1981 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 92 points

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  7/20/2018 - Cali vino Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Brought bottle to Silver Oak in Alexander Valley location and compared to 2008 and recent releases. No sediment, smell was a little off putting to us...barnyard, musty. That blew off in a half hour or so and amazingly the wine still had some fruit to give. The Silver Oak employee mentioned that it tasted better than the 1989 they had open the previous night. It certainly was still enjoyable after all these years.

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  3/27/2011 - caeleric Likes this wine: 92 Points

  not the best wine i've ever had, but definitely the best 30 year old wine i've ever had. oh wait, it's the only 30 year old wine i've ever had!
  
  the cork had ever-so-faint spotting of juice at the top. it was slightly depressed, but nothing to be worried about. opened pretty easily with my ah-so, poured through a screen filter/funnel contraption into a decanter, quickly washed the bottle out for sediment (which was quite prolific), and poured the wine through the filter/funnel contraption back into the cleaned-out bottle.
  
  fuchsia to ruby color in the glass. a pretty vibrant, spicy nose of bell pepper, dill and dried red berries. more red berries and soft cherry notes in the mouth, with a finish that brought in fully mature notes of red berries, more vegetal spice, and some old tea flavors. after an hour the wine broadened a bit and took on softer, plummier fruit notes and the spicy bell pepper subsided.
  
  if i have one complaint, it's that the tannins had faded and there was very little acid, so this left a mouthfeel impression that was borderline flabby but i managed to convince myself it was "elegant." we drank most of the bottle, which was pretty easy at <13% abv. this wine performed far beyond expectations, and while i wouldn't want to drink this type of wine every night, it was certainly an enjoyable experience.

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  12/1/2007 - Lwelfley wrote: 89 Points

  our bottle was still excellent. was drinking very well.

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  2/24/1990 - MicklethePickle Likes this wine: 95 Points

  With Kathy and Peg at home at dinner (pizza). Very dark ruby. Excellent nose chocolatey, cherry-scented fruit, beautifully laced with oak. On the palate, gorgeous fruit is true to the nose. Perfectly balanced, the wine is a revelation on the palate: silky, elegant, round mouth feel. Complex and long on the palate. Perfectly mature, the wine is drinking at its peak. 5-13-18-9: 95/100.

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