2002 Justin Isosceles

opened this as friends from Mammoth are here. back when i lived in The Eastern High Sierra this was one of the readily available “nice” bottles from the central coast and we used to see reps from the winery for dinners and tastings every so often. i bet i once had 20+ bottles from various vintages; now i am down to 3: 99, 00 and one more 02!

this needs 2-3 hours in a decanter to smooth out as it remains quite youthful and tannic. the 2002 is 93% Cab Sav with the rest Merlot/Cab Fr and shows a dark fruit profile after some initial blueberries. after the decant it is enjoyable with a marinated & grilled tri-tip and seems to be improving still as we finished the last of the bottle.

I have quite a bit after joining in the early '90’s, but have since dropped out of their club. The wines are good, but they just don’t excite. Also fairly easy to source on the open market at close to member pricing.