1988 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

Community Tasting Notes (99) Avg Score: 91.1 points

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  11/24/2023 - glou.sf Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Very pretty nose with menthol, dark cherry, and leather notes. It's surprisingly light but doesn't lack fruit or depth. Nice acidity with integrated tannins, sweet fruit, cherries, forest floor, and berries. Nice finish. A lovely wine that is perfectly aged and very well balanced between bright flavors and roundness on the palate.

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  6/27/2023 - Montesquieu Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Fantastic yet again and still going bold and strong. Tobacco, tar, mushroom, and (as a friend said) horse-sweat-under-the-leather-saddle. I have five bottles remaining with no urgency to consume.

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  2/10/2023 - ShadowIII Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Supposedly an off year, just spectacular, tasters thought it was 10-15 years old not 35, dark purple, fresh fruit, currants, blackberry, almost no secondary characteristics, but typical wet slate of HM, integrated tannins, long, long finish, glad I bought a case.

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  6/9/2022 - TWSA Does not like this wine: 87 Points

  Nose: Ink, graphite
  Notes: I have tried many vintages of Dunn Howell Mountain from both the 80s and the 90s. I have found consistent graphite notes and an inky texture/palate in its wines. Dunn Howell mountain I think by default is quite full bodied and sometimes it just can get a little too overwhelming. Personally I find the wax capsule a great marketing tool for premium wines, nevertheless, one is required to have an acquired taste to appreciate Dunn and I guess I can finally draw a conclusion that this is not something I would enjoy. One thing I do have to mention is the wine's ability to age, I find that howell mountain can easily age for over 40 years and still have a full palate. This should be the baby face in human terms.
  Drink: Now - 2035
  Rating: 87

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  5/20/2022 - brooklynguy Likes this wine:

  Served next to an 88 Rausan Segla. Decanted off the sediment a half hour before serving. Semi-blind, for me. This is a very fine wine on the nose and the palate, particularly relateive to the more rustic Rausan Segla. Super cool and clean dark blackberry and cassis fruit, but with a lightness of touch, and good energy. Great silky mouthfeel, where the wine feels very well balanced. This is a very good wine, but not in the class of the 87 I was lucky enough to drink last summer. And next to the Rausan Segla it felt finer and more elegant, but also less pungent and articulate, and in the end, a bit less interesting. Lovely old wine nonetheless.

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