Had one of these about 7 months ago at Tahoe Joe's Steak House. One was full of all type of wood spice notes & not much fruit left, little thin & Light for expectations. Would have rated that around 89-90 pts. Had one Sat night & showed much different. There was a lot of fruit left, medium dark & rich. Both bottles were purchase same place & time upon release & stored at 57 degrees. Interesting.
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Have had a number of this vintage & other vintages. Perfectly cellared. Also enjoy the butter, spice & no too much oak. Either something wrong with this bottle or I did not like how it aged after a few years. Color & smell typical but taste of butter & strong sugar/sweet component. Spice was replaced with sugar & not a good sweet like pinapple. It was a sickly sweet. It was bad enough where I poured a chillean savn blanc trying to blend out some of the sugar. Weird bottle.
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A pisted-off Caymus fan once again. Caymus was my favorite cali cab for the price range of this bottle. I was drinking this in ealier 90's for $30-$33 & stopped at the mind blowing 1994 (95pts WS) which I felt was under-rated. The 1995 doubled in price to $65 & has pretty much remained there since. I refussed to buy after that. Wagner cited he had to pay more to keep all the grape producers in contract. But at todays prices, it's back in line. Brings me to the 2002 I had last night. My first since the 1994 - guess I held a grudge for a while. Very dark & a little bordeaux like on the nose with green veggies, some cherries & candy (sugar). Taste-Cali fruit bomb. In which vintage since 1994 did Chuck Wagner go mad & start leaving the grapes on the vine way to long. Taste of fruit, candy & thank heavens some green veggie & tabacco came through to slightly cut down on the sugar/candy taste. Not much balance here because no acidity. Sugar has replaced that. 14.7% alcohol listed on bottle. I'm used to the 13% Caymus of earlier 90's & nothing better to pair up with a ribeye or T-bone. I consider myself somewhere in the middle of old-school & new-school with alcohol levels. I do not throw sticks at the new world fans, but I really think (at least with Caymus) you can get smooth & balanced with lower alcohol. I think you will find the wine to become a lot more food friendly. Keep the Hi-C & Skittles out of my Caymus Chuck! I can get that from Austriala at a much cheaper price. Grudge back on again & Rant Over.
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1999 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon
7/20/2009 - Jail wino wrote: 92 Points
Had one of these about 7 months ago at Tahoe Joe's Steak House. One was full of all type of wood spice notes & not much fruit left, little thin & Light for expectations. Would have rated that around 89-90 pts. Had one Sat night & showed much different. There was a lot of fruit left, medium dark & rich. Both bottles were purchase same place & time upon release & stored at 57 degrees. Interesting.
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2005 Rombauer Vineyards Chardonnay
5/13/2009 - Jail wino wrote: 80 Points
Have had a number of this vintage & other vintages. Perfectly cellared. Also enjoy the butter, spice & no too much oak.
Either something wrong with this bottle or I did not like how it aged after a few years. Color & smell typical but taste of butter & strong sugar/sweet component. Spice was replaced with sugar & not a good sweet like pinapple. It was a sickly sweet. It was bad enough where I poured a chillean savn blanc trying to blend out some of the sugar. Weird bottle.
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2002 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
5/13/2009 - Jail wino wrote: 90 Points
A pisted-off Caymus fan once again. Caymus was my favorite cali cab for the price range of this bottle. I was drinking this in ealier 90's for $30-$33 & stopped at the mind blowing 1994 (95pts WS) which I felt was under-rated. The 1995 doubled in price to $65 & has pretty much remained there since. I refussed to buy after that. Wagner cited he had to pay more to keep all the grape producers in contract. But at todays prices, it's back in line.
Brings me to the 2002 I had last night. My first since the 1994 - guess I held a grudge for a while. Very dark & a little bordeaux like on the nose with green veggies, some cherries & candy (sugar).
Taste-Cali fruit bomb. In which vintage since 1994 did Chuck Wagner go mad & start leaving the grapes on the vine way to long. Taste of fruit, candy & thank heavens some green veggie & tabacco came through to slightly cut down on the sugar/candy taste. Not much balance here because no acidity. Sugar has replaced that.
14.7% alcohol listed on bottle. I'm used to the 13% Caymus of earlier 90's & nothing better to pair up with a ribeye or T-bone.
I consider myself somewhere in the middle of old-school & new-school with alcohol levels. I do not throw sticks at the new world fans, but I really think (at least with Caymus) you can get smooth & balanced with lower alcohol. I think you will find the wine to become a lot more food friendly. Keep the Hi-C & Skittles out of my Caymus Chuck! I can get that from Austriala at a much cheaper price. Grudge back on again & Rant Over.
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