Beringer Cabernets '70-'84 Blindtasted
Palo Alto, California
Tasted Thursday, September 4, 2008 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 982 views
Introduction
Introductory comments by tasting organizer Ross Bott:
Beringer Winery is at the northern end of the Napa Valley just south of Calistoga along Route 29. It was founded in 1876 by the Beringer brothers Fredrick and Jacob who bought the property a year earlier and then spent the next few years planting vineyards and digging tunnels in the hillside behind the winery to serve as wine caves for aging (these caves are still in use today). In 1885 they built the Rhine House, a beautiful replica of the Beringers' family home back in Germany, a 17 room Victorian complete with gable roofs, turrets and stained glass. It is the first thing you see when driving into Beringer, and is probably the single most photographed structure in Napa.
Beringer was operated by Fredrick, Jacob, their sons and grandsons through 1971, when the winery was acquired by Nestle, the Swiss chocolatier. Nestle hired the legendary Myron Nightingale as winemaker and brought welcome financing for vineyard acquisition and expansion. Ed Sbragia began as an assistant winemaker to Nightingale in the mid-1970s, then took over as head winemaker in 1984. Sbragia has been a major influence in defining Beringer's current Cabernet style, individual vineyard Cabernet lineup, and was the author of the winery's string of outstanding, Napa Valley benchmark Cabernets during the 1980s and 1990s. Sbragia remains as chief winemaker to this day, although he spends increasing time on his own self-named winery.
Beringer continued to run as an independent division of Nestle until 1996 when the Texas Pacific Group, a powerful but secretive buyout group acquired the winery and took it private, got it on solid financial ground, and took it public as a separate IPO in 2000. (TPG also took Continental Airlines, Ducati Motorcycle and Burger King private and later re-IPOed each). One year later it was acquired by Foster's, the Australian wine-beer conglomerate.
Beringer now owns 2800 acres of vineyards in Napa and Knights valleys. The Napa Valley vineyards cluster around the winery and extend up Howell Mountain, which is due east of the winery across Napa Valley. The Napa Valley vineyard list is currently made up of Bale Lane, Bancroft Ranch, Big Ranch Road, Chabot, Dos Rios, Gamble Ranch, St. Helena (the home vineyard), Marston Ranch, Quarrry, Rancho Del Oso, Stanly Ranch, Tre Colline (now called Steinhauer), and Yountville. Many of these are Cabernet vineyards, and some (Chabot, Marston, Gamble, St. Helena, Tre Colline, Bancroft and the now sold State Lane) are very special. Winemaker Sbragia has increasingly bottled each of the Cab vineyards separately, while also blending some barrels of each into a Private Reserve Cabernet, the first vintage of which was 1977.
Beringer has really two styles of Cabernet: Those from Napa Valley (many from hillside vineyards) produce a powerful, cassis and black currant, mineral-infused style which reminds me a lot of Chateau Lynch Bages and, in the best vintages, perhaps Chateau Latour. These Cabs are massive and tannic when young, but can age effortlessly for 20-30 years or more, with the wines from the1970s and 80s at their prime right now. In contrast, Beringer's Cabernets from Knights Valley are less powerful and tannic when young, and have more of a St. Julien or Margaux feel to them. They are much more approachable when young, but age deceptively well, keeping their fruit and structure while developing a more polished, round feel.
Tonight will be the first of three tastings covering Beringer Cabernets from 1970 through 2001. In this first tasting, we'll begin with the oldest Beringers, including one (the 1970) from the pre-Nightingale era, five from the years when Nightingale and Sbragia ran winemaking as a team, and two (the 1984s) from the first year that Sbragia took over as chief winemaker. 
Flight 1 - My TNs - Beringer Cab Vertical (8 Notes)
Richard and Michael:
The best vintage in this lineup was the '84, and that came through in our blindtasting with the top two ranked wines. I thought the '84 Knights Valley was in particularly good shape, so it was my #1, although the '84 Private Reserve was very good too. The group's #3 and my #2 was the amazingly youthful '78 Private Reserve. I also enjoyed the '83 Private Reserve, more than the group did. Disappointing, and over the hill, were the '70 Napa and the '89 Chabot Vineyard.
Flight 2 - Post-tasting treats (4 Notes)
Many thanks to Michael Carpenter, up from L.A. for the day, who brought the Georges de Latour and the Voss. I thought the '77 Georges de Latour beat out the '84 Beringer Knights Valley as WOTN. Not only was it refined but it had that beautiful peacock tail finish. Our two sweeties were good too. The Sola Fred was our pre-tasting wine--a complex and high acid Monsant for about $9.
1984 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 92 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Medium bricking red color with clear meniscus; appealing berry, blackberry, bramble, vanilla and oak spice nose, that changes to a more mature nose after 40 minutes in the glass; youthful palate of cassis, menthol and herbs with good acidity; medium-plus finish 92+ points
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1984 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley 94 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley
Group's #2 (my #1) – 42 pts; 3 1st place votes, 2 2nd place votes, 0 thirds, 0 last places – Medium bricking red color with clear meniscus; mature, sweet plum and currant nose; very tasty, ripe berry, boysenberry palate with depth; medium finish
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1978 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 93 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Group's #3 (my #2) – 42 pts; 3, 4, 1, 2 – Bricking dark red violet color with a little cloudiness; bright, redolent, young berry, cassis and menthol nose; youthful, rounded berry, boysenberry and menthol palate; medium-plus finish
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1979 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley 80 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley
Group's #4 (my #8) – 44 pts; 3, 0, 0, 2 – Bricking medium red color with clear meniscus; very mature, leather and tobacco nose; advanced, tobacco, leather palate, breaking down; medium finish
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1979 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon State Lane Vineyard 89 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Group's #5 (my #5) – 45 pts; 1, 3, 2, 1 – Medium dark cherry color with pale meniscus; mature leather, shitake mushroom and tobacco nose; tasty mature cassis palate with depth and a touch of menthol; medium finish
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1983 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 92 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Group's #6 (my #4) – 50 pts; 1, 1, 4, 0 – Medium cherry red color with very slight bricking and pale meniscus; mature, intriguing, herbal, tobacco and dried fruit nose; tasty, tangy, herbal, dried berry and cassis palate; medium-plus finish
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1970 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 82 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Group's #7 (my #7) – 75 pts; 0, 0, 0, 3 – Dark red violet color; unusually intense porcini mushroom nose, that eventually changes to a "Chinese salted plum" nose; odd, tangy, dried boysenberry, raspberry sauce palate with savory notes; medium-plus finish
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1982 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Chabot Vineyard 88 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena
Group's #8 (my #6) – 77 pts; 0, 0, 1, 5 – Medium dark red color with pale meniscus; mature leather nose with a touch of mint; tangy, Balsamic and tart dried red fruit palate; medium finish 88+ pts.
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