What Was The Single Greatest 1970s CA Wine?

WINE TALK
61

Craig
You fell into my trap!
You posted!!

M

62

[thankyou.gif] [winner.gif] [worship.gif] [berserker.gif] [dance-clap.gif]

63

Tough call between a 1975 Ridge York Creek Petite Sirah enjoyed years ago at an offline and a 1974 Inglenook Cabernet. Both showed beautifully and although in their senior years had seemingly years left. Of course I have not tried many of the classics mentioned but cant imagine too much better wine than these.

64

PM me anyone with some of the 1970’s from this discussion. Need a couple to celebrate my 50th in 2 years. I have a '70 port but would like to find a couple bottles of CA cab to go with.

65

You might have better luck finding Bordeaux from 1970, or Barolo/Barbaresco.

66

Had that and a bunch of other older Ridge/YC’s during the 2002 “Ridgestock” event:

http://www.gangofpour.com/ridgestock/extra.html

Of the various older Ridge Monte Bellos, the 1991 is still one of my consistent favorites.

Bruce

67

Very much this!

I love 1970 Bordeaux.

68

Mel:

More free time!

C

69

Craig
How can you have free time when you spend your days fighting off grape buyers in Oregon??

70

I personally have not drunk any of the GREATEST wines from the 1970s, but I’m nevertheless a bit melancholy due to this thread.
What’s striking to me is how accessible these wines were to so many wine geeks. If you were into wine and not scared off by higher than usual (but not insane) prices, you could get “trophy” wines – direct or from the shelves of good retailers. Today, best-of-decade wines (well, except for Ridge [cheers.gif] ) are hard to find and out of reach for many. Yesterday’s $20 special wines would still be <$100 today in inflation-adjusted dollars. Today’s gems are typically … not.

Regards,
Peter

71

I had the 1978 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill last May and it was the greatest new world wine I have ever had.

72

Mel:

I suspect being separated by more than 500 miles helps a bit!

C

73

Buy Monte Bello (as you suggest) and Montelena. You won’t be missing much by not going more expensive. And, you can have a pretty good degree of confidence that the wines will age as well as the wines mentioned from the 70s have aged. If you need more than this, maybe try Forman (from the maker of the great Sterling wines), Dunn or Dominus (from one of the vineyards for the great Inglenook Cask wines).

74

In fact, back in the day, I bought a case of Martha’s '74 from Joe Heitz himself for $48 per and all he could talk about was his walnut trees. Ah, the good old days. BTW, the '74 Martha’s was made by Joe’s son while Joe was in the hospital so there’s another reason he didn’t talk about it much.

75

1978 Chateau Montelena

76

1975 Joseph Phelps Eisele Cabernet
1975 Cuvaison Togni Selection (label clearly identifies Spring Mountain grapes) Cabernet
1978 Diamond Creek Volcanic Cabernet
1974 Conn Creek Eisele Cabernet.

77

couple favourites:

1970 Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon
1978 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill Cabernet Sauvignon
1970 Ridge Jimsomare Zinfandel
1973 Ridge Geyserville

if i were obliged to pick one, it would be the ‘70 Zin…

78

When? A friend brought one for our picnic last Sunday at the Monte Bello Final Assemblage tasting. Purchased on release. Perfect bottle, seemingly at peak. Mighty impressive.

79

Me too.

80

What are the 70s you lovers of that vintage have been drinking lately??
I finished off my Palmer and Mouton a few years ago and felt I did it just in time.

For somebody looking for '70s, what about Rioja??
I think well-stored California wine will be hard to find and 70 claret will be expensive.