1995 Cal. Cab. Horizontal at the Isenbergs (Dentist formerly known as the WineBozo ;)

WINE TALK
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1995 California Cabernet Tasting (1/26/13)

I invited 13 wine friends over for the kind of horizontal tasting I used to put on in days of yore. The theme was ’95 Cal Cab with a couple of ’95 Bordeaux ringers thrown in for the fun of it. I divided up the wines into 3 flights of 6 wines each. The wines were bagged and randomly numbered within each flight. We spent about 30 minutes on eachflight, chatted about them, voted on favorites and second favorites, tallied the results and then revealed the wines. At the beginning of each flight all that the guests knew was that these were ‘95s. After 15 minutes everyone then received a list of what wines were in the specific flight, but not the order of what was in each glass. Here are the results:

Starter wines: ’95 Baumard Tres Special Savennieres - Tired but still kicking (barely) old Chenin Blanc. At least it wasn’t maderized. Get in the time machine and drink these at least 5 years ago. A friend brought over a delicious Vilmart Grand Cellier (“delicious Vilmart,” that is definitely redundant) and I also opened a ’97 Kalin Sauv. Blanc. On one hand I admire Terrance Leighton’s attempts to really push the envelope regarding the aging of white varietals we generally don’t think of aging. I really do. On the other hand, 15 year old Livermore Sauv. Blanc is not an experiment I would recommend repeating. In short: Maderized urine sample. Terrance, stop the insanity. Sniff, what about the children……

First Flight (in order of composite group scoring)

  1. Whitehall Lane Reserve Cabernet
  2. Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages
  3. Simi Reserve Cabernet
  4. (tie) Burgess Vintage Selection Cabernet and St. Clement Oroppas
  5. Pichon Baron (Bordeaux ringer)

Comments: The Whitehall Lane and the Chateau St. Jean were the overwhelming favorites. A few of us picked out the Whitehall Lane since this was a juicy and jammy sucker. The Burgess had that classic Napa minty and menthol thing going (more than the others). Many commented that they felt that Chateau St. Jean was the most complex and elegant of the flight and guessed it as being the Bordeaux ringer. The Pichon was the least favorite (and a number of attendees were Bordeaux fans who regularly express their preference for Bordeaux over Cal. Cab, myself included. Hah.) A bit washed out, tired and just plain a big yawn.

Second Flight (in order of composite group scoring)

  1. Cain 5
  2. Staglin Cabernet
  3. Mt. Eden Reserve Cabernet
  4. Peter Michael Les Pavots
  5. (tie) Chateau Montrose (Bordeaux Ringer) and Barnett Rattlesnake Cabernet S.

Comments: At this point in the tasting, Cain 5 is the wine of the evening. Many in the group tagged this as being the Bordeaux ringer and were shocked when it was revealed to be a wine that more than one taster commented as being, “That overrated and overpriced Spring Mountain wine I never buy. Shit, this damn thing is terrific.” Individual scores were generally higher for this flight, so we are moving in the right direction. The Staglin was very well received and thought to be the most structured wine in the flight but with tannins that were integrating beautifully with the rich and spicy fruit. Once again the Bordeaux ringer underperformed, but most agreed the Montrose was at least an improvement over the Pichon Baron.

Third Flight (in order of composite group scoring)

  1. Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet
  2. Shafer Hillside Reserve Cabernet
  3. Ridge Monte Bello
  4. Mondavi Reserve Cabernet
  5. (tie) Chateau Montelena and Phelps Insignia

Comments: The universal comment regarding the first four wines was, “Huge.” Dark and darn impressive. I would challenge anyone to have guessed that any of these four wines had 15 years of bottle age. Beringer had big and beautiful menthol Cal Cab written all over it. Posterchild for what aged big Cal Cab can become. The Shafer was a very close second, almost a tie in voting. The Shafer probably gets the nod for extraction and heft while the Beringer just squeaked by on complexity. The Monte Bello was my personal favorite of the evening. But then Monte Bello almost always is. The Mondavi was holding its own as well. I suspect the Montelena was an off bottle in that it was showing a little bit of oxidation. And this Insignia is just plain a shadow of what it once was. When this bottle was released in the late 90s, I routinely saw it spank some of the California Cult wines of the ’95 vintage at blind tastings, much to the chagrin of Harlan, Araujo and Colgin owners.

Finishing Wines: ’95 Baumard Quartes de Chaume, ’95 Quinto do Vesuvio, ’93 Pajzos Esszencia Tokay

Comments: The Baumard has really held its own, bravo. Sugars have muted a wee bit, revealing a delightful and elegant dessert wine. Sweet pear and candied citrus. Yummy. The ’95 Vesuvio, a longtime personal favorite, has finally begun its decline. Sniff, I said I wasn’t going to cry……

And the ’93 Esszencia … the best part of opening one of these is watching the reactions of people who have never tried it before. They get that look of utter incredulous delight, followed by the words, “Uh, where can I buy this? Now …. NOW DAMMIT!”

Fun evening. I smoked two legs of lambs which I must say makes wine pairing really easy. I mean, I believe the most appropriate wine to pair with smoked lamb is ANYTHING. Well, maybe not the ’97 Kalin Sauv. Blanc……

Back to reality.

David Isenberg

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Great notes David.

Not good news about the 1995 Insignia. One of my favorites when I worked at Phelps.

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Thanks Tom. When did you work at Phelps? I had the pleasure of getting to know Tom Shelton when he was President of Phelps. Great guy. He gave my wife and I use of the School House during one of our visits to the Valley many years ago. Just a class act who died way too young. After I witnessed the shameful treatment of both Tom (during his cancer treatments, no less) and winemaker Craig Williams (also a pretty good guy if you ask me) by the Phelps family, I decided never to buy a bottle with the Phelps label on it again.
David

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David–Good to see you posting around these parts! As much as I enjoyed the Cab. notes, I’m always happy to see notes on the 95 Baumard QdC and the 93 Pajzos Esszencia. I believe it was Mattman who first turned me on to the latter wine at one of TMOACT’s he did way back in the day.

Bruce

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Welcome, David.

We’re all Bozos on this bus

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Have always loved the 95 Beringer Private Reserve. Drank well on release and has aged beautifully. Too bad they don’t make them like they used to.

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Agreed. I still have a magnum around here some place that needs and occasion to be opened.

Thanks to the OP for the tasting notes. Too bad to hear about the Insignia.

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I worked in the cellar in '98 & '99…and yes, that whole thing with Tom and Craig was really ugly.

I am going to pull a bottle of the '95 Insignia and hope that maybe your bottle was off…I really loved that wine when released and over the years.

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You hardly ever see tasting notes on Cain anymore. It use to be a favorite of mine back during the early 1990’s, and the 1991 was a stunner with a few years of age on it. You never knew if you were going to be wow’d by a Cain 5 or disappointed and once the prices shot up it was easy to find other substitutes.

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Historically, the '95 Insignia always made my pants get up and dance as well. And this bottle didn’t taste off at all (unlike the Montelena), just boring. Funny, I’ve experienced a lot of bottle variation with the '94 Insignia. I opened my last three '94s over the last year and a half and they have been all over the map. I’ve got two more bottles of the '95 left, then my cellar will be a Phelps Free Zone. I’ll open another '95 Insignia in a month or so. It’s always a challenge to compare a bottle by itself outside of a formalized tasting. We’ve all been to big tastings where we find a bunch of wines that we throw an 89 point score at, but if we had one of those bottles by itself with say a smoked leg of lamb a week later, we are suddenly waxing poetic regarding its allure.
David

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The 2005 is fantastic, and loaded with structure. If you’ve been put off by BPR recently, snag one and give it a decade. It’s great.

I’ve had all of the wines in the third flight but the SHSS, and they’re all wonderful wines. The BPR, though, is a knockout. Kicks off with some big wood, but with a touch of air, develops into a really special wine. I’m not surprised it one an outstanding flight at all. Beautiful wines.

I’m not surprised the 1995 Les Pavots struggled a bit. That’s a wonky wine. It’s not bad, just not a big beast like the 1996 which is outstanding, or the 1997 which is big, juicy, but really put together.

Sounds like a great tasting. I hope you can do 1996 next year. It’s turning into a fantastic vintage with some age.