February 24, 2024 - 4th Saturday Brown Bagger (EBCC): Blind. Aromas of green tobacco, red berry fruit and leather. Fully-integrated. Flavors of chocolate and dark plummy fruit. Opens further as it sits, adding cherry, herb and cedar qualities, and the fruit fleshes out on the palate. Finishes with good length. Just a lovely mature wine. I suspected this was our CSJ, opened in honor of a last minute attendee born in 2002.
This too had been gently double decanted off its sediment and placed back under cork 2.25 hours before the flight was poured. A beautiful showing from our penultimate bottle.
February 10, 2024 - In my cellar since 2007, probably a couple years after release and purchased from WTSO. Back in the day this got relatively low scores because it did not follow the fashion then in its height toward super ripe, heavily extracted, high ABV Cabs. This was delightfully “old-school”. I double decanted around 3pm to take to a friend’s house to have dinner around 7:30pm. Totally fresh, with no bricking whatsoever. Tannins fully integrated but still has some vibrant acidity. Wonderfully smooth texture. Fruit leans to the red berry spectrum with some earthy and leathery accents. Strong mineral sensation in the background. Nice balance. It was a little less evolved than I would have hoped. The secondary flavors were reticent and there were no notable tertiary accents. Still surprisingly primary. It was just a step or two behind in complexity. This may still get there so, no real hurry to drink these if stored in a cool cellar.
June 26, 2023 - It has been 10 years since I opened my last 2002 - this was great. Soft as you might expect from a 21 year old wine, but enough tannin backbone around to make this an exceptional choice for a birthday wine. Yum!
June 18, 2023 - Drinking well
December 26, 2020 - Hard to handle on opening - blast of tannins and acid - but settled down after 20 minutes to a warm, round, lovely wine. Plenty of life left.
February 1, 2020 - A well balanced cinq good fruit and tannins, drinking nicely not really showing it is at the end of the drinking window. Enjoy!!
October 14, 2019 - This opens up with a nose reminiscent of a St. JULIEN. A dark, warm and sappy nose of black currant, black cherry and tar. There’s a calm and roundness here that screams ‘drink me’. Showing a smooth, complete mouthfeel without excessive complexity or drive. Simply delicious with a flank steak, but it won’t get better. Enjoy now!
July 27, 2018 - still going strong. beautiful dark fruit and floral notes. long rich finish.
October 8, 2017 - Opened, but not decanted for over an hour in a restaurant. My final bottle and my previous ones predate my being on Celllartracker, so I have no notes to compare it to. This tasted like it still had years of life ahead of it. It had a medium-long finish, and tasted more like a 10 year old Bordeaux than a Napa Cab.
September 15, 2017 - Last bottle from a batch bought close to release. At home w some casual fare, this is another "forgotten bottle" resting nicely in the cellar....PnP, drank over several hours.
Core is still purple/ruby with some separation at the edges. This one was rich and expressive right out of the bottle (unlike previous bottles). Nose showing cherry, raspberry, tobacco. Palate of cherry, plums, strawberry compote. Medium body and finish. Tannins are fined and smooth.
I thought this might be over the hill at this point but it has evolved into a very pretty wine, still drinking beautifully. Bdx like, CA fruit, expressive, gentle and elegant at this point. Would drink up - probably has a few more years at this level.