Mount Eden Chardonnay vertical – 5 decades
Last night we toasted and honored my friend John Fagan with 12 vintages of Mount Eden Estate Chardonnay. John’s widow had asked me to arrange the tasting as John had collected the wines for this purpose. Jeffrey Patterson was kind enough to attend and also bring the not-yet-released 2021 vintage to represent the 5th decade.
The tasting was held at Ascona Vineyard on Skyline Boulevard in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Los Gatos. Wes Barton did a great job organizing the tasting. Ken Swegels the vineyard manager was a gracious and involved host, and Abbey Crystal prepared excellent food, notably fresh-off-the-boat halibut to accompany the wines. I had planned two bottles each of 12 vintages for 24 people, trying to have enough but not too much. But of course the attendees brought plenty of extra wine (we did need some reds, after all), so the bacchanale aspect was also front and center. Besides the vertical, there were many more fine and interesting wines. I didn’t get to taste everything, but here are my notes. No scores, as this was not that kind of tasting.
The Chardonnays were served in two flights of six vintages, oldest to youngest, all Mount Eden Estate Chardonnay:
1986 – medium to dark gold color; soft, broad, rich, much more than merely alive with pine, olive and yeasty notes. There is still a lot of fruit, mostly very ripe bartlett pear. This was a favorite of Jeffrey Patterson’s, I enjoyed it but not quite as much as the next wine.
1987 – very similar, but to me a little livelier and fresher. I enjoyed it with the halibut; I would have served the ’86 with a winter fish stew.
1989 – This was a little darker than the previous two and tasted a little older to me, still a pleasant glass with some fruit left, but simpler than the previous vintages. An earthy note reminded me of the age; this was the oldest-tasting wine of the 12.
1991 – Definitely lighter in color and fresher, this was in a nice place. There were apple notes along with a touch of hay. The vigor is what you would expect in a 33 year old person, not a 33 year old white wine.
1992 – Similar color to the ’91, but with a far more interesting bouquet. There was the conifer note but also a slight herbal touch; the first vintage with a distinctly floral, fresh component accompanied by some yeast and hazelnut. I might have guessed this as Santa Cruz Mountains, but at 10 – 15 years of age, not over 30. This is great wine, ready to drink, my clear favorite of the flight.
1993 – This was slightly darker in color than the previous two vintages and a little lost. Still a pleasant glass, it tasted just as mature as the 80’s vintages and maybe a little dull. Everything was in place, the wine wasn’t over the hill (although it might have been better 5 – 10 years ago), just not a very interesting or fine vintage for this.
An unusual characteristic of Mount Eden Chardonnay is that even a deep gold color is not an indication that the wine is over the hill, oxidized or maderized.
1995 – Distinctly lighter and fresher than the ’93 but not the ’92 this is probably at peak. There is still a fresh component, granny smith apple and an odd but welcome hint of red fruit; cherries, both red and Rainier. I don’t think this will go over the hill any time soon, but it’s so good right now.
1996 – A shade darker than the previous, very similar but also a shade less fresh. It is similar to the 1993, a solid, very drinkable wine but without the vivacity and subtlety of a great Mount Eden Chardonnay.
1997 – An absolute stunner! This was tied with the 2021 (!?!) as the lighest in color of all 12 vintages. The piercing aromas were as fresh as the color, the strong conifer note beautifully balanced with apple and seckel pear notes, the first vintage to also feature intense minerality, along with hay, straw and grass. There are powerful floral notes as well, cactus flower and even roses. This almost has the stoniness of Grand Cru Chablis, maybe blended with a great Corton-Charlemagne. It makes no sense to say that a 27 year old California Chardonnay needs another decade, but this one does. It’s truly great right now, but you can tell that there is development to come with no apparent danger of any loss of freshness. This could be a 50 year wine.
2002 – This is another great wine. Slightly darker than the ’97, light gold as opposed to almost water white. The aromas are broader and slightly riper than the previous, the flavors mellower and more integrated. It lacks the sheer intensity of the previous, but so does almost every other wine on this planet. It’s shame this had to follow the ’97, served on its own it would be riveting. Seemingly mature, it should hold for another decade.
2011 – This is to the ’02 as the ’02 is to the ’97. Similar in color to its 9 year older sibling, the aromas are a little broader, almost a little diffuse. But the palate offers nice richness with no loss of definition. The herbal component is muted and ripe bosc pear is the predominant fruit. The conifer touch is nicely integrated. I slightly prefer the ’02 today, but this should at least equal and possibly surpass it at a similar age. There may be other Chardonnays made today where it’s normal to use 20 years as a benchmark age, but there can’t be many.
2021 – This is going to be another brilliant vintage, almost painfully primary but with everything in place. The aromas are steely, with the conifer note prominent, but not to the exclusion of peach and pear notes. The texture is taut and steely, gripping the palate with intensity. Approachable now, it has easily another 20 years of evolution ahead of it.
This tasting confirmed that Mount Eden is one of the world’s great producers of Chardonnay, making ageworthy wines for which two decades of excellence is the norm, and with some vintages achieving true greatness.
1997 was the wine of the tasting, with 1992 and 2002 tied for second.
A large number of other wines were opened before and after the tasting; here are thumbnail notes on a few of them:
2014 Cabot Anderson Valley sparkling Chardonnay – This showed good freshness and balance, but was relatively simple. It could improve for a few years.
1980 Martin Ray California Champagne – [labeled Cuvee 80, not vintage dated] – Opened with plenty of fizz. Flavors were a little aged but it was still fully enjoyable, tasted much more like California than France. The quaint label designation was a Blast from the Past as was the wine.
2022 Walter Scott Aligote, Willamette Valley, Eola Amity Hills, Saxa Vineyard – the name is much longer than the wine. I wanted to like this but found it a freshly acidic, well balanced but rather neutral white wine.
2020 Autoritratto Mantonico – A far more interesting white, good body and freshness, nice minerality, a hint of lemon, a hint of hay, rich and subtle.
NV Jean-Marc Vincent SolerA Mise No 1 – A multi-vintage Aligote from Burgundy, this was outstanding, amazing freshness and solidity with an abundance of perfectly ripe fruit, along with minerality. One of the stars of the after-tasting.
1966 Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon – This is definitely past peak but still enjoyable as well as interesting. There’s a definite hint of Port (without the sweetness) as well as old leaves, but still some Cabernet character.
1987 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet – This is a beautiful mountain Cabernet at peak, plenty of conifer, plenty of black and red currant, plenty of vigor and freshness, but with tannins resolved. Drink over the next ten years if you’re lucky enough to run into it, another star.
[?] Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru ‘Butteaux’ – I didn’t get the vintage, maybe somebody who was there can help, but this was a good as advertised; fresh, intense, solid, dense, wiry, loaded with white stones and white fruits.
Last but not least, I was stunned to be offered a wine that has been following me for 40 years, one of the touchstone wines of my life. I was sitting, talking, when I heard an ‘ahem’ and turned to see somebody offering me:
1973 Mount Eden Cabernet Sauvignon –
I first had this wine in the early ‘80s and was impressed enough to buy half a dozen bottles. In 1988 I organized a horizontal tasting of about a dozen California Cabernets at 15 years of age. The tasting was heavy on the ‘M’s – Mount Eden, Mayacamas, Montelena, Monte Bello, Martini, Martha’s… it also included Inglenook, Charles Krug, Freemark Abbey ‘Bosche’ – pretty much everybody who was anybody in this young world of California Cabernet. I invited a bunch of other people, some in the business, as well as the wine writer for the Washington Post.
Mount Eden won the tasting by a hair over Heitz Martha’s. One of my guests was a French wine merchant and he absolutely hated the Martha’s, actually said ‘Eucalypte – defectueux’. If he had given it the average score, it would have tied Mount Eden.
Me, my wife and the Washington Post wine writer (Robert Parker) all had Mount Eden 1st, many of the others favored Martha’s. I had put my last bottle into the tasting and thought that was it.
About 30 years later Mark Golodetz hosted a Mount Eden Cabernet tasting for charity and this was the oldest vintage offered. I thought that at 45 years, it was surely over the hill… so old, and not a vintage with a reputation like 1974.
I was wrong, the wine was glorious that night, one of the top wines of the entire tasting. After that, I knew I would never taste it again.
I was wrong, it showed up Saturday night, finally showing some signs of age, but still singing and simply beautiful, even if past the near-perfection of the bottle from Mark Golodetz.
My profound thanks to all who all who attended, all who helped, all who brought wonderful other wines. This was a charity tasting and the Vermont Food Bank will benefit; John Fagan not only contributed but volunteered for decades and they are the worthy beneficiary of this wonderful evening.
Dan Kravitz
