TN: 1990s California Cabernet

a number of us from the DC contingent met at Charlie Palmer’s tonight for what turned into a sublime 1990s california cabernet dinner. it was wonderful to meet a number of new people, welcome a west coaster into the district, and try a broad selection of pristine 1990s california cabernets. my notes aren’t great, but i thought i’d put them up.

cheers -

CALIFORNIA CABERNET AT CHARLIE PALMER’S - Charlie Palmer’s - DC (1/21/2011)

A great group assembled in DC for a night of aged California Cabernet. Incredible night, big thanks to everyone that pitched in with wine or helped assemble the dinner.
White Wines

• 1998 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon - France, Champagne
  Light golden color with subtle bubbles. Nice notes of brioche, vanilla and honey on the nose. Palate had hazelnut and yeasty tones. Felt that this showed very well and had a nice acidic kick at the end. (92 pts.)
• 2002 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
  Nice golden color. Nose had hazelnut, honeysuckle and a beautiful white floral lift. The finish had a gorgeous mineral component that I felt kept the subtle roundness in balance. Thought this was drinking quite well. (90 pts.)
• 2002 Joseph Drouhin Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
  Beautiful straw color in the glass. Nose had distinct pine resin note (not in a bad way) with really nice stone fruit, white peach and peach pit flavors. Thought this was just a sizzling white burg that was showing so well tonight. Finish had really pronounced minerality that augmented the light fruit flavors of the palate. Wonderful. (91 pts.)

California Cabernets + Desert Wines

• 1990 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
  What a treat! This was easily my WOTN. Great nose of coffee, truffles, graphite and noble red fruit. Palate showed beautiful sour cranberries, subtle blue fruit, and rich earthen flavors. Drinking in its prime. (95 pts.)
• 1991 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley
  Exotic nose of mint, cranberries and eucalyptus. The palate had really nice cranberry flavors with subtle coffee and mushrooms. Thought this had a really deep, sophisticated palate. (91 pts.)
• 1992 Joseph Phelps Insignia - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Bright red fruit on the nose. Fruit was more aggressive in this cuvee than the other Napa cabernets. Really nice warm spice component that combined with a subtle meatiness. I thought this showed quite well, but didn’t stand up to some of the others… (88 pts.)
• 1993 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon Estate - USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena
  Impressive wine. GREAT nose of dried red flowers, subtle tobacco, old leather, and ripe cranberries. This had a really great freshness to it that wasn’t easily replicated in the other wines. I thought this showed quite well - impressive bottle. (92 pts.)
• 1994 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley
  Nice earthy nose. Mushrooms, coffee grinds and dark cherries dominate the nose. Palate has subtle but prevalent tobacco, cranberry, and dried rose flavors. Thought it was a bit muted on the finish, but still a killer wine. (90 pts.)
• 1995 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
  This bottle has a distinct minty nose - almost reminiscent of the 1990 Montelena. Thought the palate was richer than many of the other wines we had. (90 pts.)
• 1995 Dominus Estate Napanook Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Beauifutl cranberry red color in the glass. Nose had enjoyable coffee, roasted nuts, and sous bois. A very deep wine that had escalating red fruit on the mid palate. Beautiful finish. Classic Dominus. (91 pts.)
• 1997 Dominus Estate - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Nose was dominated by subtle tobacco and cranberries - tertiary flavors of graphite and red florals built over time. Classic Pauillac nose. Palate had subtle red fruits - long length. (90 pts.)
• 1997 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Nose had subtle red florals, graphite, cranberry, and some cedar. Great freshness on the palate - doesn’t come across as a 14 year old cabernet. Noticed some subtle mint and tobacco flavors on the finish. Beautiful wine. (91 pts.)
• 1998 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Thought this was a bit more earthy than the other Mondavi’s - with mushrooms and underbrush leading the way. Wonderful on the palate with such amazing texture. Could drink this all night. (91 pts.)
• 1999 Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Thought the nose was more subtle than some of the other cabernets of the night. Red fruit, subtle earthen flavors make up the primary nose of this wine. Palate was rich but balanced and showed really nice dark cherry and sour cranberry flavors. (90 pts.)
• 2005 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Quarts de Chaume
  On the same level as the 2002. Incredibly fresh tones of apricot, peaches and mangos dance on the nose and palate. Great depth, acidity, and balance. Basically what I expect from a BQC these days! (92 pts.)
• 2005 Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon Clos de Sainte Catherine - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon
  Hard to beat this in my mind. Incredible flavors of apricots, lemon, star fruit, and ripe peach. Despite the aggressive fruit, this is incredibly balanced. Baumard’s 2005s are so young but are an absolute treat. (93 pts.)

The more I taste 1990s California Cabernet, the more I recognize how much change has taken place between this and the modern era. Sad to see this style abandoned.
Posted from CellarTracker

Matt - Your notes are spot on, saving me the time to type mine! I think the 93 spottswoode and 90 Mondavi were my favorites, and none of them didn’t belong. The Dom P and Dessert wines rocked too. Not a bad bottle all night, the food was good, and it was a fun group. It was great to see and/or meet you all. Thanks to everyone for attending!

+1

Great notes, Matt. I may have some general impressions later, but your details are true and with a few exceptions on overall scores or placement, I’m in agreement. The '90 Mondavi was a show-stopper. The two 97s (Dominus and Mondavi) were also singing. I may have to do some back-filling of 90s Cabs! Drink now while we’re still young

All in all it was a great time with good food and nice people. A true pleasure.

Sounds like an incredible event. Dominus is one of my all time favorites. Thanks for the notes!

Nice notes Matt, and thanks to all for such a fun evening.

Fine restaurant just near the US Capitol building.
The food was excellent and we had plenty of room along a long table (made up of several square tables).

Each paid $100, which really is a very good deal for the quality of the food and the wines served. Very nice cuts for the filet mignon for example, and the rib eyes looked as delicious as they were enormous.

Note to everyone reading this: I have more an Old World palate. Sometimes I employ the word “sweet” to describe some of the red California wines. That does not mean that they are late harvest wines, but rather have a “sweeter” expression, as dry as they may be.
Certainly sweeter than Old World wines of comparable breed.

Dry whites

Dom Perignon 1998. No longer a youthful straw color when the wine was released, it exhibits fine toast aromas, a bit yeasty, with chalk and citrus. There is good vibrancy although it does not match the precision and depth of the 1996, which I have had within the last few weeks as well. Still, excellent Champagne!

Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne 2002. This wine started reticent, but was well preserved and – thankfully – not over-evolved. Indeed, it improved with time in glass, increasing in depth yet never becoming a large-scaled Corton Charlemagne. Still, I really liked its acacia and herbal, flower elements that seduced like a soft chorus. Louis Latour consistently makes fine Corton Charlemagne at a good price, and here we have a textbook example.

Domaine Olivier Leflaive Meursault Premier Cru Les Poruzots 2002. I remember purchasing four of these bottles in the summer of 2005, following the famous education lunch on offer at the “Leflaive Table” restaurant in Puligny Montrachet. It was then crisp and lovely. But today it was over-evolved, prematurely oxidized. Alas.

Domaine Joseph Drouhin Meursault Les Perrières 2002. Now that’s more like it. Thanks to Mr. Cropsal, then head of public relations at Drouhin, I was given this bottle at the beautiful Drouhin building in Beaune following a visit and tasting, also in 2005. This wine was textbook Meursault, tasting like it should at eight+ years of age. The color was youthful. The wine combined pine forest like freshness with buttery richness, and over time in glass – for about two hours – it became distinctly butterscotch-like on the nose, yet retained a fresh and dry expression on the palate, all expressed rather precisely.

The California reds.

Thanks to all for the education, here. I have only been to Napa a few times and do have some limited knowledge of the Napa Valley, but have gone to too few offlines to taste the wines. Overall, the sweetness of Napa was present, compared to Bordeaux and Old World wines of similar profiles. But it depends on degree. Some wines, such as Silver Oak, I liked less than others.

There was some talk of organizing a Ridge tasting, and that would be great because that has a more Old World feel. But the big surprise – to me at least – was the Mondavi Reserve, which was very good to excellent this evening, especially the 1990, as Matt (and others) readily pointed out.

One note on voting for wine of the night. It was hard for me to vote for one wine for two reasons: the sheer variety and respective styles of the wines and the rather speedy tasting. Too speedy perhaps to really appreciate each wine as well as one could have, and account for evolution in each glass.

Mondavi Reserve 1990. This was like the Medoc with a bit more richness than usual for a wine at 20 years of age, perhaps revealing its New World nature. In any case, this could more than hold its own against many Clarets, exhibiting lovely cigar box and leather aromas and flavors without ever being a caricature because it exuded complexity. And freshness. The wine was balanced in its expression. When we were called on to vote for the wine of the night, I politely declined because there were so many different wines, but this would have been very close to being that wine for me.

Silver Oaks Alexander Valley 1991. As much as the above was complex and interesting, this was more mono-dimensional and sweet. I even got hints of brown sugar here, which detracted my more traditional palate! Yes, there was some eucalyptus and certainly richness but it seemed to lack structure.

Joseph Phelps Insignia 1992. This one was also a bit of a letdown. I recall tasting some fine Insignias in France when the Napa Valley Vintners Association organized tastings in Paris a few years back, in the early 2000s. While nuanced and more interesting than the above, it seemed to lack a mid-palate, basically too fluid. It is OK, certainly, but – once again – it paled in comparison to the Mondavi, and other wines at the tasting, see below:

Spottswoode 1993. Here another worthy wine of the night contender, but a very different style from Mondavi or, as we shall see later, Dominus. There was something very cohesive about this wine, exhibiting richness, without being sweet, and fine texture. Although I did not get the fine-grained tannin that one can feel from a top Bordeaux of comparable age - which just may mean that the Spottswoode’s smooth, even sleek, nature perhaps betrayed its New World origin - this is nitpicking. We are not, after all, drinking Bordeaux. I liked this wine a lot.

Silver Oak Alexander Valley 1994. Better than the 1991 Silver Oak to be sure, showing more punch and more structure but still far too sweet in expression for my taste. I think Marcus Stanley, sitting across from me, said it best: “It just does not go well with steak.” Indeed, the match was sweet wine with… rich steak, a combination too rich for my blood!

Beringer Reserve 1995. At first a hint of Band-Aid, but that blew off and the wine became something rather special. Along the way, I could get some rough edges on the texture, which nonetheless did display fine tannic grain. There was some eucalyptus but nicely integrated in the overall expression of this mostly Cabernet with some significant amount of Merlot (30%?).

Dominus 1995. As much as I came to appreciate the Beringer, I think I tip my hat more to this 1995. The nose was at once subtle and powerful. Its initial expression was beef blood like, but not overwhelmingly. An interesting juxtaposition. What was more explosive was the palate, which was at once fresh and rich. Over time in glass, I got distinct green tobacco. And then I noticed it somewhat trailing off (I was able to keep this longer in glass), especially in comparison to the next wine.

Dominus 1997. This wine is too young for now. Some thought it was too rich, but I did not think it was ever sweet. Or flabby. It is just too young. It conveyed a denser feel than the 1995 and tasted not two years, but rather five years younger than the Dominus 1995. And yet one could enjoy it today because it was not austere in any way. There was a delicious feel. Certainly this has a lot of potential and a wine I really liked overall.

Mondavi Reserve 1997. Another wonderful wine from Mondavi. Very fresh with a lovely juicy aspect. Vif. With good substance. Is this going to go the way of the 1990? It is certainly on a slow motion evolutionary track. I would easily buy this. Another wine of the night candidate perhaps?

Mondavi Reserve 1998. At first I was pleasantly surprised here, given the difficult “El Nino” vintage. But compared with the 1997, it was not too hard to find some faults. Namely, it was overcome by oak-derived tannin. The finish was drying. And it did not have the juiciness of the 1997, even if it had volume.

Duckhorn Estate Cabernet 1999. I brought this wine after having bought it in Napa Valley from Margaret Duckhorn, back in February 2003. A sentimental offering. Although it was smooth in its own way, and pleasing, it was overshadowed by some of the better wines above.

Late harvest wines

Baumard Quarts de Chaume 2005. I liked this quite a bit, coming from half bottles. The wine was zingy and rich but more zingy than rich, if you get my drift. Went very well with my fruit cobbler. Could use a bit more aging to really sing though. But just very enjoyable!

Baumard Coteaux du Layon Clos de St Catherine 2005. Here we had a wine that was more rich than zingy. Rather viscous in fact. I appreciated its finesse, but was just a bit detracted by the viscosity and asked myself: probably wiser to revisit later?

Ch. Raymond Lafon Sauternes 2001. At ten years of age (almost), this is showing well, exhibiting custard, acacia, apricot, vanilla and pineapple. A rather textbook expression of fine Sauternes from an excellent vintage at 10 years of age. Needs more time of course to get complex, but it was nice.

A really fun evening!

This was a great evening! Three hours of good wine and good company. Unfortunate that the long narrow table made it harder to get to know some of the people sitting further away from me, maybe next time.

One general thought and then a few specific things to add to Matt’s notes. Generally, I was surprised by how well all of these wines showed. I’ve always sort of been a Napa Cab skeptic – obviously they’re good wines, but based on a few experiences I sort of felt they wouldn’t be that interesting with age. These just uniformly performed at least well and there were a few great ones. In fact, I returned home from the night still sort of tipsy and dropped some dough on old Mondavi Reserves…the combination of alcohol and the internet is daaaangerous.

Matt’s notes are great (thanks for getting them down!). I agree with most – the 1990 Mondavi in particular really stood out as a terrific wine. But a few nits to pick:

–On the white flight, I would rate the 2002 Corton Charlemagne lower than he did and the 2002 Drouhin Perrieres higher. The Corton Charlie was kind of boring to me. It was correct as far as it went but for me lacked some depth and that extra dimension that separates a really fine wine. I would have given it maybe an 88-89. The Meursault Perrieres on the other hand was really terrific, and I regretted not having longer with it. Great nose, a deep rich palate that was almost oily but still tensile and high-toned. Based on a sniff I got from a neighbor’s glass, this kept developing through the night. It’s young and needs to unwind but really good, I’d give it a 93-94 and would maybe have gone higher if I had more chance to sit with it.

–On the reds, I would have rated the Silver Oaks (particularly the 1991) lower than Matt did, but the two Dominus , the 97 Mondavi, and the Spottswoode higher (Matt did justice to the Spottswoode in his written note but maybe not the score). The Silver Oaks had a nice up-front sweetness but then I felt they didn’t show much in the midpalate and generally lacked complexity. A certain hollowness there. For me the 1995 Dominus was a wine that almost gave that first 1990 Mondavi a run for its money in terms of complexity; I wonder if it would have stood out even more if we had had it earlier when palates were fresher. The 97 Dominus was maybe even better but also younger and not expressing quite as much, it was in a denser and sweeter phase of development. That wine has a long time to go.

–Dessert wines…The Clos St. Catherine was certainly the best deal of the two, as it was about half the price of the Quarts de Chaume. However, for my palate I slightly preferred the QdC. Basically, the QdC was zingier and more acidic while still having great sweetness – it just had fantastic lift and freshness for a rich dessert wine. The St. Catherine was more unctuous and had heavier peach-type fruit. All in what you prefer; I really love acidity in my dessert wines.

Thanks again to all, this was a really fun night!

More great tasting notes from Panos. I actually attended this event , even if it was vicariously. $100 is an incredible bargain as well.

Ah, I did not see Panos’ post before I posted. I agree with most of his comments (since we were sitting close to each other we got to put groupthink in effect , and he has a much better analysis of each red than I do. My note taking started to lag; Charlie Palmers really did rush us to an unseemly degree. Above a certain level of class a restaurant should not do that. It’s true we stayed late but they seated us around 9 so they should have known we would. These wines were terrific as it was but a lot of them would have rewarded more time.

On the 01 Raymond Lafon Sauternes…that dessert flight really helped me understand what makes Sauternes stand out from other regions. The Sauternes had a lot of intense botrytis, a much stronger component than in the Baumards. That gave it a cinammon/nutmeg/allspice character that really stood out from the purer fruit of the Baumards.

I always have adored early 1990’s California cabernet sauvignon and merlot, particularly from Howell Mountain.
Last night, I dranked a recent cheapie…1994 Liparita Howell Mountain Merlot…at RiverPark, in Noo Yawk.
The staff also shared, and were quite taken.

I’ll just reiterate what I popped on the Offline DC post:

This was a great event with some terrific company. I was the slow drinker of the night, and spent most of it chatting and trying to remember which glass contained which wine (i managed to keep track of 6), so i was blessed to see some great evolutions - particularly the '95 Beringer PR. It was my first exposure to so many great wineries top-shelf offerings and it was a great eye opener to mature Napa Cab.

I’m in general agreement with the group-think here on the notes, particularly Panos who we sat with. His knowledge and cheerful disposition to share it made the dinner a priceless event. Hopefully we can get together with everyone soon for an opportunity to meet with the other side of our table.

For having the '90 Mondavi Res WOTN, i feel some need to offer thanks where it is truly due:

• fellow Berserker David White for trading me one of his '98 Mondavi Reserves and then giving me the suggestion of where I could get a 2nd elderly bottle within walking distance from my office
• Schneider’s DC http://www.cellar.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and their rep Terry, they had several great options and had the '90 waiting for me when I arrived.

For those who have some '90 Reserve in their cellars:

• I let it stand upright in my office for 6 hours before the event
• I let it “slow OX” 1 hour before pouring
• the cork split in two as i was pulling it out, but the cork wasn’t dried out at all. simply put the screw in the bottom half and slowly pulled it out to find a wet cork with a bit of sediment - thanks Schneider’s for a properly stored bottle!
• it was still maturing in the glass throughout the night and those few who kept some (Gabe) got a real treat.

I should add that the '95 Dominus came from another Berserker, Jay Carroll, who sold me a '92, '95, '96 and '99, thereby introducing me to the wonders of mature Dominus. Every bottle I’ve opened so far has been perfect, so it’s really a credit to this board that there are so many good people who take care of their wine and then enthusiastically share it with others.

I’ve bought some older Bordeaux from Schneider’s and had good experience.

1993 Tapestry

I concur!

Many thanks for these insightful notes, your efforts are much appreciated.

Had the 1996 Beringer Private Reserve a few days ago, was bit jammy on the palate.

You crossed the vintage Maginot Line.

I’m surprised the older Silver Oaks held up this long.

Nice notes

you gentleman realize this thread is from 2011, right …

This Howell Mountain 1996 merlot was a steal, at $35 for a magnum.

Matt,

Good to see that you are making the rounds nationwide and miss you here in the Windy City. This looks like a nice line up. Hope to have something related to post shortly…

Mark

While a merlot, this is a ridiculous deal.