What a treat! The fruit that went into this wine was harvested a few months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, before being bottled in 1947 and recorked in 1982. Amazingly some of it is still there. I didn't decant this in fear of it falling apart. The color is remarkably deep, with only a hint of bricking. Whilst the nose has quite a strong aroma of port, there's a hint of candied red fruit as well, along with a musty sawdust note. On the palate the wine is smooth and relatively tannin-free. What tannins there are have dried completely but it still makes for a very quaffable wine, albeit with a pretty short finish. It's hard to believe the age, considering how many dogs I have drunk that have twice the pedigree with half the years on this one. This was clearly never a complex wine- or if it was that complexity has been lost- but it was well made enough to provide a unique experience- a drinkable 70-year old wine for a reasonable price. Highly recommended if you can find one.
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Old California Wine Dinner....1941-1986 (Merced, Ca): History in a glass! This is from 1941 fruit, bottled in 1947, and re corked in 1982. At least 51% Cabernet...and who knows what else. Oldest wine I've ever had....garnet, rose rim color...sweet and dusty red fruit, tawny maple, cinnamon, tart dried citrus, coffee. Really beautiful and intriguing nose and entry...delicate like a fragile dried rose....no sign of any tannin, and spine left. I was fascinated how the wine just falls off on the palate. But what would you expect at 70? Just amazing to think of what was going on when this wine was born.....what a treat.
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Nose - dark, pruny, molasses. Spicy molasses, prune, smooth, dusty, nutmeg. At 5 mins. - lightening up, showing cedar and more spice, and touches of blue and black fruit. 15 minutes of fame (before fading). 94 pts
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(NV El Gavilan Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Casa de Sonoma) Bricking dark cherry red color; nice mature, berry, black fruit and fig nose; nice tart plum, black fruit, prune, fig and graphite palate, with depth, in remarkably good shape; medium finish
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12/27/2011 - NewFrenchClaret Likes this wine: 94 Points
What a treat! The fruit that went into this wine was harvested a few months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, before being bottled in 1947 and recorked in 1982. Amazingly some of it is still there.
I didn't decant this in fear of it falling apart. The color is remarkably deep, with only a hint of bricking. Whilst the nose has quite a strong aroma of port, there's a hint of candied red fruit as well, along with a musty sawdust note. On the palate the wine is smooth and relatively tannin-free. What tannins there are have dried completely but it still makes for a very quaffable wine, albeit with a pretty short finish. It's hard to believe the age, considering how many dogs I have drunk that have twice the pedigree with half the years on this one.
This was clearly never a complex wine- or if it was that complexity has been lost- but it was well made enough to provide a unique experience- a drinkable 70-year old wine for a reasonable price. Highly recommended if you can find one.
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1/23/2011 - Mrbuzz Likes this wine: 92 Points
Old California Wine Dinner....1941-1986 (Merced, Ca): History in a glass! This is from 1941 fruit, bottled in 1947, and re corked in 1982. At least 51% Cabernet...and who knows what else. Oldest wine I've ever had....garnet, rose rim color...sweet and dusty red fruit, tawny maple, cinnamon, tart dried citrus, coffee. Really beautiful and intriguing nose and entry...delicate like a fragile dried rose....no sign of any tannin, and spine left. I was fascinated how the wine just falls off on the palate. But what would you expect at 70? Just amazing to think of what was going on when this wine was born.....what a treat.
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4/12/2009 - yhn wrote: 94 Points
Nose - dark, pruny, molasses.
Spicy molasses, prune, smooth, dusty, nutmeg.
At 5 mins. - lightening up, showing cedar and more spice, and touches of blue and black fruit.
15 minutes of fame (before fading). 94 pts
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