TN: 1997 Dominus - Ethereal Experience

WINE TALK
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  • 1997 Dominus Estate - USA, California, Napa Valley (2/20/2009)
    Decanted 30 minutes, drank over 1 hour. Incredibly uniform deep plum color, absolutely no bricking whatsoever. Barnyard, leather, cedar and dried cherries on the nose. Dark fruit, cassis, earth and cocoa flavors, silky smooth tannins and a 90 second finish. Just beautiful right now.

Posted from CellarTracker

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YAY! Someone else who LOVES this wine!

I’ve had an okay bottle and an insanely good bottle. Perfectly singing right now, just like you said. Glad I have one more…

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The ‘97 is very nice. Of Dominus’ '00, '97, '95, '94 and '91, I liked '91 the most, next is the '97.

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I had the 1991 earlier this week that was just stunning…Don’t recall if I have had the 1997 or not (so, I’m guessing no)

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i suspect you can take the 91, 92, 94 Dominus bottles out to 20+ years if you had the patience. that good.

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I had the 94 out of a 6 liter about 4-5 years ago and it was absolutely stunning. I’ve since had a cooked 95, and another 95 and 96 that I thought were just okay. The only Dominus I have in my cellar right now is a 6 pack of 2002 (impulse internet purchase) Sounds like I should get my hands on a 97 b/c this sounds awesome.

Edit - I have never had a 97 Dominus

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I’ve found that both times when I bragged about how great the '97 Dominus was, I hear about how '94 and/or '91 is so much better. I don’t recall the same thing happening with any other wine. If one has a fantastic '96 Guigal Brune et Blonde, it is not met with 'but did you try the ‘94??’ or some other vintage. It seems like a Dominus-exclusive phenomenon.

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I’ve not had the '96, but my experience with the '95 is the same - ok, good, but nothing really to write home about.

N

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Just shows how great these wines are.

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'97 is killer, no doubt…'94 blows it away. Would like to have the '91.

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I brought a bottle this up to Zach’s Vermont blowout and it showed really well with lots of life left in it.

It was probably one of the most enjoyable bottles of Dominus I’ve ever had next to a 91’ a couple of years ago.

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The '97 is a very good wine . . . but the '91 and '94 are at another level. The '92 is a nice wine right now as well. I think that the two marginal wines of recent memory are the '98 and '00. Otherwise Dominus has been pretty solid.

Bowden, I agree that '91 was rockstar. It bettered the '89 Pichon Baron IMO and held sway with the '89 Lynch.

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the bottle Gery brought to VT was one of the wines of the weekend, in my opinion and it had some pretty serious competition!

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I thought it was pretty good as well, top 5 for me

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Had the '94 earlier this year and it was incredibly good.

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Wow, all this love for Christian Moueix. This may actually turn out to be his favorite wine forum! [berserker.gif]

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Bring him here!

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Last summer I had the 97 Dominus in a little flight along with a 97 Opus, 97 Pride Cab, and 97 The Maiden. I put the Dominus at #2 and noted that it was the most ‘bordeaux like’ of the bunch. Good stuff.

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Come on, you give us 4 choices and only tell us #2?? What was your first choice? [cheers.gif]

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  1. The Maiden.
  2. Dominus
  3. Pride
  4. Opus