Community Tasting Notes 15

• Cailles wrote: 89 points

  May 1, 2024 - 23x California 1974: Do the legendary 1974s still hold up? The answer is a resounding YES, and not just for one or two top wines, but across the board. These best wines showed incredible complexity, with still vibrant fruit cores perfectly complemented by layers upon layers of tertiary aromas, a fully intact structural frame, stature, poise, and freshness. While many of these wines should continue to age well, I don't expect them to get any better than they are now. The top wines in the tasting were the Mondavi Cabernet and the Phelps Insignia (both 97pts), the Mondavi Reserve and the Mount Eden (both 96pts), and the Ridge Monte Bello (95pts). Many more wines scored in the 90-94 point range. I'm convinced that many wines would have scored even higher in a different tasting setting, where you can follow the wine over the course of an evening. Only 5 of the 24 bottles showed signs of weakness, with 1 of those already oxidized, but given the substance that could be tasted underneath, this is more likely due to weak corks or poor storage than anything nature delivered this year. All the wines had very good fill levels and had been quickly double decanted before tasting to remove the sediment.
  
  TN: This wine opens with intriguing malt and nutty notes, tempered by a hint of broth or soy sauce. Although still within the realm of drinkability, it struggles on the palate, lacking mid-palate density and balance, with a pronounced Maggi-like savoriness. Over time, however, it begins to show improvement; the savory notes recede, allowing sweeter, maltier elements to emerge, enhancing the final sips. Despite its flaws and signs of being past peak, it manages to finish on a more pleasing note.

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• G_H wrote:

  February 2, 2024 - A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): I enjoyed this wine much more than other people around the table. Consensus was, that this was doa. I liked the malty-caramel notes and it was quite full bodied and long in the palate. But I concede that this was probably more my personal taste that let me enjoy this.

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• LoireFan wrote: 92 points

  October 18, 2014 - Maybe 93. Wonderful!

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• Sixchips600 Likes this wine: 93 points

  October 10, 2014 - For my wife's 40th. Very cedary nose, which reminds me of some St Julien I have had from 1990-2000. But this is 40 year old Napa! Had this next to a 2007 stags leap SLV and this was comparable in richness, body, freshness - with better acidity to keep it lively. The SLV had more voluptuous fruit, but did not taste any better. Also, this held up for 4 hours in the glass, which was surprising. We were both very impressed and enjoyed the bottle very much.

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• ilee Likes this wine: 94 points

  January 11, 2014 - JL 40th birthday dinner at One Thirty One (Sai Kung, Hong Kong): This is the sort of specimen that makes wine drinking a fun hobby -- a totally unexpected, off the path unknown bottle that throws up pleasant surprises. Aromas of dried spices, old leather and ripe fig on the nose, with an additional hint of what some said to be butterscotch, or caramel, something of that sort. But importantly the fruit was dark red and much alive, richly topped up up with the usual dusty broom cupboard, mushroomy (in a pleasant way) aromas that surround this fine old wine, I have to say it all made for a most interesting and enjoyable drinking experience

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Pro Reviews 2

Wine Definition

• Vintage 1974
• Type Red
• Producer Freemark Abbey
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation Cabernet Bosché
• Vineyard n/a
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation Rutherford

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 2 (1%)
• In Cellars 85 (63%)
• Consumed 48 (36%)

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