What are you really hoping to sink you teeth into?
Count me in the camp of not buying into the hype, yes, sorry, that’s what it is, ‘hype’ that surrounds many of the 2007 Napa Cabs. Now that that storm is almost past what are you really looking forward to? Me? I am looking so hard into the 08s, it hurts. In my humble estimation they ‘should’ bring structure and greatness back into reality. Keep the over-hyped & flabby-back-boned stuff for friends who matter little, I am in it for delish and POW!
Some pretty great 06s are still a-trickling in too. Did you see the Pahlmeyer on lastbottle? That was a good one. WineBid is so full of great buying ops for the discerning Napa Cab buyer, its not even funny. 05s are a great deal too. Ding dong the 07 witch is almost dead.
(I now only own 39 2007s Cabs and 11 of them are Charlie’s Patch)
I have so much more I can say, but popularity (seeking) was never my strong suit so I will stop here.
Be well & drink well.
You drink more Cali Cabs than I do but my two cents is drink your 07s now (read that as an early drinking vintage). As an example I had a 07 Lewis Reserve a couple of weeks ago and it was great. This kind of showing reminds me of a vintage like 02 or 97. I too like 08 from the few examples I have had.
I look forward to buying less Napa cab unless they are screaming deals such as the 06 Beringer PR cab for $36 (750ml) from a few days ago. I will stick to my core Napa producers (KL, HL, ACV, RM) with Mount Eden and Ridge rounding out the rest of my CA love.
I find myself drinking less cab overall including bdx. Pinot has taken over the top spot in my cellar this year and I see that trend continuing for a while.
Jeez Louise, what is a points chaser to do?? A thread going on now questioning 2007 CNdP. And now King Cab hisownself questioning 2007 Napa. Burghound is still trashing Marcassin. I guess next will come revisionists downgrading 2005 Bordeaux and Burgs too. I wonder if SQN is safe??
Just kidding, Mike, with tongue firmly in cheek. I have no opinion on '07 Napa. My only '07 Cab is from Dry Creek Valley, made by a pinot producer, cost $25 and I like it. I know nothing about CA cab in general, but I do feel 2005 Burgundy is the real deal.
I really like the 07’s, but I have liked pretty much every vitange. I even like th 2000’s lately although they took a while. All that said, the 08’s are really good too. As for 05 Burgundy, who knows, I have yet to taste one ready to drink. I think they will be great, but they are not yet.
I had a 2007 Clos du Val that was surprisingly good. But for the most part, I am pretty much done with them. 07 finally put me over the top. I have either drank or sold most of the 2007 trophy wines and will not be buying in the future. More for you guys!
I guess the answer is after 2007 Cali cab I will be going back to my 1980s Diamond Creeks, early 90s Mayacamas and Laurel Glens. When I get back to buying my focus will be the Rhone, Piemonte and Burgundy. I agree that 05 Burgundy seems like the real deal.
Overall, I’ve been very impressed with a lot of the 07’s that Ive tried. I think the 07 Conn Valley wines (Reserve Cab, Eloge and Right bank) are the best I’ve had for each from any vintage to date and I think I’ve had at least one bottle of each from every vintage. Others that have been very good to great are Realm Dr Crane, Emerson Brown, Kapcsandy (Estate Cuvee, Grand Vin, and Robertas), HL and Flora Srpings Trilogy.
I didn’t make it out to Napa to try the 08’s but looking forward to it.
Not enough experience with the 08s yet, but I agree that 07 was not the heralded vintage many thought it to be across the board. There were some amazing wines made in 07, but just as many let downs. Some of my 07s have significantly shut down, but I expect them to come back around in time. The few 08s I’ve had, KL in particular, were very good. The 08 Match Butterdragon stuck me as very good as well (noticeably better than the 05 IMHO). I think 08 is a vintage that can be approached earlier as it is juicer and less tannic – but some of the 08s were too big for me at this stage (RM cab for example), and need to settle down. Long way of saying that I am still undecided on the vintage preference. Agree with you that 06 has some steals out there still.
When I first starting tasting the 2007 Cab’s I, too, was supremely unimpressed. I can barely recall any that were open on release, so I think they shut down hard very quickly. Pre-release the 2007 Boswell cabs I had at the winery were amazing, but by the time I got them after release they had already shut down. However, IMO some of the 2007’s are slowly gaining weight and structure. A 2007 Pride cab and 2007 Sisters I had recently were quite nice. Rather than an early drinking vintage I think 07 needs a lot of time to come around and I am holding off drinking most of them. For me, 2006 was about the young best drinking vintage since 2002, and I have finished up most of them. 08’s are good, solid wines and although good to drink now, I think they will likely improve over time, too.
The 2007 Sisters is very nice, as was many others I had the pleasure of tasting. I did notice that they were all mid-priced wines and when put alongside some more ‘highly’ regarded wines, they always shined. Just last week I was discussing this with a friend and I said I will probably sum-up 2008s easily in one word: Delicious.
My early and very general thoughts on 2008 Napa cabs as compared to 2007; better structure with higher acid levels which adds a layer depth the '07s were missing and fruit is still excellent.
My 2008 examples include Continuum, Spottswoode, and Maybach.
I think there are very few vintages that live up to the hype these days. That being said, there are some 2007’s from certain producers that are really, really good, and among their best, IMO. For me, examples are Forman, Spottswoode, Robert Craig Howell Mountain and Culler La Palette.
I am, at this moment, in the throes of a 2007 Maybach. I have not yet had a 2008, but this is most certainly the best Maybach Materium ever produced. Remarkable stuff. At the end of the day, there’s a soup here. One part weather, one part style, one part is the winemaker a frigging genius like TRB?
Dan, I’ve only tried the Lewelling regular and that is a wine that was much, much better on the 2nd day. The 06 Ghost Horse Shadow needed a lot of air time, so I would not touch it. The 06 line-up of Schrader was amazing, just about tops as far as California Cabernet.
For me the 01 is much more of a rebust vintage than the 02. Also some of the 03’s that we all wrote off turn out to be quite tasty.
I don’t have any idea how the 2007 Maybach will taste in 10 years. I guess what I am saying is I don’t mind if it flames out a la the 97s (which certainly did) - as long as I’ve consumed them all first. And I certainly was NOT taking a swipe at you with my “revisionist” comment in my CT note. I completely understand that this is a ripe vintage where some of the wines are too hot or too sweet, but I have had many wines that are pretty stunning, like that Maybach, the Georges de Latour BV Private Reserve or the Jacquelynn BTK. I also am a bigger fan of 2006 than the critics were and would not be surprised to see them outlast the 07s, but today - the 07s that hit the mark are pretty out of this world.
The worst are never as bad as they are claimed to be and the best are rarely as good as the hype says they are. I have about as many 07 Napa cabs as Mike, also waited towards Charlie’s Patch, and I expect to drink most of them in the next 5 years. However, I will save a few into my 70s (their teens) because I expect them to be at least good and interesting.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}