This is the third garden event I’ve done where people haul out some of their mature and interesting wines to taste al fresco, followed by relaxing games of bocce to calm us down from the frenzied tasting! The first two were Cornas and Cote Rotie, and the demand this time was to go American, so I specified that anything goes as long as the wines were made up of Bordeaux varietals.
We started of with a refresher:
2006 Mondavi Fume Blanc Reserve To Kalon Vineyard – the person that brought this was concerned about its age but he need not have been. Lovely smoky lemon and melon nose, and surprising complexity in the mouth with very good balance, finishing long and crisply.
The order was decided as starting with the wines less likely to be complex and work our way through to the ones we figured would be mature and the most interesting. It had worked out that when I offered to put up a couple of Beringers from my cellar, we ended up with a mini-theme with that producer.
1993 Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet – there was an interesting discussion about which of the following wines each taster preferred and why. The 93 had a very decent fruit nose, the better of the two, a little plumy. Slightly sweet entry, mellow and medium long with a soft mature finish. Best bottle I’ve had of this in several years.
1994 Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet – riper sweeter fruit in this nose, and that carried through on palate, more stuffing and acidity, and a bit more interesting on palate, but the nose was simpler than that of the 93. Both hanging in there quite nicely.
1991 Beringer Howell Mountain Bancroft Ranch Merlot – still fairly dark, but with bricking at the edges. Nose was cocoa and currant with maybe a dark cherry underlay. Big sweet entry and mellow follow through, still showing soft tannin. At, or perhaps slightly past peak, but showing well. Drink up.
At this point some latecomers showed up with wines that we judged should be slotted in before the reserves.
1996 Laurel Glen Cabernet – not that expressive in the nose until later, when some berries and cassis showed up, but a big friendly sweety in the mouth, not too ripe and with a herbal component. Solid and long.
1995 Ch. St. Jean Cinq Cepages – more immediate attraction in the nose, with nice mellow earthy expressive nose with some herbal and dark fruit. Very good balance with only soft tannins remaining, in a good place right now, as good as it will ever be and happily coasting along on plateau.
1995 Ch. Montelena Cabernet Estate – one of my favourite houses. Slightly ripe in the nose, with cassis fruit, leather and faint clean earthy notes. In the mouth power with elegance – good flavour concentration, and the tannins are certainly there as the wine is well structured, but they no longer stick out of the mix. A tasty wine also at the peak of enjoyment.
Next up were two single vineyard cabernets (only about 200 cases made) normally not sold outside the winery.
2001 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Rancho del Oso – ripe and dark, with a killer nose of red currant and dark chocolate and tobacco notes. Big sweet concentrated wine that drinks really well now but will hold.
2001 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Quarry Vineyard – very similar – black cherry and sweet cocoa nose (the better nose, I thought) and some raspberry coming in on palate. Mellow and long. Hate the touristy sprayed on gold paint labels on both of these. What next, glue some rhinestones on the bottles to catch the eye of the rubes?
Last up was a pair of reserve wines from my cellar. I have held these wines since release and this was the first time I’ve opened either of them.
1991 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet - 40% Bancroft, 30% St Helena Home, 27% Chabot, 3% Bancroft Cabernet Franc. Still quite dark in colour, with black cherry and plum fruit and some cedar and spice as well as green hints. Sweet entry, and lots of soft tannin still evident, a stylish elegant wine, no longer hard and showing a little mint as it opened up. Very nice. Glad I waited. The bigger structure of the two. Finish goes on and on.
1992 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet – I thought it would be fun to try these together. 57% Bancroft Ranch, 21% State Lane, 14% St. Helena Home, 5% Chabot, 3% Bancroft Cabernet Franc. Lovely nose with black cherry, vanilla, sweeter, rounder in the mouth, drinking lusciously, but still good structure underneath and no great rush (I dare say it is now at peak and will hold). So attractive it is hard to decide between the two, but I’d probably come down on the side of the 91 if forced to make a choice. Either of them would make me pretty happy on a given day!
It was a good day in the garden!