Over the weekend our friends graciously hosted a dinner along with an eight year vertical of Beringer Private Reserve. I didn’t take any formal notes at the time as we were all engaged in discussion, but I thought it worthwhile to post my thoughts from memory. Wines were double decanted back into bottle 30-60 minutes before tasting and serially tasted throughout the night.
1987 Beringer Private Reserve - Fully mature. Ripe red cherries on the nose and palate followed by new leather. Not much delineation left here, but lovely texture and relatively good length on the palate. Good acidity adds some liveliness despite its maturity.
1988 Beringer Private Reserve - A real surprise - Dark fruits, cigar and tomato leaf on the nose. Black cherries, black currant on the palate followed by dried tobacco, tomato leaf and a touch of smoke. A note of roasted meat showed later in the evening - I suspect a bit of brett in this bottle but in an appealing way. Quite interesting with detail and complexity. Good texture and length, but overall very expressive. Pretty charming and one of the best wines of the night.
1989 Beringer Private Reserve - Relatively austere on the nose. Cool black and blue fruits on the palate with notes of cedar wood. A bit hard on the palate and ungiving. Quite short on the palate as well. Perhaps a tad over the hill.
1990 Beringer Private Reserve - Dark fruit on the nose and palate with good density and texture. Some cedar notes and earth as well. Somewhat similar to the 89 but more generous with greater texture and length.
1991 Beringer Private Reserve - Pehaps my favorite of the night. Cassis with a touch of sweetness counterbalanced perfectly by a tremendous savory midpalate - dried cedar, dried tobacco and tomato leaf. Very supple on the palate with a tannic grip in the finish. Long on the palate with lovely balance, intensity and interest.
1992 Beringer Private Reserve - First bottle corked. Second bottle oxidized. We took a hint.
1993 Beringer Private Reserve - Dark, rich nose of dried black fruits. On the palate dense dried black currant, sweet chocolate and licorice. A note of earth and mushroom adds some interest here, but this is primarily chocolate and licorice. Heft and weight on the palate with some fine tannin left. I imagine this was quite a big wine in its youth but it’s held it all together well. A bit of a crowd pleaser.
1994 Beringer Private Reserve - Quite primary with notes of blackberry. Energetic but not much detail or complexity here. Rather fresh but simple. Not much to report here.
Overall, I thought many of these were lovely examples of mature old school Napa wines. Distinctly Californian but mature, pleasurable and interesting. Never lacked ripeness or acidity and finely balanced in their own way. A very nice evening and very nice wines.