TN: 1996: Napa vs Bordeaux

On two consecutive nights, my wife and I had wines from 1996 from Napa and Bordeaux. Whiel this was mostly a coincidence and not done on purpose, it was intesting to compare two wines from the vintage



1996 Phillip Togni Cabernet This was my first ever Togni wine and a gift from a friend. I have read about their distincitve profile, and this wine fit that profile. A noticable green pepper aroma and flavor with some leather in a rustic, tannic setting, with still a good amount of fruit left. This drinks better with dinner and went well with shortribs. It is a bit hard to score this one as this is a love it or hate it wine. For me, scored in the low 90’s.



1996 Pape Clement Even my wife who has more of a California palate (as well as prefering younger wines to aged wines) liked this wine, and she prefered it over the Togni as well. This opened with a burst of burnt tobacco, which quickly settled down, and it took about 15 minutes of breathing before the wine relly started to settle in and give off some aromas. It has a nice fruit, minerals, tobacco without being oaky. Very finely balanced on the mouth, and very identifiable as a Bordeaux (as opposed to the Togni which was clearly a California). I think most oenophiles would be able to pick out the broad regions of both wines blind without a problem. This was my last 96 Pape, and was in perfect condition in spite of being bought at the PLCB. 93 points.

As an aside, the 96 Pape is one of the wines that got me to get a WA subscription way back when instead of the Wine Speculum. Parker’s and Suckling’s notes on this wine are very, very different, and I feel that Bob’s matched mine much more closely.

That’s also the reason why I got a WA subscription. I’d read Sucklings notes and say to myself, “is there something I’m missing here?” Then, I’d read Parker’s and it would fairly closely align (as far as descriptors…points? Now that’s a different story).

Thanks for the notes. I’ll look for the 96 Pape Clement now.