose. Didn't drink much of it, although certainly drinkable.

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  • 1985 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon 91 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Another very nice, impeccable wine. Extremely focused fruit with very nice hints of eucalyptus and mint. Pretty nose and long finish.

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  • 1985 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 69 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Strange wine. Sweet attack followed by raisiny, port-like mid-palate that has dense, fruity and leathery character going on. On the nose, a strange smell of curry just convinced me that this bottle must be off.

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  • 1985 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard 92 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

    Lots of fruit left in this wine. A very health color in the glass without a hint of bricking. Amzingly complex flavors of olive fruit, spice and eucalyptus. Gotta love this wine and I guessed Martha's blind.

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  • 1985 Kathryn Kennedy Cabernet Sauvignon 91 Points

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    Fabulous wine. Big wine with a massive amount of fruit left. One of the favorites of the night. This one too showed some eucalyptus notes and although it had a fantastically long finish, I couldn't score it higher because for my palate, there was a bit too much wood. Still a great wine though.

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  • 1985 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 93 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

    My second favorite wine of the night. Great nose of brooding, backward mountain fruit and secondary aromas. On the palate, this wine is still gigantic and tannic, and I would think that 10 years of extra bottle age should not even faze this wine. Long finish, excellent purity of fruit...if it hadn't been served the same night as the Dominus, it would have probably taken WOTN honors.

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  • 1985 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon 69 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

    Over the hill to me. Some really seemed to like it, but the wine smelled funky and tasted off to me that night. Once again that sweet attack followed by extra raisiny tastes and a strange plum and barnyard mixture. Finish short.

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Flight 2 (3 Notes)

At this point in the evening, we all realized that opening better stuff would be waste, so we sitched to opening wines we thought may be over the hill.

Closing

Since there were 31 wines we could have chosen from and we only got through 9 of them, we figured we'd need to have 2 more of the same event to get the complete picture with regards to where the wines of the 1985 vintage is in its lifecycle. I'll keep posting...

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