1991 Mt. Eden Cabernet Old Vine Reserve Report

Last night we opened the 1990 Felsina Rancia - a bottle that has probably been in our cellar for as long as anything else in there.

With our daughter visiting and my wife being one of the most wonderful women alive, we decided to extend her birthday celebration to two nights. Tonight, in a bit of a mirror image of the Rancia, we had a bottle almost as old, but which has been in our cellar for only 9 months or so. Unlike Rancia, I’d never even heard of Mt. Eden back when I was first cellaring wine. But having read all about them, and visited, in recent years, and having started to buy their cabs on release, I decided I need to try at least one with some age and at least one example of their no-longer-made “Old Vine Reserve.” So when a lot came up for auction last year, I jumped on it and acquired three bottles of the 1991 OVR. 1991 has always been one of my favorite Napa cab vintages and while I’ve never had the 1991 Montebello, it’s a legend, so even without many reviews I figured this SCM cab from one hill over had to be pretty good, right? We opened our first of the lot tonight.

Wow.

On pulling the cork, no off aromas that needed to blow off, or anything close. Big, almost primary, cab fruit on the nose. Bottle left standing for another 90 minutes or so. Decanted about 30 minutes before serving with USDA Prime strips.

HUGE nose. Lots of eucalyptus. Just captivating. At first, almost a bit tannic on the palate. Too young at 29? Over the next 90 minutes, the palate begins to open up beautifully and the tannins recede from noticeability. The palate never quite reaches the heights of the nose (which never fades), but starts to approach it. Wonderful, old-school CA cab without any of the pretension or spoof that mars so many more “modern” takes on the variety.

What a great two nights of wine!

Back to reality tomorrow…