Popped and sipped a little bit and then aired the bottle for one hour this morning and took another little taste.
The first pull was very tight on the nose and still shy on the palate but what I could taste was clean, pure and intense without any trace of excess.
The dry aged prime rib is now roasting in the oven using the 200 and slow roasting method that Alton Brown uses. The wine is now poured into a proper stem and I am sipping on it while the meat cooks. It is starting to unravel in the glass showing scents of violet and red raspberry with an herbal note, maybe savory, and a hint of used oak on the backend. The aroma is going deep into my nostrils like a top old world wine. There is no alcoholic heat on the nose whatsoever. With some more air the graphite is coming out.
Tasting this 100% RRV Cabernet Sauvignon from a cool site is a pleasure. The body is medium to medium plus yet the flavor intensity in on high. There are deep flavors of red, black and blue fruits with earth and a hint of primarily used French oak. The structure is letting you know it is still alive when the acidity and tannins surface after about 20 seconds into the minute long finish. The finish is long and pure and keeps echoing and rippling and the beef still has 3 more hours to cook.
Thes is the oldest Dehlinger Claret that I have drank. It clearly has evolved and improved from the first bottles opened 2 and 3 years ago. This wine is approaching stunning. It clearly is still young yet the potential is obvious.
I have been very patient holding off on the Estate Cabernet. I will sacrifice a 2005 in a couple of years for reference point purposes. The Claret is made from younger vines and is from generally lower spots on the estate slope. I can only image what the Cabernet will be like.
Yep, I’m always amazed at how Dehlinger somehow flies under the radar with his Cabernet wines, which are year in an year out excellent. Trouble is that the critics are all calibrated to huge, monster, over-oaked Napa Cabs, and don’t seem to be able to appreciate the quality and restraint of the Dehlinger wines. Good for us
I agree that they are under the radar. But, to give Bob credit, he seems to have really liked four of the last five estate cab releases (the '06 less so), after being less enthusiastic about earlier releases.
With the beef the Claret went to another level accenting the elegance and depth of the wine. I think it was $30 with the case discount. Excellent QPR.
Tonight we are drinking a 2007 Faust Napa Cab that was gifted to us. The first sip reveals a different animal than the Claret, it is oriented to the fruity and slick style that I do not care for, although it is drinkable with the lefover meat.
I’m not a subscriber, so can’t go look, but I have the recollection that Parker hasn’t been paying any attention to Dehlinger for quite a few years, until just recently. If he ranked some recent vintages, I bet it was a retrospective vertical done recently.
I haven’t read Parker for several years, but he was always very positive on Dehlinger while I was subscribing. The “problem” is that he never rated any wine more than 93 or so. The wines are great for drinking (and critics agree) but they don’t have whatever it is that gets those 98 point ratings and drives up the prices. Then from the consumer side, it’s Cab but not Napa, so it can’t be serious. Otherwise how could Montebello sell for half the price of PlumpJack Reserve?
I just took a peek to see. He reviewed the '86 cab, and then every vintage since '91. I didn’t open every review, but the 6 or 7 I did check all came from different years/issues (usually the Feb. issue each year). He also covered multiple vintages of their cab/merlot blend in the '90s and the last 5 or 6 vintages of the Claret (with the exception of '03).
I do agree that there appears to be a ceiling of 93/94 pts for the cab. Whether you think they merit a higher score than that is obviously up to you.
Parker gives bonus points for hedonism in his highest scores from the new world. That is not what Tom is doing. I am confident his daughter Eva will continue the ship on a straight course.
The Dehlinger hand is very evident in all their wines. A recent 2004 estate Syrah had a similar elegant and medium bodied style. It was clearly a Syrah made by a PN specialist and not at all heavy. The same can be said for the Claret.
My girlfriend said of the Faust Cab, “This wine sucks” after being spoiled by the Claret.
I’m not sure about the Claret, but the Cab in the ripe years is about as “hedonistic” as I care to go in wine. In my opinion it is big without being overbearing, lush without being fat, and sweet without being cloying. I don’t want wines like this all the time but those that are done well can really hit the spot now and then.
I think Parker just scores “bigger is better” in most cases.
