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Aged California Cabernet Tasting
Manhattan Beach, CA
Tasted February 21, 2013 by cabber with 569 views
Introduction
Thursday "school-night" wine tasting. 13 bottles of California cabs ranging from 1990 - 2005. Decanted and single blind. Some decanted up to 2 hours.
Flight 1 (13 notes)
Red
1990 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate
91 points
Red and blue fruit, even tannins, nice finish. elegant.
Red
1994 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
93 points
Dark ruby, bright fruit, leather, powerful, big finish
Red
1995 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow
95 points
Bright sparkling cherry fruit, balance and long finish. a beauty
Red
1996 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select
85 points
Bitter tannins, awkward. I could taste the old shafer in there somewhere, but it seems to have lost its way and fallen apart. Maybe a bad bottle?
Red
Red
1999 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain
flawed
Bretty, maybe corked. Some in our group liked its earthiness, but it didn't taste like typical Dunn Howell to me.
Red
Red
2001 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
89 points
Dark ruby, full bodied and almost thick, tannic, raisiny with overripe fruit, long finish. Just out of synch.
Red
2001 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve
93 points
Medium body, nice mature fruit, secondary notes of herb and graphite, nice balance, easy
Red
2001 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate
91 points
clear ruby, medium body, nice fruit and structure, balance, medium finish, classic bordeaux blend
Red
2004 Moraga Vineyards Bel-Air
93 points
Medium body, ripe fruit, some complexity with ash, spice, nice balance and finish
Red
2005 Bremer Family Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
95 points
Bright crimson, medium body, fruit forward, nice balance, long and satiny finish. Very nice
Closing
Great range of wine here. Generally, I felt that the younger wines like the '05 Bremmer and '04 Moraga showed better this evening. However, some of the more mature wines like the '95 Diamond Creek and '94 Groth were standouts. I was disappointed in several of the wines like the '96 Shafer, '97 Spottswoode and '01 Pride Reserve from good makers and good years that just seem to have fallen apart and/or did not show well. The vertical of Montelena '90, '99 and '01 showed remarkable consistency and quality.