TN: 1980 Montevina Cabernet, Amador County, Shenandoah Valley

WINE TALK
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[media] Rich Brown on Instagram: "1980 Montevina Cabernet, Amador County, Shenandoah Valley. The bottle was leaking, had signs of past seepage, and a pretty low fill.....but it's a birthyear wine so I took a flier on it at auction.  Cork completely saturated but per usual, my trusty Durand to the rescue.  Expectations were pretty low but this poured a deep reddish black with almost no visible signs of age, and a nice perfume of fall leaves which was encouraging.  On the palate this is fully alive and really enjoyable!  Sweet (almost baked/candied) black fruit, pipe tobacco, and earth.  Blind, I would have sworn this was an old Zinfandel due to the baked sweetness mixed with the secondary characteristics.  Probably makes sense as I believe this winery was known for their zins (at least that's what I've seen/acquired at auction). Fun wine and nice surprise! #wine #cabernetsauvignon #amadorwine #amadorwinecountry #montevinawinery" [/media]

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I’ve had a lot of Montaviña Zins in the older days, but I’m not sure I’ve ever had a Shenandoah Cabernet. Thanks for the note

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First for me as well David! I enjoyed it but the zin resemblance was strong.

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Hmmmm, Rich… I don’t see a TN… only the top end of the btl. Help me here.
This would have been made in the later days of CaryGott. His '80’s were very successful. But his Cabs always spoke more of Shenandoah Vlly Zin than Cab.
BillEaston’s Cabs are very good and do speak of CS, with a bit of an Amador accent.
Tom

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Was hoping you would see this/weigh in Tom! Oh Weird on the TN - does it not display the full Instagram post including the note in my OP? I always assumed it does since it shows up in my preview. Either way - TN below. Glad to hear you mention the cabs speaking to Zin, as that’s exactly what I thought about this one.

The bottle was leaking, had signs of past seepage, and a pretty low fill…but it’s a birthyear wine so I took a flier on it at auction. Cork completely saturated but per usual, my trusty Durand to the rescue. Expectations were pretty low but this poured a deep reddish black with almost no visible signs of age, and a nice perfume of fall leaves which was encouraging. On the palate this is fully alive and really enjoyable! Sweet (almost baked/candied) black fruit, pipe tobacco, and earth. Blind, I would have sworn this was an old Zinfandel due to the baked sweetness mixed with the secondary characteristics. Probably makes sense as I believe this winery was known for their zins (at least that’s what I’ve seen/acquired at auction). Fun wine and nice surprise!

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I remember back during one of the early Old Vines Offlines we had like a ‘77 Montevina Zin that was still drinkable for about an hour or so. I was shocked.

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Nice! I actually had a 77 Montevina a couple years ago and also enjoyed it- still had quite a bit of Amador fruit left in it. Was 15% abv which seemed kinda high for NOT being a late harvest zin from the 70’s. Guessing it was a bruiser in its youth.

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Saved some for day 2 and it’s still got that up front sweetness, but falling apart a bit on the backend with a bit of heat on the finish. I doubt that anyone has any of these kicking around still…but if you do, definitely drink up :slight_smile: