Decant and pour. Deep crimson to the rim. Fresh red berry fruit is a little more red than black, mostly raspberry with some currant. There is a piney note. The palate is medium in body, high in both acid and tannin, but with satisfying breadth. The fruit is there, but the palate feels compact, almost compressed. This is about what I expected. Towards the end of the second glass, this begins to expand. There is just the beginning of something satisfactorily secondary. There are herbal nuances beyond the pine, the fruit now tends towards black, it is almost fresher than the first sip. Rated 87.5 on opening, 90 now. The rest of the decanter is going in the fridge until about Christmas.
It was a crime to open it now, but most of the bottle is left and I have great hopes. If this works out, I’ll repeat the experiment. If not, I’ll wait the decade this demands (I’m optimistic).
3 weeks open in the fridge like that? Hmm. Not something I would try. Even with a wine bottle that I cork back up, most wines show considerable drop-off by the second day in the fridge. Most are usually still fine, some better, the next day. But going one more day or more, not for me.
I own 42 bottles of Mount Eden Cabernet, that’s a lot of wine out of a cellar of less than 1000 bottles. Vintages range from 1993 to 2014, that’s a ton of young Cab from a producer whose wines mature at 20 - 40+ years of age.
I’m dubious but I’m hopeful. Some time between 12/21 - 12/31 I’ll post.
Dan, had a 2007 Mount Eden Saturday night and thought of you and your previous posts about Mount Eden. The theme of the dinner actually was first growths (my wine was a 1990 Cheval Blanc) but one friend asked if he could bring a 1976 Ridge Monte Bello and we all said yes.
I thought the Mount Eden would make a good pairing despite the age difference because they are so close to each other so I opened it in a flight with the Ridge. The Mount Eden surprised me with how drinkable it was. 15-year-old wine that I thought might need 25 years. Will it get better? Probably. My guess is that with time the wine will gain complexity but right now the tannins had softened a good bit and the wine was delicious, if a bit primary. Loved it.
Of interest, I thought the flavor profiles of these wines were similar. But, more surprisingly, I thought the flavor profiles of these two wines were not that different from the 1978 Chateau Latour that another friend brought to our house for the dinner.
Hope that the 2012 improves over the next few years as I have three bottles of it.
I only have eight more bottles of Mount Eden Cab at the moment and only one more 2007. The rest of mine right now are 10 years old or younger. Should have started buying their wines a long time ago. Had bought a few bottles, but my interest in them really increased about a year ago when I visited the winery and was extremely impressed. Do you also have any of their Chardonnay or Pinot Noir or do you just collect their Cabs?
I am thinking of buying a bottle of their Wolff Chardonnay for New Year’s Eve. The New Year’s Eve group likes wine but are not serious about it. There is a woman coming who loves Chardonnay and the Wolff Chardonnay is the best $20-25 Chardonnay I have had since Bernard Moreau’s Bourgogne Blanc went to about $30.
I buy everything Mount Eden makes from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Both Mount Eden and Domaine Eden in Chardonnay, Pinot and Cab. My lowest level of purchase is the Mount Eden Pinot Noir. It can be wonderful, but is not as consistent. My highest level of purchase is Domaine Eden Chardonnay, basically my house Chard. It’s got that wonderful conifer hint. I agree that the Wolff is excellent value for money. Mount Eden Chardonnay is pricey, but it is wonderful to buy a Chardonnay from anywhere with complete confidence that it is a 20 year wine, with the subtleties that only come with age. My oldest Mount Eden Cab right now is 1993. I don’t have anything older because I’m an idiot. I put on a tasting of 1973 California Cabs in 1988, Mount Eden won it. Why I haven’t been buying and cellaring since that date I do not know.
I have a few bottles of older California Chardonnay - one each of 1993 Kalin and 2008 and 2014 Stony Hill. You have given me inspiration to open one of them Not sure I can say I have complete confidence in them.
I am going to have to stop reading your posts about Mount Eden. I think they are going to cost me a lot of money (kind of like Blake Brown’s posts on Taittinger CdC).
“My highest level of purchase is Domaine Eden Chardonnay, basically my house Chard.”
This to me was your most interesting comment. Now, I have only tasted any Mount Eden Chardonnay one - at the winery last December. For me, on that one occasion, I liked the Wolff and the Domaine Eden about the same and the Wolff is cheaper. Apparently, you like the Domaine Eden better?
I did like the Domaine Eden Cab. Thought it was good value for the money.
I think it can be worth the extra money. I’ve only had it a few times, but loved every bottle. I’ve got most of a case of 2016. For some reason, I get the impression that it might mature a little earlier than the ‘regular’ bottling. I had the 2010 a year or two ago and it was an absolute glory of a wine.
I have 2 bts of 2013 vintage.I guess it’s better if they wait for my son ( now 13 years old) in the distant future.
Unless I should treat them like Mouton 1986 ( 24 hous decant) ??
Keep in mind '07 was an unusually lighter vintage here. Parker initially incorrectly rated the Monte Bello 91 pts, but upgraded it twice. Both wines showed a wonderful breadth of complexity, and everything that, to me, speaks of a superior vintage. But, at the same time, a drinking window opening up a decade earlier than most vintages is something I expected and is the trajectory they’ve followed. In other words, don’t expect a neighboring vintage to be as open yet.
I went long on the '16 and '17s. Seems like ~10 years may be exactly the wrong time to open these wines? Here are my notes from the few vintages I’ve tried.
2012 vintage:
December 2018 tasting: super primary with lots of generous cherry fruit and fine tannin. 92 pts
May 2021 tasting: baby fat gone, tobacco / cedar, herbs, still drinking well. 93 pts
2010 vintage:
March 2020 tasting: nearly undrinkable for about an hour after opening. acidity dominates. After about 2 hrs, it started to show itself.
2004 vintage:
October 2021 tasting: this was like California bordeaux all the wine, but felt a little closed. savory, muted cherry fruit, some unresolved tannin.
I can’t agree with Dan on Domaine Eden Chardonnay. its over priced, over oaked and lacks acidity. The wolf is better in my books but again lacks acidity. To me only the Estate Chardonnay has all the goods.
For Sub $30 SCM Chardonnay I think the Alfaro Trout gulch chardonnay is a superior wine.
I did not know that Alfaro made a Trout Gulch Chardonnay, much less that they now apparently own the vineyard (the wine is listed as ‘Estate’). I’ve been a huge fan of wines from this vineyard and now will have to get some.
Over the past decade, I agree that the Domaine Eden Chardonnay has lost some acidity, I attribute this more to climate than winemaking. However we don’t agree on the oak treatment… I find it light, deft and appropriate.
Thanks for your comment and for letting me know about Alfaro. They have been off of my radar for quite a while, now they will be on it again.
Could the difference between you two on the oak be when you drink it. A lot of times wines seem more oaky when young but the oak flavors recede into the wine with time.
Thank you. That makes sense. I am currently finishing my last few bottles of 2016 Domaine Eden Chardonnay and starting 2017. Current release is 2019, it would almost certainly come across as having more oak.
