Montelena Seminar

my store hosted a Montelena Seminar that provided a vertical of the Estate Cab from 98-04. Really showed off this wonderful estate and it really gave you a feel for the montelena style with some of the younger vintages of them. It was mentioned by one of the people at the tasting that this was the first ever vertical hosted by montelena in a retail store

A real nice cross section here with two vintages that aren't as well regarded by vintage hunters. Well, the 98 was just beautiful and was very bordeaux-like, but also showing great Montelena typicity. It helped that it was the oldest montelena here and secondary notes were really starting to come through well.

The 99 is still very young, but the 00 is in a perfect place right now. The 00 certainly won't be a long lived Montelena, but is a very nice one to get that classic montelena profile

The 01 was breath taking and still needs a good 4 years to really reveal itself. Its drinking fairly well right now, but it will just fully blossom with more time

• 1998 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 92 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  nose: beautiful and elegant nose filled with mint undertones, roasted herbs, tobbacco, cassis, dark cherries, and cranberry tones with bits of cedar
  
  taste: great medium feel on the palate with a lot of bordeaux-like qualities providing tones of tobbacco, cranberry, cedar, dark cherries, and bits of cassis
  
  overall: a lovely wine. Elegant and silky with great length and tastefully refined tannins. This is just right in the pocket right now and is extremely enjoyable and is just a real delight to drink

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• 1999 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  nose: tight nose that is still working itself out as it seems like some real baby fat still needs to be shed. The nose gives off tones of cassis, dark cherry, mint, and cedar. Loads of depth on the nose and it just needs some time to fully come out of its shell
  
  taste: firm tannins that are at first a bit unforgiving with cassis, dark cherries, cedar, and drops of dark chocolate start to emerge a bit
  
  overall: A very young wine, but one with lots of promise. The depth and layers on both the nose and palate are really there, but this really seems a good three years away from starting to really show what it has

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• 2000 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  nose: nice soft and round nose of cedar, tobbacco, red cherries, and bits of cranberry. A nice and pretty nose, but doesn't really hold up to the 99 and 98 in the flight
  
  taste: pretty and approachable with cedar, tobbaco, and some red cherry tones along with a bit of chocolate flake
  
  overall: a very nice montelena that is more in a feminine style. Round tones on both the nose and palate with very approachable tannins possesing a cedar based attack and a pleasant red cherry finish

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• 2001 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  nose: a wonderfully rich and deep nose with layers of dark cherries, herbs, chalk tones, red fruits, cassis, and bits of liqueur permeate with real depth
  
  taste: well layered that is extremely deep with dark cherries, herbs, red fruits, and cassis
  
  overall: a tremendous young montelena. Wonderful rich tones with loads of depth across teh board that just fills your nose and palate with beauty. This is young cabernet that shines, but can and will get better. You can sense there is more hiding underneath that wants to come out with more time sideways, and this wine will repay you for that patience

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The three young vintages. They were all very interesting and showed tons of promise, with the 02 having that very special feeling. It'll need time, but it can really turn heads when it comes around, and just give that joy that only great wine can

• 2002 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  nose: a bit tight at first, but starts to unwind providing wonderfully complex tones of roasted herbs, tobacco, cedar box, black cherries, and cassis. A nose that just screams elegance and balance with class and refinement at the same time
  
  taste: rich and fuller bodied with beautifully layered tones of black cherries, roasted herbs, tobacco, cassis, and cedar box
  
  overall: as much of a stuner as the 01 was, this was almost on another level. Rich tones permeate in the nose and on the palate with wonderful balance. Great rich attack of black cherries and a very complex cassis finish, this will be a massive wine when it fully comes around as there is tons just waiting to emerge and have the aromatics just take hold when this comes to maturity

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• 2003 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Calistoga

  nose: this is as forward of a nose as montelena gets(as in its still restrained a bit) with bright red cherries, cedar box tones, loads of asian spices, and cassis notes
  
  taste: relatively accessible with tones of black cherry liqueur, bright red cherry tones, cedar box, cassis, and asian spices
  
  overall: a really good and semi-forward montelena that's fairly accessible. It still needs a bit more time sideways as the tannins are still fairly chewy and the nose is fairly primary. That said, this has a lot to like about it as there is a bit of an exotic streak to it and it provides a sweet black cherry liqueur attack and rounded cassis finish

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• 2004 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Calistoga

  nose: big but very well balanced nose filled to the brim with rich red fruits, cassis, tobacco, cedar tones, and bits of herbal notes and root stalks
  
  taste: full bodied feel with rich red fruits, cassis, tobacco, cedar, and dark chocolate tones
  
  overall: Wonderful full bodied feel with big chewy tannins. A massive montelena with great depth and succulent layers. More open then I expected for such a young montelena, but this will be a stunner when it comes around. It brings about a rich red fruit attack and sweet cassis finish that doesn't want to stop.

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Its never a bad night when you have 7 vintages of Montelena in front of you, and they all showed really well. Very informative and just a lot of fun to taste these wines all next to each other of this California giant. Wonderful classic cabs that are just right up my style. Even their most fruited wine wasn't even close to a fruit bomb, for me this was a match made in heaven