Oh man. This is crazy, crazy delicious. Tried to pull the cork straight through the wax which was probably not the best call with a 15 year old wine. Managed to get the top of the cork through the wax but it started to crumble. Ah-so to the rescue and I salvaged the remainder without any problem.
As soon as the cork was pulled, I had a huge silly-ass grin on my face as the room was literally filled with red cherries, sweet tobacco, and earth. Any worries about this wine being flawed were immediately eradicated. Seriously intoxicating, and exactly what I was hoping for.
Took a sip and almost fell to my knees. Holy sh*t this is good! Cherries, tobacco, cassis, wet leaves. Just a total medium + bodied mouth-full of aged cab goodness from a top notch vineyard and stellar winery. The tannins are still evident on the PnP but don’t distract from the beauty of this wine. I wouldn’t have a problem holding this for another 5 years or so, but for my tastes, this is in a prime drinking window right now. Finally convinced a local wine shop to selle this one for a song, and will probably go buy the last 3 he has left.
Life…is…GOOD!!
Of the post-1996 California vintages, I like very few except 2002. I still have Pride and Karl Lawrence cabernet sauvignon and merlot bottlings from that year. Thank you.
Nice Victor - I bet the Prides are drinking really well right now. Have you popped a Melot recently? Wonder how those are doing?
Saved a glass for day 2, and it’s not nearly as good. Pretty tired and much less interesting.
If I scoop up the 3 remaining bottles are the wine store, I’ll probably drink up within the next 3 years.
I drank a late 90s KL reserve a few years back 12/13 and I had the same experience. Didn’t decant and was quite good for about 30/45 minutes and then started falling apart. Ideal to drink very fast or with 4/6 peeps
Yep, sounds about right! Damn tasty at first…but definitely finish the bottle in 1 sitting.
Have a few different vintages that I have been holding on to, maybe I’ll put my '03 Napa into the queue. Thanks for the note
Opened a '98 KL regular bottling last night, fantastic wine
I found that 98 regular bottling to be special. I believe that is the year that they did not make a reserve. We had one last year and I could not believe how well balanced it was with no over the hill flavors. Complex with waves of flavors and a lingering finish. I have one more bottle I need to get to.
David Perry of Prima Wine had sold the Pride Merlot 2002 to me. I miss him.