Chuck and Bonnie were over for an early New Year’s Eve dinner. It’s celebratory… not for the New Year. Sally isn’t here, but will be at noon on Thursday after almost four weeks away (I was with her much of the time) and a vast amount of medical stuff, all of which has thankfully gone well. She doesn’t drink much nowadays, mostly Rose, she doesn’t mind me opening the good stuff for Chuck and Bonnie, who have always been there for us.
Both wines 1994 vintage. I tasted single blind, one Cab from Napa Valley, one Cab from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Both bottles came out of my basement from a rack at eye level, so temps were mid 50s. Popped, decanted and poured within minutes. I decanted into identical decanters, left the bottles with the decanters, and Chuck marked ‘A’ and ‘B’.
‘A’ – Medium dark ruby color to the rim. Aromas are more black fruit than red. There are herbal nuances and a tiny touch of oak. The palate is medium to full bodied, vigorous, with the herbal touches reinforced and a definite conifer note. This is beautiful and intricate, subtle and slightly Bordelais, a great wine in mature secondary splendor. The green touches and conifer led me to the Santa Cruz Mountain wine. Rated 96+.
‘B’ – Slightly darker color, also no bricking. The aromas are even more strongly black fruit, there is no hint of green and no hint of oak. The palate is even deeper and richer, with the majesty of very great wine. The fruit has more depth and purity, this is almost monolithic like great Haut Brion, Lafite and Latour just bowl you over with intensity and purity of fruit and flavor. The balance is unreal, as if you could have one sip every five minutes for hours and nothing would change. This is a very great wine, probably fully mature but with this balance it could hold to half a century. I assumed the Napa Valley. Rated 98+.
I never mind being wrong, but as a great Santa Cruz Mountain fan, am rarely so happy about it!
A – 1994 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb Vineyard
B – 1994 Mount Eden Cabernet Sauvignon
Impeccable provenance for both wines, they’ve both been in my passive Maine basement for 20+ years.
Bonnie preferred the Colgin, Chuck the Mount Eden. Neither of them are wine geeks, but Chuck is more of a red wine guy, Bonnie more white.
Merry New Year!
Mine certainly is.
We also had a bottle of good Champagne, I’ll post on it soon.
Dan Kravitz