Community Tasting Note

• JeffNy1 Likes this wine: 95 points

  September 21, 2019 - PNP at Sabicca dinner. NC friends group. Drank over several hours and at the end of the dinner this wine won red of the night in an informal voting. Classic Napa Cab. Really nice nose, cassis, cherry and a hint of green. Well concentrated and has several years of life left but I don't think it will get any better. Depends on the style you like.

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1 Comment

• oldwines commented:

  1/11/20, 3:45 AM - If you don’t mind a comment...? I have been into wine for almost 4 decades and Montelena started it for me. I have had almost every vintage since the 1970’s. I notice from several of your notes on Montelena Estate Cabs that you often feel it is past its prime. Nothing can be further from the truth. They are extremely long lived wines. I also realize your stated preference for more fruit and tannin...i.e. younger wines. By reference to my user name you can see my bias is the opposite. Nevertheless, my advice is DECANT it! And I mean for hours! Sometimes it needs 5-8 hours. This is a wine still made more old school and needs the air to “breathe”... it has a remarkable transformation along the way and ends up, usually, in a deeper, richer flavor state than when you first pour it and this is true for very old bottles as well as newer ones. Few in the retail wine business seem to understand this, including the reviewers many of whom still remain biased by Parker’s style legacy. So, Please next time try decanting early in the day for dinner in the evening and taste a little every 30 minutes or so...you will see the evolution and hopefully catch that point when the wine “pops”. Most great wines do this... especially aged ones, which are by no means as fragile as people think, if cellared properly.
  Cheers! And Good Luck!
  
  “oldwines” aka Dave
  www.dtpwineadvisors.com

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