Winehunter~brief TN: Januik Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 1999

WINE TALK
1

Okay, so I was buzzing around the neighborhood doing errands and I pass by this wine shop/liquor store that I’ve passed by a million times and always swore that I would check out, and this time I do. When I enter, it’s clearly a M&P store stocked with only generic brands, but my spider sense is still tingling so I meander. I hit the meager Cabernet section and there are several bottles of Januik Cab Columbia Valley '99. Several issues here.

  1. They are standing up and by all available indications, they have been since they arrived here.
  2. There is no evidence that ambient temp was ever a concern in this place…so not only are these bottles in the wrong position, they may well be cooked.
  3. They are priced at $32.99 a bottle and from what I know about Januik’s pricing, that seems to be the high end of the scale, especially given that this wine is about eight years from it’s release date.

But I know the producer and I love his style. Not to mention that RMP graced the wine with a 92pt. score and moreover named the fruit sources:
Klipsun, Cold Creek, Champoux, Seven Hills. Some of the best vineyard properties in WA.

I left, went home, and thought about it. Made a phone call to the store about an hour later saying I’d like to take all the bottles, what could they do about a discount?

They offered an attractive discount so I went back to inspect the bottles more closely and buy whatever was visually acceptable.

Ullage was really good on all the bottles and there was only one apparent bleeder, so I took three out of four home. We opened one and although the cork was crumbly, the wine was sound.

Color: Dark ruby with brick tones at the rim. Clarity is a little murky.

Nose: Coffee, black cherries, dirt.

Palate: Black coffee, cherries, tobacco, mineral, and earth. Acidity is still vibrant. Fruit is hitting it’s plateau. Finish is long with soft and well integrated tannins.

Overall impression: I was really worried that I’d bought some moderately expensive red wine vinegar, but whatever hardships my imagination put this wine through, it held up. I wish I had experienced a bottle with known provenance for a benchmark, but what I know of Klipsun fruit leads me to believe that this wine didn’t suffer too much from careless storage. It did open up as the night went on and I look forward to opening the other bottles near term.

2

Januik=Under the radar

As good as the reviews are, most still go nowhere near these bargains.

3

Mark, I’ve done much the same thing with a random store here and there, with a few hidden gems and a good number of busts. But it can be a thrill when it works out!

Have you had the 2001 Januik, by any chance? A few months back, I found it to have a lot of the same aromas and flavors you describe in the 1999, but overall it just didn’t quite break through for me, seeming to need a bit more time. If the 1999 is similarly-built, it could be reaching that plateau now and in the short term future.

FWIW:

2001 Januik Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley. The nose here is dark, cool and fairly reserved relative to many of the wines this night—with notes of dark earth, dusty chalk, balsa wood and a faint whiff of white pepper. In the mouth, it hangs together nicely from entry to finish—with flavors of black cherry and chewy chocolate paste. It has a velvety edge and is more warmly engaging than on the nose. A structured backbone still shows through and makes the wine feel like it would be better with a bit more short-term cellaring. On the whole, I was hoping for a bit more, but there is nothing wrong with the wine—it just isn’t showing as much as I was hoping for at this stage.