Call me crazy, but I was surprised by the quality of the wine in the bottle! Thee bottle was not kept in the best conditions. Had the rusty hue that made me worried off the bat. BUT, it was together and balanced, with rustic tertiary flavors and medium length and extremely pleasant finish. The vegetal flavors gave me the vibe of old world, Italian old style Cabernets. Considering the horrible vintage and history of the bottle, I just tasted it to proceed with cooking with it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not sure if I venture buying another bottle, but if I see it somewhere, I will definitely give it a taste.
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This wine is the perfect example of why Cabernet Sauvignon is the king of red grapes. They probably made a train load of this from vineyards with high yields, and it still brings some pure, defined Cabernet flavors and aromas. It is not all that rich and creamy, and maybe a touch short on the mid palate. When we poured into the decanter, the nose was pure black currant, with just a touch of oak. The fruit is fairly light, but quite precise black currant, plum and black cherry. There is a flinty, gun metal flavor. There are some drying tannins. A fair amount of alcohol is evident on the nose and palate. But, this wine is often way under 10 bucks. By the time we get to the finish, the taste on the palate is very much like the taste we got breaking our teeth into a fresh picked plum back home in Leelanau County Michigan.
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This wine has been opened for three days, recorked, and stored at cellar temperature. The color is clear, appears medium ruby at the core, fading to a pale Ruby at the rim. The nose is clean, developing, showing medium intensity aromas of blackBerries poured over rocks, with notes of Bing cherry and a bit of green bell pepper. The Palate shows a dry wine, medium in body and alcohol (listed at 13.8%), with medium intensity flavors of blackberry, blueberry, minerality/earthiness, a hint of vanilla, some tobacco. The tannins in this wine are light, drinking quite easily, and the acidity is medium intensity. The finish is medium (-), repeating notes of blackberry and moist soil. This is a good quality wine, and although it is quite young, the lighter body and low-level tannins makes this simple Wine easy to drink now. It is not meant for aging, and should be consumed by 2014. Good value, simple.
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How could I have been so dumb to be fooled by "private selection"? This is Mondavi's low end, do not be tricked like me, buy the better stuff. Anyone want the other bottle?
Green grassy nose. At room temp, hints of chocolate and tobacco emerge. Green herb and buttery caramel prominent. Very light tannin. Chocolate and tobacco finish.
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On first opening faintly herbaceous on nose and bell pepper on taste. Would score it as an 82 at that point. Decanted/aerated half the bottle into a split, corked it with no air left at the top and put it away at 60 deg for a day of slow-oxidation.
Back to the recently opened bottle....I don't much like herbaceous, and I really hate bell pepper... so let it sit, and after an hour much of that had burned off, wine was much nicer. At this point we up the score to an 86.
Next day, we drank the slow-oxed wine... wow, what a transformation. This wine is really good, lots of cassis, very smooth, refined fruit, beautiful claret like color, very nice nose, good length on finish... this really gives expensive bottles a run for their money. Very refined, more of a well-balanced, classic claret than a California monster cab, great with food or alone for sipping. So, yes!! After slow-ox, the score goes to 90+
At the $11 usual price it's a really good deal. Got some at $8/btl... stone cold bargain! I'm thinking to cellar 3-4 cases of this, the slow-ox improvement usually predicts good ageability... I'd say peak in 4 years.
A bargain hunter's delight. Just remember it's not a good pop-n-pour, better to decant and slow-ox for a day and drink it at about 64 degrees.
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An average wine. Good for every day drinking with burger and fries, or perhaps with appetizers. Light, fruit forward and light tannins. Good wine for 10 bucks
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6/13/2022 - Winiac wrote: 92 Points
Call me crazy, but I was surprised by the quality of the wine in the bottle! Thee bottle was not kept in the best conditions. Had the rusty hue that made me worried off the bat. BUT, it was together and balanced, with rustic tertiary flavors and medium length and extremely pleasant finish. The vegetal flavors gave me the vibe of old world, Italian old style Cabernets. Considering the horrible vintage and history of the bottle, I just tasted it to proceed with cooking with it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not sure if I venture buying another bottle, but if I see it somewhere, I will definitely give it a taste.
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1/18/2020 - Halfeel wrote: 86 Points
Not bad at all, i.e. better than expected based on price and age (9 years).
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4/1/2014 - Mike Kopanski wrote: 87 Points
This wine is the perfect example of why Cabernet Sauvignon is the king of red grapes. They probably made a train load of this from vineyards with high yields, and it still brings some pure, defined Cabernet flavors and aromas. It is not all that rich and creamy, and maybe a touch short on the mid palate. When we poured into the decanter, the nose was pure black currant, with just a touch of oak. The fruit is fairly light, but quite precise black currant, plum and black cherry. There is a flinty, gun metal flavor. There are some drying tannins. A fair amount of alcohol is evident on the nose and palate. But, this wine is often way under 10 bucks. By the time we get to the finish, the taste on the palate is very much like the taste we got breaking our teeth into a fresh picked plum back home in Leelanau County Michigan.
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3/29/2014 - Barrygloec Likes this wine: 88 Points
Decent but a little too sweet
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10/16/2013 - drrobvino wrote: 87 Points
This wine has been opened for three days, recorked, and stored at cellar temperature.
The color is clear, appears medium ruby at the core, fading to a pale Ruby at the rim.
The nose is clean, developing, showing medium intensity aromas of blackBerries poured over rocks, with notes of Bing cherry and a bit of green bell pepper.
The Palate shows a dry wine, medium in body and alcohol (listed at 13.8%), with medium intensity flavors of blackberry, blueberry, minerality/earthiness, a hint of vanilla, some tobacco. The tannins in this wine are light, drinking quite easily, and the acidity is medium intensity. The finish is medium (-), repeating notes of blackberry and moist soil.
This is a good quality wine, and although it is quite young, the lighter body and low-level tannins makes this simple Wine easy to drink now. It is not meant for aging, and should be consumed by 2014. Good value, simple.
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8/5/2013 - Dgames Likes this wine: 87 Points
Surprisingly decent for $10. Some bright red fruit with cabernet character. Obviously not very complex. but pleasantly drinkable.
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6/17/2013 - hgddsas Likes this wine: 84 Points
Good everyday red - party wine. Mild tannins.
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5/27/2013 - twb311 Does not like this wine: 69 Points
How could I have been so dumb to be fooled by "private selection"? This is Mondavi's low end, do not be tricked like me, buy the better stuff. Anyone want the other bottle?
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5/4/2013 - SpiSan wrote: 85 Points
Light short tannins and a bit jammy.
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4/30/2013 - Swest wrote: 87 Points
Green grassy nose. At room temp, hints of chocolate and tobacco emerge. Green herb and buttery caramel prominent. Very light tannin. Chocolate and tobacco finish.
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2/7/2013 - Santiago53 Likes this wine: 90 Points
On first opening faintly herbaceous on nose and bell pepper on taste. Would score it as an 82 at that point. Decanted/aerated half the bottle into a split, corked it with no air left at the top and put it away at 60 deg for a day of slow-oxidation.
Back to the recently opened bottle....I don't much like herbaceous, and I really hate bell pepper... so let it sit, and after an hour much of that had burned off, wine was much nicer. At this point we up the score to an 86.
Next day, we drank the slow-oxed wine... wow, what a transformation. This wine is really good, lots of cassis, very smooth, refined fruit, beautiful claret like color, very nice nose, good length on finish... this really gives expensive bottles a run for their money. Very refined, more of a well-balanced, classic claret than a California monster cab, great with food or alone for sipping. So, yes!! After slow-ox, the score goes to 90+
At the $11 usual price it's a really good deal. Got some at $8/btl... stone cold bargain! I'm thinking to cellar 3-4 cases of this, the slow-ox improvement usually predicts good ageability... I'd say peak in 4 years.
A bargain hunter's delight. Just remember it's not a good pop-n-pour, better to decant and slow-ox for a day and drink it at about 64 degrees.
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1/11/2013 - The Quaffer Likes this wine: 89 Points
Very good wine. I have tried 2 varieties of the RM Private Selection and they were both delicious.
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1/8/2013 - Robwild wrote: 83 Points
An average wine. Good for every day drinking with burger and fries, or perhaps with appetizers. Light, fruit forward and light tannins. Good wine for 10 bucks
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