For the third year in a row I attended the Sigel’s Benchmark Cab Tasting in Dallas. Sigel’s, a local liquor store, puts on the bash for $50 a head, and uses it as an opportunity to showcase their new release lineup. There are generally from 40 to 50 cabs of the most recent vintage. This year’s focus was on 2009. Below is a list of the wines I tried, followed by a brief write up of the wines I thought truly stood out, and some that I found a bit disappointing.
2009 Au Sommet
2009 August Briggs Monte Rosso
2009 Coup de Foudre
2009 Darioush Signature
2009 Ehlers 1886
2009 Gemstone
2009 Ghost Block Napa
2009 Hourglass “Hourglass”
2009 Larkin Napa
2009 Jack Larkin Pritchard Hill
2009 Kobalt
2009 Lail Blueprint
2009 L’Aventure Cabernet Sauvignon
2009 Lewis “Mason’s”
2009 Lewis Reserve
2009 Meyer Family “Fluffy Billows”
2009 Miner Oakville
2009 Napanook
2009 Newton Unfiltered
2009 Neyers Conn Valley
2009 O’Shaughnessy Howell Mt.
2009 Red Mare
2009 Robert Craig Affinity
2009 Shafer One Point Five
2009 Stanton Oakville
2009 Zeitgeist Napa
Also tasted were the following wines from other vintages:
2010 Beau Vigne Romeo
2002 Cafaro Alta Tierra
2007 Cafaro Napa
2010 Januik Columbia Valley
2008 Kamen
2008 Lail J. Daniel Cuvee
2008 Meteor Perseid
2007 Miner Oracle
2008 Moffet Reserve
2008 Newton Puzzle
2008 Paradigm
2008 Robert Craig Mt. Veeder
2008 Mondavi Reserve
2010 Sbragia Andolsen
2005 Selene Chesler
2007 Selene “Dead Fred”
2007 Silver Oak Napa
2010 Tor Kenward
Favorites
2009 Gemstone – Really complex with pure blackberry, lifting aromatics of licorice and violet, a hint of cedary oak, and a surprising cut of acidity and tannins. Really well balanced, and should age pretty well. Very good wine, and excellently made.
2009 Coup de Foudre – Black currant, plum, and black cherry mixed with mint, and a touch of baker’s chocolate. Brooding and rich, with fine tannins. Very nice, very expressive, and more approachable than many wines on the tables. Very delicious.
2009 O’Shaughnessy Howell Mt. – This is serious juice, and an instant standout among very good wines. Wonderful complexity of fruit, with blackberry, black cherry, and current coming in waves, but balanced by surprising mineral and lead pencil notes, with just a faint hint of vanilla. Really excellent and complex juice, with balance that surprised me. This was top tier.
2009 Jack Larkin – A new wine for me, and boy did this deliver. Black cherry, blueberry, mineral, licorice, and a hint of smoke. Great structure with a solid backbone of tannins and not overwhelming extraction. Really well done. I anticipate Galloni tossing this a 93 or so when he gets around to it, and it’s a great buy from Pritchard Hill. I’ll keep an eye out for this.
Sad Stuff Wines
2009 Hourglass – This is 40 pounds of extracted megapurple fruit syrup. It is noticeably heavy on the palate, with thick glycerine mouthfeel, pure black currant, vanilla, and sweet black cherry. I like big wines. I like young cabs. But when push comes to shove, I don’t get the point of this wine, which was severly outclassed by table mates like Shafer one point five, Au Sommet, Coup de Foudre, and Meteor Perseid. Bob Foley can make the shit out of wine. His 2007 Foley Howell Mountain is stupendous. This, though, is from another and much more depressing planet.
2007 Silver Oak Napa – Despite rave reviews from the half drunk septegenarians ahead of me, I found this wine profusely oaked, disjointed, and generally lacking in complexity, and carrying moderate red and black fruit, smoke, and a hint of spice. It’s fine, but I don’t understand paying good money for it.
2008 Moffet Reserve – Immediate bust. Nose is somewhat expressive with cooler fruit aromatics, but the palate was unimpressive, and finished with a chewy bubble gum note that I find common in cheaper wines (which this is not). Disappointing, and one of the wines I was quickest to spit and pour out. It was provided no favors by being tabled with a number of top-tier wines.
2008 Lail J. Daniel Cuvee – While I enjoyed the 2007, I found the 2008 tannic on the front palate, with a fairly simplistic palate of cherry, blackberry, and faint licorice, leading to a surprisingly clipped finish. It’s just not all there, and if you’re buying the Cuvee, this is the vintage to dodge.
Notes from the 2009 Horizontal
The 2009s were generally pretty solid wines, and I’ll back off a bit on my previous stance on the vintage, which was not particularly positive. I think the 2009s will age very well, have very nice black and red fruit, with more focus on the black, and good but not astounding complexity. In previous vintages I’ve been blown away by the top end wines, especially in 2007. I had fewer wines really stop me in my tracks this year. Many of the 2009s were also very tannic wines that should sit for a considerable period. I’m pretty immune to tannins too, and rarely raise that as an objection to drinking wines young, even with bordeaux. I do think that time will help the 2009s improve considerably, and now think that in a decade, we may be talking quite favorably about the vintage.
The 2008s that I had were significantly less tannic, and were pretty accessible wines. Wines from Paradigm and Kamen were quite wonderful, and were very open. I enjoyed them, and each was break from the more tannic wines from 2009. They both showed pretty well. I was also surprised by the 2008 Mondavi Reserve. It was fascinating, but not overwhelming. It was pure, with black fruits that I did not find sweet, asphalt, sage, and a hint of oak. It was not over the top, did not punch your palate, but was quite complex. While it was very good, it was not a monster standout, and I think will be much better with age on it.
The 2010s were very interesting, and frankly, pretty exciting. There weren’t many, so I don’t think I have any kind of real feel, but the 2010s all had two things in common: (1) cool fruit profiles; (2) wonderful aromatic complexity. I was really excited by the Tor Kenward and Beau Vigne. I’m used to Tors like those from 2006, sitting at 15.1+% ABV with huge, pitch black fruit profiles and big extraction. The 2010 Tor Kenward is not in that mold. It was blueberry, cherry, and black cherry with great minerality, and a really explosive nose. The Beau Vigne was similar with a super-aromatic red fruit nose. Neither showed any green characteristic. I’m pumped to try them in a few years. They were soaring aromatically, and each had nice acidity to match their beautiful cherry laced palates.
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