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Old Beaulieu Vineyard Wines
Cotroneo's, White Bear Lake, MN
Tasted March 13, 2018 by rocknroller with 333 views
Introduction
This was a tasting featuring four old vintages of BV from the 70's and 80's. Although all the bottles had excellent fills and great corks, unfortunately 2 of the wines were dead, one was on life support and the fourth had was nice but had seen better days. Such is the risk with sourcing old bottles. It is a crap shoot and you take your chances. Jason felt bad, so he popped a number of other wines to cope with the guilt. Not necessary, but much appreciated. Ironically, the WOTN was one of the prelude wines - the '98 Forman, it was a head turner.
Flight 1 - Welcome and Prelude Wines (3 notes)
Red
2016 Paetra Pinot Noir
89 points
Medium garnet red color. Drank 1 glass over 20 minutes. Ripe raspberry, some nice wood tones on the nose too and I like the spice note as this opens up. The palate has some sappy red raspberry, medium body, a touch of sous bois and vanilla as well. Overall very enjoyable, and seems more interesting now. Easy drinker that will satisfy a crowd. 89+pts.
Red
1998 Forman Cabernet Sauvignon
95 points
Medium dark red color witha 2mm clear margin. Pop and immediate splash decant and pour. Drank 1 glass over 75 minutes. This was the hands down WOTN and just blew me away. A mesmerizing perfume emerges immediately and continues to crescendo over 15-20 minutes. Leather, violets, so pretty, charcoal, red berries, cassis, very lifted nose with plenty of delicious funkiness. The palate is medium bodied with layers of complexity, tons of leather and wet saddle, soft texture, funk, red berry fruit, so nicely textured with perfect integration. Very, very impressive. 94+ to 95pts.
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Red
1994 Turnbull Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville
92 points
Dark red color, 1cm transitional bricked edge. Popped, splash decant and immediately poured; drank 1 glass over 75 minutes. Kind of wonky on the nose at first, but this blows off completely over 5 minutes. Wild mushroom tones, dark fruits, black currant and dark cherry, scorched earth, oak, somewhat metallic minerality. The palate is medium bodied, baked cherry, wood, cedar, plum, wood spice and tobacco on the finish. This needed more time and got better in the glass but seemed to plateau. There's a fair bit of wood that does not look to be shedding before this begins to decline. It would be fun to see this in 3 years and see what it does. I'm not certain this gets better.
Flight 2 - BV Featured Wines (4 notes)
Red
1970 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
88 points
Medium fully bricked maroon color, base neck fill, 1cm saturated cork. Popped and splash decanted; drank 1 glass over 45 minutes. The nose shows some cabbage at first that blows off over 5 minutes, then some mint, dried red fruits, funk, smoke and wood spice come forth. The palate is pretty thin, lighter bodied, subtle red cherry, black currant, creosote, smoke, complex tobacco spice and and the mint shows up later on the finish. This might be as good as one could expect from this at this point. Fun and enjoyable, unfortuantely the only of the four in any kind of shape.
Red
1974 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve
Medium completely bricked orange color; lower neck fill, good cork. Popped and splash decanted and poured. Followed over 30 minutes. Drinkable, but becoming maderized, onion soup, celery seed, barely discernable red fruit. This bottle was way over the hill. Too bad, a bottle 4 years ago was in great shape and offered a much better experience. Them's the breaks. Roughly 84ish pts.
Red
1982 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve
flawed
Supposedly a library wine direct form the winery. Upper neck fill, good cork. Light-medium orange color.DOA, gone, gone, gone. Undrinkable.
Red
1989 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford
flawed
Perfect fill, good cork. Pale orange color. DOA, gone, gone, gone. Undrinkable.
Flight 3 - Guilt Wines (4 notes)
Red
2015 Alexander Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
88 points
Very dark red/purple color. PNP, drank 1 glass blind over 20 minutes. The nose shows green pepper, some subtle earth, oak, dark fruits, graphite, some oak. The palate is more medium plus bodied, nice texture, black currants, good mouth feel, graphite and medium length. This is a nice wine, not overly complex, but still has a good bit going on. Called Sonoma cab. I always like AVV and find them a very solid value and reliable go to on restaurant lists. 88+pts.
Red
2013 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
86 points
Very dark purple/red color. PNP, drank 1 glass blind over 20 minutes. The nose is just saturated with butter, buttered popcorn, oak, oak, oak, ripe black fruit. The palate is also buttery, astringent, firm tannins, dark currants, aggressive, oak and more oak. Argh. I'd give it another chance also on someone else's dime in 5 years to see if it can become something. Called Cali, no idea where this came from, would have thought this was even younger. I've never had a red wine where I got the butter that this had. 86 is probably way too generous.
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Red
2014 Diora Pinot Noir La Petite Grace
84 points
PNP. Holy crap this is ripe, fleshy, vanilla, oak, big, Dr. Pepper, cherry cola, heat, does not taste like PN. Absolutely reminds me of Belle Glos -
and I do not mean that in a good way. Ooof.
and I do not mean that in a good way. Ooof.
Red
2014 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico
90 points
Medium dark red color. PNP, drank 1 glass over 20 minutes. I'm liking this in its youth. Balsamic, spiced, gravel, dark berries on the nose. The palate has appraochable tannins for a young Felsina, dark fruit, gravelly earth and minerals, medium body. 90(+)pts.
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Flight 4 - Post Tasting Pizza Wine (1 note)
Red
2010 Ken Wright Pinot Noir Savoya Vineyard
91 points
Translucent medium red color. PNP, drank 2 glasses over 90 minutes. This is in a good spot right now. Nice red fruits, dried earth with underbrush and good spice notes and a touch of white pepper, medium body, medium plus finish. Very good.