February 22, 2024 - Dark berry, tar, mocha
May 2, 2022 - Chocolate, vanilla deep berry fruit
August 22, 2021 - Red current, plums. Beautiful wine!!
June 20, 2021 - Very full bodied rich wine. Definitely need a steak to stand up to it!
June 20, 2020 - great wine great body great price
April 5, 2020 - Really enjoyed with filet mignon today. Rich/dark color, wonderful fruity nose, excellent dark plum, black cherry fruit with rounded tannins and long finish.
December 28, 2019 - By sheer coincident, I brought a bottle of the Rombauer Cabernet Sauvignon “Diamond Selection” 2014 to a friend’s house to share, she had the same wine but from 1998, a perfect opportunity to compare.
Of interest first was that the 1998 was actually made from grapes from the Armstrong Ranch Vineyard on Diamond Mountain whereas 2014 shows coming from estate vineyards and top grower vineyards in St. Helena (50%), Stags Leap, (20%) and Calistoga (30%) AVAs. From what I could gather, Armstrong Ranch is privately owned and no longer sells to Rombauer.
My first comment upon tasting both was that they did have similar flavor profiles, the 1998 obviously being more muted than and not as fresh as 2014. I could find no reviews on the 1998 wine, only vintage notes, which showed a mediocre vintage at best. I wanted to be more hopeful being mountain fruit, but sadly, while drinkable, the wine had little to display; dried plums, one-dimensional flavor, and a finish that was lacking. I did find one very good review for the 2014 at 93 Points and upon tasting, the wine did, as mentioned, have a livelier component and slightly fresher but still a dried fruit (not quite so plummy) taste. The finish showed a little more acidity and a faint spice note as well. Considering the cost, I would have liked to be more “wowed.”
I should point out that both wines were tasted both upon opening and over a three to four hour time frame, with little discernable changes, especially of the 1998, maybe somewhat for 2014.
For reference, I’ve posted this same review on both wines.
Cheers
August 26, 2019 - As RP said, this Cab. is soft, supple with a long finish. It is however border on a Cabernet Port. But delicious. Drink by 2022.
July 14, 2019 - good all around smooth
June 2, 2019 - Gave it a 2hr decant. Still young but I'm impatient today and wanted to try. Will save second bottle for back half of the drinking window.