This.
My comments, reposted from eBob:
Steve, great job Weds night. It confirmed my personal rule that these wines are best before they reach 10 years of age. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule (Shafer Hillside often being one). As much as I enjoyed the '95 Araujo, '97 Colgin and a few of the others, I firmly believe that they and all of the wines tasted last night were at their best when they were 10 years old, or younger. '94 Bryant being a poster-child (delicious when it was younger; not so much any more). '97 Harlan was a volatile unbalanced mess. I’ve tasted this wine more than a dozen times. Unfortunately, last night’s bottle is the rule of my experience, rather than the exception. The entire 2001 flight was a disappointment. I don’t know if it is an awkward stage or, more likely, the devil claiming his due for over-manipulative wine making techniques (including the decision to allow the grapes to over-ripen). All of the wines in that flight tasted pretty much the same. Is this what premium California Cabernet wine making has become? Wines that are indistinguishable from one another? '97 Colgin Herb Lamb tasted like Colgin Herb Lamb is supposed to taste. The '01 tasted like every other wine on the table.
For those who don’t know us, we drink a lot of very good California (and other) wine often. This was not our first rodeo with any of the wines consumed last night. Individually and collectively, we’ve consumed numerous bottles of all of these wines and other ‘cults’ of pretty much every vintage. We aren’t anti-flavor (I suspect that SQN is the favorite California red wine of a plurality of us). I believe that last night’s dinner was consistent with our other recent experiences with these styles of wines. 10 years or take your chances.
On the topic of 01’s…The Shafer Hillside Select was insanely good at a tasting earlier this year. Maybe an exception I guess.
Tom
Remember one of our last California Cult wine dinners fondly where a few of the same wines were opened. 1994 Shafer Hillside Select was the top wine, and next to some solid competition!
1985 Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour
1985 Heitz Martha’s
1987 Chateau Montelena
1993 Harlan Estate
1994 Bryant Family
2002 Shafer Hillside Select
2005 Hundred Acre Ark
'94 Bryant was flat out stunning when I had it back in the '90s a few times. One of my all time favorite wines.
Similarly, I had a 2001 Dominus a few weeks ago which was quite remarkable.
Great notes, Thank you for taking the time to post them.
96 Salon was one of my aha moments with Champagne 
I drink a bunch of aged Napa Cabs and what i have found is that a well made wine from Napa in the 90’s will stand the test of time and age well beyond 10 years. I dont subscribe to the 10 year rule for well made wines.
Last night in fact , we had a wonderful 93 conn valley and a great 97 Caymus SS. The Caymus has years of life left with no sign of decline whatsoever.
Recently i have been drinking 94 Mondavi Reserve on a number of occasions and the wine rocked big time.
Seavey 95, 96
Forman 92
Shafer HSS 92
Araujo 92
Arrowood Especiale 97
Are just a small sample of well made wines that can and did stand the test of time. The 92 HSS was one of the best cabs I ever had and won WOTN at a 92 retrospective we did about a year ago. Forman 92 was rhe biggest surprise.
My thinking is the newer wines with higher alc. Will have challenges, but some of the great well made wines today will improve beyond 10 years. I think Shafer HSS is one of the most ageworthy wines to come out of Napa.
The big fruit bombs I do own, will be consumed between 7-12 years. Otherwise I am in no hurry to drink up my well made cabs. Some of the mountain fruit cabs I own should last well beyond 10-15 years.
I have not tried many of the wines from this list but these results worry me about some of the younger cabs i have in my cellar. Scares me to thing that we will not see the likes of some of the classicly styled wines built to age for quite some time (i assume everything to be cyclical and a counter movement of classicly styled wines will hopefully return eventually). I still love classics (and am drinking through what i have) like 74, 78 and 87 Mondavi Reserve. Also drinking through 85 Monte Bello (i know, not napa but to me represents the most consistent cali producer in terms of style) which is in a perfect window. At this point I have stopped buying new releases of napa cabs as I would rather search out the older vintages which are often much cheaper than current release.
I think these wines have been discussed and evaluated very well and fairly by the dinner participants. Right now I don’t feel like “piling on” the disappointing wines. As others have mentioned, there were a couple of wines that were virtually undrinkable. However, I would like to say that, to me, the '97 Colgin was far and away the WOTN with the '95 Araujo a solid but distant second. I also enjoyed the ‘01 Colgin Cariad as well. As a matter of fact, I strongly agree with the posters who feel it is too early to accurately judge the 2001 vintage. I also try not to make blanket statements about any vintage based on one “snapshot” evening. I really look forward to trying some of these wines again and knowing this group of "winos’…I am sure it will happen.
As an important (to me) aside…I was on virtually all of the “cult” lists and still have a good amount of these wines to try and share over the years. However, with the escalating costs of these wines and the shaky economy, I can no longer afford to maintain my purchasing patterns. As a very happy “retiree”, I am no longer in the market for wines at these price points. I will never disparage anyone who is buying these wines…but I am simply out of the game. Over the years these wines have produced some spectacular moments and hopefully (my cellared ones) will continue to do so…Nonetheless, I can no longer continue to purchase these wines.
Cheers!
Marshall ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
I subscribe to the 10 year rule …
CA Cab. needs at leats 10 years in the cellar to become not-boring.
Thanks for the write-up.
I think it’s worth noting that almost every time someone posts one of these old(ish) Cali Cab tastings that the 95 Araujo always seems to stand at or above the crowd. I find it remarkable that with some major heavy hitters as peers that one wine always shines so bright regardless of its competition and timing of the tasting.
I was just at a dinner with some Colgin and Bryant and we had wonderful results: TN: X20 Pre-Holiday Feast - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers
I have always somewhat agreed with Laube’s drinking windows for Cal Cabs… release to age 12. Even the wines that showed well at age 17 in this thread probably were at least as good 5 years prior. They may have lasted 17 years but have they improved 17 years? They were great at age 3. There is no doubting that many of the wines people found disappointing at age 10 were probably not disappointing at age 5 or 6, so does this mean that aging of any kind is simply a risk?
Also, it is interesting to me that for all the recent disappointing 01s listed here, there are many good 00s out there available for peanuts by comparison. The 00 Dalla Valle is awesome right now and was just 88 points on release. Many 00s have become much better than anyone expected. One could sell a lot of 01s for good dough and then turn around and absolutely load up on the 2000s that seem to be doing well and are peaking now, if one were willing to do a little leg work.
Great notes and very interesting. This ‘sameness’ -to me- jumps over into Bordeaux at about the same time, 2001, and Washington State a little too, but I cannot say when. I was keeping a list of wines that taste exactly the same, but I just sold them all. Besides, it gets old bashing so many of these wines, and I love great Napa and Bordeaux too! On the list were Hillside, Jonata, Harlan, Quilceda Creek, Les Pavots, Cos d’Estournel, Pape Clement, Insignia, Sloan, etc. I would be happy drinking any of these wines in some of the older models you have mentioned, especially from about 1996 south. I actually happily own quite a few of them and would never think of parting with them. I used to think my palate went through a massive transformation, but these wines have changed as well. My notes on some of these in a short time are all over the place. Thanks again Steven, and please post more often.
I think this is true - with some notable and wonderful exceptions like Diamond Creek, Laurel Glen, Mayacamas, Montebello and others - and really encapsulates why I struggle with high end Napa cab these days. I simply cant get to them fast enough in my cellar. And at $100+ a pop for some of the better thought of examples, I just can’t justify it. Further, the primary fruit elements are the least interesting notes for me in cab and obviously the most appealing elements in many of these young wines.
To your point Roy, had a 2000 Rudd Jericho Canyon a month or two ago that was delicious.