Today I was browsing one on my old wine books (The Great Vintage Wine Book by Michael Broadbent) and in 1980 he wrote this note about a 1973 Mount Eden, Cabernet-Sauvignon:
“The most astonishing wine (and price: £175 per dozen) at a recent London tasting: opaque; nose extremely rich; a huge dry wine, intense, tannic. Immensely impressive but surely undrinkable for 20 years. For those with strong teeth, an iron constitution and a sincere admiration for well developed biceps. I nearly said not for me; but perhaps the 1870 Lafite was like this at six years of age.
At Geoffrey Roberts’s tasting, March 1980 (5 stars)”
Does anyone on the board have recent with older Mount Eden (70s-early 80s). Does the wine hold up to the expectations? What about vintage variation?
Wine Searcher as some older bottles, and they’re not insanely pricey either
We’ve enjoyed 84 and '86 Mount Eden Cabernets in the past year or so. Both were excellent examples of fully mature Santa Cruz Mtns Cab, but were very different from the massive Cabs made in '73 and '74. I have one bottle of the '74 left in the cellar, and I’m confident it will be an amazing wine in 5 years, when I plan to open it for its 50th birthday. Note there were several different wine makers in the '72-'82 period. Richard Graff followed by Merry Edwards made the wines in '72-'76. Several others made the wines until Jeffrey Patterson got involved and then took over in the early 80s.
When you’re talking about 30-40 year old wines, provenance is key. I think, if you can locate properly stored bottles, that these are excellent values in CA Cabs.
When you’re talking about 30-40 year old wines, provenance is key. I think, if you can locate properly stored bottles, that these are excellent values in CA Cabs.
This.
And remember that Broadbent was writing with a palate based on seeking out older Bordeaux and there weren’t that many CA wines widely available in London at the time. But it would be really interesting to see if he predictions hold up. In any event, the few older Eden Cabs I’ve had were quite good.
Thanks for the information on the wine makers Scott- I didn’t know Merry Edwards made those wines.
Our tasting group recently did a vertical of '73-'82 (sans '78). Jeffrey was happy the '73 was the group favorite, because that’s the vintage that showed him the potential of the site, inspiring him to stay on. (He’d worked there a couple years before being hired as winemaker.)
These bottles were fading. I’m sure there are pristine bottles with perfect corks out there that would show better. Good, but not spectacular. Some style variation and clumsy winemaking in the mix, but the site shines through.
It’s a challenging site. The old Martin Rays were hit and miss. Some of the '80s ones Jeff made reminded me of those. The misses being sort of monolithic, dark, black licorice and green bamboo shoot. Not actually bad, but… (Other vineyards in the area with the same La Questa material have had the same issues.) Jeff has said it took him a decade to figure the Cab out, so the first one he was happy with was around '94 or '93. This is a case where all the work really is in the vineyard (and quite impressive) and the winemaking is no frills.
My notes show the following winemakers:
'73 Dick Graff, Peter Graff and Dr. Ed
'74-'76 Merry Edwards
'77 Bill Anderson
'79-'80 Dick Graff
'81-'82 Fred Peterson
Some publications mistakenly gave Merry credit for the '73 because she was winemaker when it was released.
Wes, sorry if I missed any notes you posted on this tasting, but I’m curious about your thoughts on the '74. I’ve had the '74 in pairings along side both bottlings of the '73 and preferred it both times.
Thank you all for the great info on vintages and winemakers! I will try to find some with good provenance. They sometime show up on K&L (I had mostly positive experience with their auction department)
IIRC, in an Advocate 1973 retrospective many moons ago, Parker wrote the 1973 Mt Eden Cab was potentially a 50 year wine.
I am a 1970’s CA Cab wineosaur, the good ones are still stunning.