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.

 

Old Cabernet
Tasted this week (4/14/99) a few Cabs from the archives:
Mayacamas Napa Mountain CS '71: Very dark color; attractive cedary/dusty/earthy bit menthol/complex nose; tart/metallic/lean/hard/tannic rather dried out bit weedy/CS some cedary/earthy flavor; med.long tannic/hard/astringent metallic bit weedy rather dried-out finish; very interesting/complex nose but hard & dried-out on the palate.
Mayacamas Napa Mountain CS '73: Very dark color; deeep spicy/cinammon/complex bit smokey/ pungent dusty/earthy some complex nose; softer fairly rich/pungent/smokey some dried-out/astringent bit metallic some complex flavor; med.long bit metallic pungent/licorice some dried-out/astringent finish w/ fair tannins; a bit softer on the palate but still rather dried-out.
Mayacamas Napa Mountain CS '74: Med.dark color; strong pungent/dusty/earthy some weedy/ smokey/toasted/complex nose; tart astringent/pungent/smokey bit metallic/weedy rather bretty/horsecollar slight weedy/CS some dried-out flavor; long weedy/pungent smokey bretty/unclean/horsecollar dried-out/astringent finish w/ fair tannins; bit more interesting nose but still dried-out/hard on the palate.
Mayacamas Calif CS '76: Very dark color; very strong toasty/pungent/charred/smokey bit menthol/chocolaty complex almost roasted/Rhone nose; big hard tannic pungent/ charred/smokey/toasty astringent low fruit flavor; softer round chocolaty/pungent/ toasty/charred oak finish w/ light tannins; lots of charred Rhone character; good complexity & good to drink now.
Mayacamas Calif CS '77: Very dark color; strong toasty/charred/smokey/pungent/ Rhonish slight skunky/bretty/Bordeaux licorice/tarry complex slight volatile nose; rich pungent/charred/roasted/Rhone/smokey round/smooth low fruit flavor; some hard/tannic roasted/smokey/charred/toasty/licorice/tarry fairly rich finish; more like a young Hermitage than an old Cabernet.
Mayacamas Calif CS '78: Very dark color; strong smokey/complex/roasted/pungent bit menthol/oaked complex nose; softer/rounder some weedy/tarry/Cab fruit/blackcurranty pungent/smokey flavor; med.soft rather pungent/toasty/charred bit licorice/ blackcurranty finish w/ some tannins; not quite as big & rich as the '77 but a pleasure to drink w/ good complexity.
Dunn Napa Valley CS '82: Med.dark color; pungent/oaked/smokey/toasty very nice black- curranty/Cab some buttery nose; fairly rich some blackcurranty/Cab rather toasty/ pungent/oaked attractive/smooth flavor; med.long bit tannic some ripe/blackcurranty/ Cab rather toasty/pungent/oaked finish; not much complexity but round & smooth on the palate and a very good Napa Cab.
Dunn Napa Valley CS '84: Med.color; slight corked/musty bit volatile some burnt/charred some blackcurranty/Cab nose clears to a very ripe fruit almost Zin-like nose; tart lean rather hard some charred/toasty/oaked ripe Zin-like fruit flavor; med.short ripe fruit rather charred/toasty/smokey oaked finish w/ some tannins; nice wine w/ lots of ripeness & plenty of toasty oak.
Dunn Napa Valley CS '85: Very dark color; deep pungent/toasty/oaked some blackcurranty/ Cab bit musty/funky nose; rather hard/tannic bit dried-out charred/toasty/oaked rather extracted blackcurranty some dusty/funky flavor; med.long fairly hard/ tannic toasty/oaked some blackcurranty/Cab finsh w/ fair tannins; a bit funky perhaps corked but can still use a few yrs age.
Leonetti Cellars Walla Walla Valley Sangiovese '97: Very dark color; very intense toasty/ pungent/roasted/Rhone-like/complex some black cherry/cola nose; tart very strong smokey/pungent/charred/toasty/oaked/roasted some black cherry/cola rich/extracted flavor; very long intense/extracted charred/toasty/oaked/pungent/roasted slight black cherry/cola finish w/ fair tannins; no Italian character whatsoever and clearly a wine the Italian contingent here would scoff at; very much like a great Hermitage rather than a Sangiovese.
Woodward Canyon Columbia Valley Merlot (12.8%) '89: Med.light color; intense vegetal/ aspargras bit volatile/kool-aid some smokey/complex nose; tart pretty vegetal/ aspargras some smokey/oaked bit cherry/kool-aid very weird flavor; long aspargras/ vegetal toasty/smokey/oaked finish w/ light tannins; very weird wine; too vegetal in character.
Corti Bros. Anderson Valley Mendocino Cnty CS (11.9%) '75: Med.light color; strong smokey/tobaccoy/old Cab some stewed tomatoe dusty/earthy cinammon/spicy very complex nose; bit volatile/dried-out complex/old Cab/tobaccoy/pungent rather spicy/cinammon/cloves bit earthy/stewed tomatoe flavor; med.long complex/tobaccoy/ pencilly/smokey dusty/stewed tomatoes very spicy finish w/ light tannins; a bit over the hill but very interesting good-drinking mature old Calif Cab.
Mayacamas Napa Valley Zin (13%) '82: Med.dark color; strong pungent/charred oak/ toasty/smokey complex light blackberry/Zin nose; rich pungent/toasty/smokey/oaked slight late harvesty/blackberry some tannic/dried-out flavor; long bit dried-out/ tired slight blackberry/hot rather charred/toasty/pungent/oaked finish w/ light tannins; a bit dried-out & tired but interesting old Zin.
Mayacamas Late Harvest Calif Zin (17.5%) '72: Dark/murkey color w/ some browning; strong raisened/pruney/late harvesty/Zin slight blackberry/volatile/hot nose; rather sweet raisened/pruney/briary/old Amador Zin bit dried out/hot flavor; med.long gritty/tannic late harvesty/raisened/pruney light blackberry some hot/ volatile finish w/ some tannins; bit dried-out & past its prime w/ lots of old Amador/late harvesty character.

And the usual incoherent ramblings of a crazed mind from the bloody pulpit:
Mayacamas Cabs: When I started getting serious about Calif wines; Mayacamas was THE Cabernet; the Grace Family/Screaming Eagle/Colgin of those days; though the craziness/stupidity/frenzy chasing of those cult wines didn't seem to exist in those days when I was buying from Boulder's Liquor Mart. The were huge/extracted/ brutally tannic Cabs upon their release but everyone just "knew" that they would age forever and, ergo, you MUST buy them, whether you liked them or not. I remember tasting them in their youth, wondering where in Gawd's green earth the fruit had gone to. By the early '80's, even having tasted the legendary '68 Mayacamas several times; I had never had a Mayacamas Cab that I truly liked, concluded that the emperor wore no clothes, so started letting my wallet listen to my palate (always wise advice) and quit buying the bloody wines. Trying the wines from time- to-time; I still never had a Mayacamas Cab that I truly liked. So I decided it was time, with around 20 yrs of age on these bottles, to finally liquidate my supply. The 71, '73, '74 I thought were still pretty tannic wines but pretty dried-out and exactly what I thought old Mayacamas Cabs would taste like; tannic/astringent and no fruit (fruit was never a strong suite in Mayacamas Cabs anyway). The '76 was a bit shakey, but OK to drink. But the '77 and the '78 were a bit of a surprise. Still not much fruit, but in the context of a Rhone-style wine, were actually pretty good to drink, though still a fair amount of tannins on them. I doubt they will ever be great/mature Calif Cabs but they are pretty decent drinking right now. What really struck me that none of these Cabs, unlike the Ridge MonteBellos of that time frame, had any of that tobaccoy/cedary character I so often find in old Calif Cabs. So..... does the emperor wear no clothes??? I would not say that any longer... only that he's clad in flimsey K-Mart Shopper's Blue Light Special skivvies!!! I have NO idea what the current Mayacamas Cabs are like.... and not at all inclined to find out. Jeez.... I'm so busy trying to track down some more Screaming Eagle..... gotta have that stuff... I KNOW it's gonna live forever!!!
Last week, Howard & Rhoda Sherry did an extensive vertical tasting of the Dunn Howell Mtn Cabs, so thought it would be interesting to include the standard Napa Vlly bottlings. These wines were very distinctly in that same style w/ plenty of charred/toasty oak, but just seem to like that bit of extra depth & extract & structure that the HowellMtns showed. Almost like Dunn HowellMtn Cabs made from lesser grapes.
Included the Leonetti Sangiovese so Larry Archibald could taste it. I was fully prepared to dislike this wine acause of the stupid price. It's typically Leonetti red wine in which any classic varietal character has been obliterated by either the terrior or the heavily toasted oak. But I really loved that wine for its great roasted/Rhone character. Too bad about the price.
The Corti Bros. Cab was Larry Archibald's mystery wine. I identified it as old Zin or perhaps old Cab. This wine was a very dear & close friend of mine in its youth. It was made by Jed Steele up at EdmeadesVnyds, back when there were some truly great wines coming out of Mendocino Cnty. It was a puncheon that Darrel Corti selected out from Jed's stock. The anemic alcohol level should be noted. In its youth, it was an absolutely beautiful wine w/ an incredible spiciness to it. It was NOT a blockbuster or dramatic young Cab but one that just had an incredible elegance and balance to it; exactly the kind of Calif Cab that in this day and age would be widely scorned as too wimpy... not enough extract... not enough oak. It was a graceful & terrific-drinking from its release whose last bottle I drank with relish some 10-12 yrs ago. Who'd thought it would last some 25 yrs. Once again, the Darrell Corti palate comes thru!!
Mayacamas Zins: In 1968; Mayacamas, Ridge, and David Bruce unleashed upon the world the very first Late Harvest Zins. Zins w/ some residual sugar (in some cases) w/ high alcohol levels. They took the wine-world (of then) by storm. People were very enamored w/ those wines. Of the '68's, my favorite was the Mayacamas, produced from Napa Valley grapes. Mayacamas did not make another (unlike Ridge or David Bruce) until this '72; made from Amador Cnty/ShenandoahVlly grapes from what was to become Ed Baldinelli's vnyd eventually. I bought a bunch of it... still have a few btls left. This bottle was Steve Sterbenz's mystery wine. I picked it out as old Late Harvest Zin but didn't think Steve could possibly have a Mayacamas. The wine has lost most of its glory and a tannic/alcoholic shell of its former self, but still an interesting relic to try.