by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

 

California Cabernet
Got off my Syrah/Rhone/Zin kick long enough last night to taste a few California Cabernets mostly out of my archives:
Sineann Columbia Valley Block One Vineyard (14.1% alc) CS '95: Fragrant herbal dusty spicy some oaked slightly volatile nose; soft rather herbal very milky/ oaked/lactic spicy dusty flavor; long bit hot-volatile herbal dusty very smooth light minty/menthol oaked finish w/ light tannins; some nice Wash State Cab character but a bit soft & overripe. Overpriced @ $31.
Bedford Thompson Santa Barbara County Cabernet Franc (RTW alc) '94: Very dark color; intense blackcurranty dusty oaked slight volatile nose; soft fat dusty very ripe blackcurranty spicy some toasty oaked flavor; long soft very rich very ripe black cherry/black curranty slight bretty/unclean finish w/ little tannins; a bit on the overripe side and soft & unstructured but one of the most interesting SBCnty Cabs I've tried.
Dry Creek Vineyard Vintners Select Peterson Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon '93: Fragrant very spicy almost Zin-like blackcurranty Cab bit licorice/toasty oaked nose; soft lush bit herbal rather milky/oaked ripe blackcurranty flavor; med.long soft bit herbal/licorice ripe Cab rather oaked finish w/ light tannins; fairly straightforward DCVnyds Cab.
Dry Creek Vineyard Reserve Merlot '94: Dark color; very strong pencilly Fr.oaked bit toasty very ripe fruit lush nose; rich very pencilly very buttery soft very lush fruit ripe Merlot flavor; very long very soft very very buttery/ diacetyl finish w/ light tannins; bit soft & fat & bit overblown on the oak but good drinking red; not worth $27.
Dry Creek Vineyard Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon '85: Fragrant cedary spicy bit licorice pungent nose; soft smoothe round cedary/oaked/pencilly light blackcurranty/chocolaty truffly flavor; med.long soft smooth cedary/oaked light licorice blkcurrnty some complex finish w/ light tannins; a really lovely drinking mature very elegant polished Cab.
Inglenook Napa Valley Merlot Estate Reserve '83: Med.dark color; vey unpleasant musty damp wood stinky diaper pail fecal nose; sour hard tannic dried out brandy-like some fecal rather musty wood flavor; baaaad stuff.
Edmeades Anderson Valley Mendocino Cabernet Sauvignon (12.8%) '79: Strong cedary/old Cab/old Bordeaux some Mendocino earthy/dusty nose; soft smooth some cedary/dusty old Cab bit washed out flavor; med.short soft round washed out old Cab/cedary finish w/ light tannins; interesting old Cab but dying.
Edmeades Anderson Valley B.J. Carney Vineyard (13.0%; 15% Merlot) '79: Strong cedary pencilly old Cab bit dusty/herbal/smokey nose; soft smooth black cherry smokey very spicy cedary flavor; long soft smooth black cherry/Cheracol dusty very spicy cedary finish w/ light tannins; in very good condition & drinking quite nicely but starting its downhill slide.
Edmeades Anderson Valley Mendocino Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (13.0%) '78: Dark color; bit musty rather dusty cherry/black cherry cedary fragrant nose; soft smooth pungent licorice light cedary dusty some dried out flavor; med.long spicy cedary black cherry light some washed out finish w/ little tannins & a bit of brett; some interesting things therein but just barely hanging on.
Corti Bros. Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon/Cab Franc/Merlot RTW (CS/Cf/M made by Caynus) '91: Very dark color; fragrant very spicy cedary oaked aromatic some blackcurranty Cab nose; smooth cedary oaked blackcurranty spicy flavor; med.long cedary spicy oaked some blackcurranty finish w/ some tannins; the Caymus heritage shows in this wine; drinking really nicely now; another Corti Bros. steal @ $10.50.
Buehler Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '84: Very dark color; slight bretty/unclean/barn- yardy pungent licorice toasty oaked HowellMtn Cab dusty nose; hard tannic smokey pungent licorice toasty light bretty flavor; long rather hard tannic minty/menthol/licorice toasty oaked pungent finish; lots of pungent/dusty mtn Cab character but seems to be drying out some; the Togni heritage (he was gone from Buehler by then) shows.
Groth Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '83: Dark color; fragrant lush blackcurranty classic Napa Cab toasty oaked nose; ripe very spicy toasty oaked blackcurranty truffly flavor; long ripe blackcurranty Cab bit herbal very toasty oaked pungent finish w/ light tannins; can go another 3-6 yrs yet; a classic Napa Cab approaching maturity.
Cuvaison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (14%) '80: Black color; intense bit volatile very ripe licorice minty/menthol oaked very spicy nose; bit hot/tannic very ripe fruit minty/menthol rather hard flavor; long hot tannic very minty/menthol/oaked very spicy very ripe fruit finish; rather tannic & drying out & not going to get any better.
Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon (13.3%) Bates Ranch '81: Black color; very intense pungent smokey licorice blackcurranty toasty lush nose; soft rich mouthfilling ripe blackcurranty Cab dusty licorice toasty/pungent oaked flavor; very long ripe blackcurranty/licorice dusty very spicy finish w/ fair tannins; still can go another 2-6 yrs.
Santa Cruz Moutain Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon (13.8%) Bates Ranch '80: Black color; very intense plummy late harvesty very pencilly/Burgundian/toasty oaked slight herbal nose; soft very ripe plummy chocolaty bit herbal toasty/Burgundian dusty/spicy flavor; very long tannic plummy/blackcurranty toasty/oaked finish w/ some tannins; a bit on the overripe/soft side some like the early Jekel Cabs but very interesting Cab.

Musings.
The SantaCruzMtn Cabs are really terrific. Ken Burnap's wines in the late '70's early '80's often had what I called the "Burnap stink"; a rather stinky/ sewer gas/burnt rubber/H2S character, oftentimes overpowering, nose to them. So they languished on the shelves. But underneath they were always packed with flavor & I always felt they would turn into marvelous wines if one outwaited the stink. It's great to be vindicated ever once in a while to justify one's self-righteous attitude!! :-) I have always liked his wines, not just the Cabs, but also his Chards and, particularly his Pinots. Kinda like Mr. Burnap himself, they always have a sorta rough-hewn, rustic character to them; always interesting & loaded with flavor. A winery I should pay more attention to.
The Edmeades Cabs were rather disappointing; I was expecting a lot more from them. Jed Steele made, probably, the best wines of his career up there in the late '70's. The Zins, from several vnyds, are still in good shape. The Cabs don't seem to have held as well.
The Dry Creek Vnyds Cabs didn't stand out.... they never do in tastings. But I find those wines just seem to go on and on and last very well. Must be the balance they have. They're seldom spectacular when they're young and they don't seem to develop anything spectacular, but they just really seem to age very well. A wnry very underrated for its Cabs & Merlots.
Tom Hill next week it's (gasp!!!) Chards







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