TNs: older Mondavi, Caymus, Insignia, Diamond Creek, Inglenook, Peju, Mayacamas, Krug and more

WINE TALK
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Our monthly lunch group met on 4/8/11 at the Santa Barbara Club and enjoyed our usual fine cuisine and service in the privacy of our own dinning room. Our theme was 100% fulfilled in that we had no other wines than California cabernets with a preference for older vintages. I recently posted an article regarding “The Collapse of Cabernet” which argued that todays cabs are not what they used to be and emphasized the higher alcohol content now, so I`ve included such for each wine. By and large, these wines were very approachable and provided a pleasant experience as follows:

1935 MONTEPULCIANO [SIMI] NAPA CAB- 12% ETOH; decanted; initially old wine notes of a little must and pruny fruit; however, some nice fruity notes peaked through after a little blow off and we got burnt cherry, plum and a lot of tart grapeyness. One of the more decent 76 year old wines I`ve had of late. Purchased by one of our group in the 60s from the winery and stored properly over the years.

1968 KRUG NAPA CABERNET- 12% ; decanted;surprisingly somewhat viable, fruity dried berries, tannic throughout.

1979 J. CAREY CELLARS SANTA YNEZ VALLEY- 12.8%; decanted; what going on here? The color is young and bright red and it`s really youthfully fruity and super sweet; got to have residual sugar; at mid palate, it moves into a port like experience without being heavy and fortified like. Are we being duped here? Very atypical. Also purchased by one of our members from the winery upon release and he denied emptying the bottle and refilling it with a recently made wine.

1979 KEENAN NAPA CABERNET- 13.4%; decanted; youthful color; just an OK wine with wild, tart berries; finishes very dry and tannic.

1980 CAYMUS CABERNET- 13%; a major surprise; silky, smooth with mild cherry fruity good notes that pleases and begs for more; to this point, the best wine of the day; but wait, there`s more to follow.

1985 CAIN CELLARS NAPA CABVERNET- 13.2%; not yet evolved, fruity, very pleasant red cherry, fruit forward wine; no dominating tannins here; a delightful treat.

1986 INGLENOOK NAPA REUNION- 13%; still youthful, this is a nice, spicy, medium bodied, soft and silky wine with some light black pepper notes amidst the black fruit; balanced and a delight from the nose through the finish; my #3 WOTD.

1982 MAYACAMAS NAPA CABERNET- 12.5%; after a funky nose which blew off, there was some decent fruit notes mindful of jujubes of childhood trips to the concession stand at the local theater; it finished tart and dry.

1989 PEJU NAPA CABERNET- 13.5%; very youthful, full bodied wine with super ripe, tasty, spicy primarily black cherry fruit; loved this one; my #1 or 2 WOTD.

1990 MONDAVI RESERVE CABERNET- 13.5%; seemingly on the downside, this tobacco, cedar and earthy wine was just OK and a disappointment in what I had experienced in the past; there could be a cellar or storage issue here.

1991 FOXEN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY CABERNET- 13.7%; vibrant, rich and bold, this producer`s consistently better cabernet from SB county had lots of power and in your face, amazing finesse and pleasure; Bill Wathen knows how to make consistently fine wines and this one is no exception.

1994 JORDAN ALEXANDER VALLEY CABERNET- 12.6%; very youthful in color, this was a medium bodied and middle of the road expression of that and did not impress to the extent I expected it to; I`ve had some very fine 94s from this producer; this was not the one of those.

1992 FISHER VINEYARDS NAPA CABERNET- 13%; kind of musty and old, there`s some brett which overwhelmed the remaining characteristics.

1993 DIAMOND CREEK RED ROCK TERRACE- 12.5%; earthy, musty, tart and not good upon first nose and taste; then, no doubt, it was corked.

1993 DIAMOND CREEK VOLCANIC HILL- 12.5%; thank you Al, this shined with good fruit and depth and almost approached the quality of demanding the price this has been sold for, in my mind, way overpriced.

2002 JOSEPH PHELPS INSIGNIA- 14.4%; 78% cab, 14% merlot, 7% petit verdot, 1% malbec; very young, dark burgundy color with tremendous power and finesse from a fine pedigree; magnificent and only got better with time; would have been better decanted; my #1 WOTD if not tied with the Pegu.

Cheers.

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Since I was unfamiliar with Peju I asked the member who brought it for more info and here is his response:

Blake – you asked about Peju and I didn’t remember, if I ever knew, much about the winery except that it was in a barnlike structure and we (my wife & I) were the only folks there. The owner told us his story and I bought a few bottles of the wine – probably around 1991. The wine we had yesterday was the ‘89 HB Vineyard (before the replant) offering. I pasted below the story from their website. In checking the more recent vintages, it looks like they have probably succumbed to the Parkerization – alcohol at 14.6.

Rutherford H.B. Vineyard

When Tony Peju purchased the 30-acre “Stephanie Vineyard” in 1983, it had been producing wine grapes since the early 1900s and some of the vines much longer. Originally planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Colombard, the fruit was sold to a number of wineries by the vineyard’s former owners.

Peju continued to sell grapes initially and continued to improve the vineyard through greater attention to canopy management, trellising and irrigation. He also changed the name to the “H.B. Vineyard”, the initials of his wife.

Ideally situated between Highway 29 and the west bank of the Napa River, the vineyard is part of the Rutherford Appellation, a six square mile region famous even by Napa Valley standards. Nearby are the historic vineyards of Inglenook (now Coppola), Robert Mondavi, Beaulieu and Caymus. The Rutheford H.B. Vineyard soil is deep and well drained, formed by three alluvial fans which supply gravel and sand to the valley floor’s deep loamy soil. Water flows easily through the soil and drains to the river.

Rutherford is at the valley’s widest point and so has longer sun exposure and therefore a higher radiant value than other parts of Napa Valley. UC Davis categorizes the area as Region II. Despite the warm growing temperatures, the vines are cooled in the evening by the northern reaches of San Francisco (San Pablo) Bay. A typical summer day sees evening temperatures drop by 40-50 degrees. Cool night temperatures allow the fruit to ripen slowly, maturing tannins and balancing acids in the long growing season. Rain in Rutherford comes mainly in the winter months, 26-36 inches annually, filling the aquifers and reservoirs which are necessary in the valley’s irrigated vineyards.

It is perfect terroir for wine grapes. But even in such a grape paradise there can be problems. Like most of the old plantings in Napa Valley, Peju’s vines were originally planted on root stock not resistant to the devastating phylloxera louse. In addition, the old vines were coming to the end of their productive years and the blocks of Colombard were not the ideal varietal for Rutherford. In 1990 the decision was made to replant.

Tony Peju was making wine himself by then and winning gold medals and critical accolades. He realized the greatest flavors in his wines were coming from an original 5.5 acre block of Cabernet Sauvignon. These particular vines thrived in the Rutherford climate producing complex and multi-layered wine with unique characteristics. He replanted primarily with cuttings from that block, now called the “HB Clone”, and complemented the vineyard by growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the classic Bordeaux blend.

Today’s Rutherford H.B. Vineyard is an outstanding example of Napa Valley viticulture. Vines are trained on vertical shoot position trellises and carefully manicured of excess lateral canes and leaves. Irrigation begins in late spring, tapering off at veraison (turning of color) so the plant focuses energy on ripening, not growth. To intensify flavors, superfluous grape clusters are “dropped” allowing those remaining to get full benefit of the vine’s photosynthesis. Harvest can take place in several passes as crews select clusters at optimum ripeness.

“Whatever we hope to achieve in the bottle begins in the vineyard,” says Tony Peju. “We are fortunate to have found this vineyard and its ideal conditions for our reserve wines.”

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http://www.rutherforddust.org/rds/index.cfm/map/

Love this map. Wish all the appellations in Napa/California broke the land ownership down in a map this well.

4

Oh, that Krug.

That would have been a fun lineup. Wes B is moving to Santa B next week, so I will definitely have to trek out soon.

5

I had a bottle of the 86 Inglenook ‘Reunion’ [Napa] over the last few nights. 13% abv. Lots of sediment. I’d never had one of these before; apparently was a multi vineyard blend produced during the mid 80s to early 90s. I don’t think it qualifies as a Meritage, or perhaps that category didn’t exist back then. Maybe it was their attempt at something like BV’s Tapestry now. Our example seems to be in splendid condition - great label, cork, fill and sound wine - but its not deep in flavor. There is a bouquet of cedar, celery, oregeno and then lighter red fruit flavors. Balanced between the acid and tannin still, despite the age, but the flavors don’t pleasantly linger here. I think the wine is ‘ok’ yet the wife quite likes it and enjoys a large goblet of it. The wine is better on day 1, despite being sealed up in an airtight split, after half was drunk up. These should not be held further, and I’d be cautious if one was considering purchasing. I guess its a B- in my ledger – I’d heard that the Inglenooks in this era struggled to match their prior reputation. I would observe that the gilt embossing on the label is quite beautiful.

Does anyone know anything about this bottling?

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Thanks for the notes, Blake!!!

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From Robert Lawrence Balzer’s article in the LA Times dated Aug 2, 1987:

"After years of almost ignoring the splendid heritage of Inglenook vineyards, emphasizing instead the wines of neighboring Beaulieu, Heublein has turned to Inglenook’s potential for prestige wines. In another low-key introductory tasting for the media and the trade, a most significant Inglenook wine was presented, kept under wraps until June of this year when it made its debut at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach, with wine maker John Richburg the soft-spoken guide to this stellar bottling. It brought together, in almost equal proportions, grapes from the Inglenook Ranch, the Niebaum-Coppola vineyard and Napanook in a wine that is 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot. Inglenook has produced 1,500 cases of the splendid 1983 vintage. It is called Reunion, because it marks the first vintage in 20 years to reunite the three Inglenook Cabernet vineyards in a reserve cask wine ($30). Here is very rich, classic elegance, a wine of superb aging potential and finesse.

Reunion firmly re-establishes the proud heritage of Inglenook, where “fine wines exist.” Vintages of 1984 have just been bottled, and '85 and '86 are aging in oak casks. Inglenook Reunion is just beginning what will certainly become one of California’s most treasured bottlings for wine lovers across the land."

I have a couple of these, I think the '83 & '86 and have tried a couple years ago. I used to find '60’s and '70’s “Reserve Casks” in the old mom & pop stores out in the avenues in SF back in the eighties. Boy they were great wines but these “Reunion” bottles never seemed to approach that level.

[cheers.gif]

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I have had wonderful older Inglenook Cask. But, I have not had reunion. Guess they got the grapes but not John Daniels. For those who don’t know, Dominus is made from Napanook grapes.

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Thanks for that backstory. I did seem to remember some connection between Reunion and Napanook.

I wonder how Dominus was making wines in the early 80s with that vineyard, while Inglenook was too.

Were they sharing grapes?

10

Blake Brown, as always, is a must read. The combination of the fascinating wines he drinks with the pleasure of his open and curious mind, it is always enriching and uplifting.