Has anyone opened any of these vintages recently? I have a mini-vertical of these years and was wondering if any can be opened, or whether I need to continue to be patitient.
TIA!
David
I had the 2000 in the last month. The bottle was showing well and opened up over the few hours it was open. I will say that the fruit was more intense than I thought it was going to be with less tannins showing through.
Steve Saxon and I (and a few other Berserkers, like Philip Franks’ wife, Dan, etc) had a mini-vertical some months ago - almost a year now, right?
I believe we had 1998, 1999, and 2001, but I could be completely off.
Steve?
had an 01 a few weeks ago. tough as nails. leave it alone and hope for the best.
Had the 02 about two months ago. Not impressed, in fact quite disappointed. Definitely give this more time based on my one tasting - it is probably too young, but even with a couple hours breathing time, this was not opening up. Managed to be heavy and flat, seriously nothing going on that would indicate greatness to me.
The 98 is open and ready business.
So good right now!
2002, 2003, and 2004 all within the last year. All big well made fruit bombs (did not take notes at the time), no rush to open IMO . . .
Thanks all; comments very much appreciated.
2000 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, Washington (3/27/2009)
Decanted at a “killer wine” tasting, served in double-blind fashion immediately to tasters, but tasted over a period of approximately two hours (chronological wine discussion order was 11 out of 15). Opaque ruby robe with red rim. Clean nose, developing after an hour to show moderately intense aromas of black cherries, blackberries, smoke and chocolate. Although a handful of tasters were put off by what they felt was VA, I did not detect excessive VA and I suspect that they were a little intoxicated after tasting the preceding 10 wines. Full-bodied on the palate, with low-to-medium acidity, huge ripe tannins and ripe black fruit flavors which mirror the nose. Long, luscious finish. My impression is that the wine is classic in quality, but needs more time (as well as a longer aeration period at this point). The tasters that were detecting excessive VA were guessing that the wine was a Syrah, which I cannot understand. Drink 1/13-12/25. (97 pts.)