Beautiful surprise, quite young, dense, some tannin left. Very long

Still a tiny bit of fruit left, some mint, red berries, enjoyable

Slightly porty with some dark berries, fresher in the palate with a nice supporting acidity. Still enjoyable to drink.

Mushrooms, leather, nice sweetness, mushrooms also in the palate with a nice density.

Not rated, the first wine in this tasting that I thought was really over the hill. Medicinal, wet wool and just too old

Honey, fully ripe, surprisingly slender in the palate but still enjoyable.

Very mature, camomile, gut tannin structure left, soft and still opulent. Good but showing more maturity than most other 1978 Napa Cabs. But I do feel that to be quite often the case with the Beaulieu GdL (as in 74 and 68)

Incredibly dense and opulent, ripe, multi-layered, well together but still dense. The Montelena Estate just needs time. I hope in 10 years my 1987s will be like this (and maybe in 20 the '01s)

Strinkingly young, starting out quite muted, but developing well with air and higher temperature. Still quite structured in a way that I would have guessed a slightly lesser and more tannic year.

Green tea, soy sauce, malt, started out quite tired but with air this became more and more elegant and delicious. This is one example that shows that in great years in the '70s and '80s the "regular" Napa Cabs perform on a very similar level to all the "reserves" "limited casks" and higher end blends.

Bummer, was looking forward, but clearly an issue with the bottle. Behind that you could feel the strenght. Looking forward to drink my last remaining bottle

Stunningly beautiful and elegant. Fresh, minty, red beries, some dark berries, wonderful!

Minty, eucalyptus and a touch of cassis. Just absolutely phenomenal. Outstanding and a pure joy to drink

Very ripe, medicinal, herbacious, slightly younger in the palate, quite artisanal and old school. For me this was better than the Monte Bello next to it, but I would drink up

Sweet, irish moss, cola, some leather and a hint of brett. More evolved than the last bottle of this. I'm not sure that this was a perfect bottle.

Very close to the reserve bottling. fresh, minty, berries, cassis, a bit less weight than the reserve but still intense and long. Beautiful.

One of the absolute standouts from 1978 and still so incredibly fresh and young. Mint, cassis, blackberries, young and dense. LOVE IT!!

Artisanal, herbacious and mature. A good pick but amongst the 1978 a league below Simi.

Distinctive nose, sweetness, smoke, bacon, liquid butter. Very dense and finishing super long. Still in its prime.

Red berries, dried aromatic herbs quite long and dense but at the end of the maturity plateau. I would drink this up.

Unfortunately corked.

Incredibly dense and powerful with a good tannin structure left. I think this would have needed more air than we allowed it, but it showed a great promise. Hope to enjoy it again with more time (and less people per bottle)

Cranberries, redcurrant, medium bodied but very elegant and still drinking very well

Very similar to the regular Cab, the Lot 2 exhibits the same red fruit but with just a smidge more weight on the palate. Still quite youthful and from pristine bottles well within its prime.

From a regular bottle served next to a double magnum, this started out surprisingly fresher than the double mag, but after 10 Minutes it started to evolve into a more mature wine. Still incredible but not as fresh as the double mag.

From Doublemagnum. Absolutely hedonistic, young, fresh and dense. Fresh mint, eucalyptus, blueberries, incredibly long. Just an absolute dream

From double magnum, this was mature, warm and providing just plain mature Cali Cab feelgood vibes