California Wine Weekend
Mos Eisley Cantina & Waterhouse Restaurant
Tasted Friday, December 1, 2023 - Sunday, December 3, 2023 by RockinCabs with 139 views
Introduction
This was an absolute blow out of a tasting that had been in the planning for the better part of four months. The goal of our hosts was to showcase some of the very best wines that CA has to offer in reference point vintages and seek to provide a view of the variety of styles, era's and producer personalities in the state.
Wines ranged from 1960's Napa classics to 2018 releases from Sine Qua Non, and each meal provided 3-4 hours of fun comparing, contrasting and lively discussion.
Flight 1 - 1997 Cult Cab Legends (3 Notes)
The top 1997s were put together to duke it out. We could not get a 1997 Harlan in time for this tasting, but the screaming eagle stole the show for most of us anyway. Splitting hairs to get to a winner in this flight and each wine had at least one first place vote.
Flight 2 - 2001 Napa Cult Cabs - Bolder & Riper (3 Notes)
A look at the effect that 1997 had on subsequent "big" vintages and how the winemakers began dialing up ripeness. Overall the 2001's remain in decent balance but the alcohol is easily seen as higher than the 1997 crop of cults.
Flight 3 - 2006-2009 - Napa Cabs Hedonisim Embraced (2 Notes)
Napa got a bit overt with ripeness, oak, extraction and power in this era, and we wanted to see how a few of these wines were handling their heavy handed approach at mid-life
Not my favorite flight on night 1, but some others really enjoyed these bombastic attention getters.
Flight 4 - SQN Whites (1 Note)
Manfred Krankl is known for making some really interesting white wines that are often surprising as they can be nuanced, or all out pleasure bombs. A fun look at the early days, and a current wine.
Flight 5 - Mixed Vineyard SQN (3 Notes)
A look at the wines from SQN in the early/middle days of getting started when Alban, White Hawk, Stoppleman and others were the core of these wines. Eleven confessions had not yet captured the hearts of Manfred's fans and these were some of the best of the era.
Flight 6 - Eleven Confessions - Pt I (3 Notes)
Some of the eleven confessions vineyard wines that bring notoriety to the SQN style
Flight 7 - Syrah Blind - Where in the World (4 Notes)
WOW. This was an enlightening flight looking at some other new world Syrah/Shiraz and a big rhone wine that shows how CDP can really amp up the ripeness.
The Aussies took a decisive win here.
Flight 8 - Eleven Confessions - Pt II (3 Notes)
Newer releases from Eleven Confessions
Flight 9 - 1960's BV Georges de Latour (4 Notes)
A look at some of the great 1960's wines from Andre and a discussion of the history of Rutherford Bench. These wines were the foundation from which Napa Valley launched, and the first producer of highly collected fine wines in California.
Some of these are really showing well today, and represent an era in Napa that is now long gone. The rustic winery and redwood tanks have been traded for state of the art facilities, but the sensibility and resourcefulness in winemaking in this era is great to see 50+ yrs later.
Flight 10 - Heitz Martha's Vineyard - Napa's first Single Vineyard Cab (4 Notes)
Thank you to those who helped make this flight happen. This was truly a once in a lifetime flight of the greatest fully mature vintages of Heitz Martha's Vineyard.
You can really see the evolution of how Joe Heitz worked to dial in the expression of this vineyard, and the ways it showed in the wines. Each of these is a masterpiece in its own right.
Flight 11 - Judgement of Peterborough (3 Notes)
Blind flight to determine where the Bordeaux is hiding in the lineup, and vote on a winner. Once again Napa wins (quality of Bordeaux in the 70's makes it hard for them to win) this time with the Clos Du Val.
A subsequent bottle of Latour did show that when 1st growth Pauillac is on it come in strong. We may be reprising this with 1990's wines soon.
Flight 12 - 1997 Napa Cab (Round 2)
Another selection of 1997's from popular producers, but this group demonstrated some of the challenges of the vintage. The reputation of the 1997's falling off and reaching full maturity early seems largely dependent on the level of the producer and how hard they leaned into using late ripening fruit.
Flight 13 - More 90's Napa Highlights
When you need another flight to
Flight 14 - Ridge Monte Bello Retrospective - Flight 1
Classic Monte Bello's including the 1967 that was made by Dave Bannion.
Flight 15 - Ridge Monte Bello Retrospective - Flight 2
15 - 20 year old Monte Bello
Flight 16 - Ridge Monte Bello Retrospective - Flight 3
Modern Montebello
Closing
Many thanks to the team that put this together and very generously opened bottles. There were once in a lifetime experiences in some of these wines/flights, and the context we were able to create for this event is incredible.
1997 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 97 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
(12/2/2023)
Nose: Dark blackbery, plum, umami and saddle leather. A lofty nose of jammy berries, warm asphalt, cigar and stone. Perfumed and beautiful on the nose. Palate: Completely mouth filling yet spherical and together. Blueberry, coffee, cassis, mineral, sage and cocoa. A seductive and hedonistic wine. Finish: Comes through with a burst of blackberry liquor, graphite and hot stones. Lingers 60+ seconds and has such presence.
The 1997 flight was prepared as a slow ox for about an hour before the tasting began.
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1997 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch 97 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
(12/2/2023)
Nose: Blackberry, cassis, graphite, turned loam and leather. Just a bit of a lavender and herb note. Palate: This is rich in the mouth, but less so than the Bryant. Giving black fruit in layers, and nice floral and gravel notes in between. Finish: Penetrating black fruit notes, cigar, loam and lavender.
I loved the fresh garden notes that intertwine with the sweet fruit here. It is culty, but the Ric Forman influence can be seen as it has the most Bordeaux like aspect here.
The 1997 flight was prepared as a slow ox for about an hour before the tasting began.
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1997 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 98 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
(12/2/2023)
Nose: Exceptionally pure nose bringing endless blackberry, raspberry and red terra cotta notes. Perfumed and elegant. Palate: Really delivers with freshness, and red/black fruit laced with violet, herb and warm red clay. Finish: detailed and lengthy blackberry, blueberry, cardamom and powdery tannin.
Demonstrates why screaming eagle is so singular, and the Heidi Barrett era there is so legendary. The touch on this wine is exceptional, and nothing hides the east oakville terroir. Transports you back to Oakville cross road on a sunny afternoon.
The 1997 flight was prepared with a 1-hour slow ox for all of the wines.
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