I went to an impressive private dinner/tasting on Thursday night in Napa Valley. It was a group of wine tasters, a number who make wine in California, who put together four flights of mostly Napa Valley wines from the 1980s, early 1990s and late 1990s to 1997. I promised not to mention their names if I wrote something.
I am not sure if it was intentional but the tasting turned out to be a sort of time machine journey into Napa Valley winemaking. I keep on thinking about it. I enjoyed it and look forward to future wine encounters as I taste more California wines.
We started with a flight of seven Chardonnays. The bottles were all covered with tin foil, so we couldn’t see the labels. They were all from the 1980s, and all of them were still fresh and fruity, although a little thick and dense. Most had a rather hard acidity. Not sure many went through malo back then.
The Chardonnays included 1982 Stony Hill, 1982 Joseph Phelps Sonoma Valley Sangiacomo, 1988 Robert Mondavi Reserve, 1982 Montelena, and 1988 Chalone. They also threw in a Burgundy ringer of 1989 Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles (worst wine). I preferred the Stony Hill! It was fresh yet subtle with a limey, delicate tropical fruit character with dried apricots. Big surprise.
The reds from the 1980s were less impressive. They were sort of dumb and confused with some dark fruit character and an herbal edge. They were all from 1985, including Montelena, Beringer Reserve, Joseph Phelps Eisele, La Jota Howell Mountain and Leonetti (obviously not California.) The Bordeaux ringer slaughtered all the rest: 1985 Leoville Las Cases, which is one of the wines of the vintage.
I think that flight underlined how California was in a transition period in the 1980s from trying to emulate European wines, instead of staying with the Golden Years style of CA before, and the more fruit-forward style to come. I found them good and interesting bottles of wine anyway – except the Leonetti, which was DOA to the table.
The next flight of early 1990s Cabs was excellent, except for the smelly 1993 Bryant. I preferred the Bordeaux ringer again – the 1990 Angelus. But the other Cabs were outstanding with subtle ripe fruit character and firm tannins. I kept thinking how I still like this style in today’s Cali Cabs, especially since winemaking is much better now than 20 years ago. The wines included: 1993 Araujo, 1993 Caymus SS, 1991 Ridge Montebello, 1994 Maya, and the funky Bryant.
The final flight was 1997 Napa Cabs except for a ringer from Tuscany (1996 Isole E Olena Cabernet). The wines were pretty shocking. The 1997 Harlan was a little vinegary and the Bryant was stewed and volatile. The Shafer Hillside was corked (bad bottle), but the Seavey and Abreu were outstanding with subtle fruit and firm tannins, as well as fresh acidity. What disappointed me were the Bryant and Harlan considering their reputations and prices.
We all spoke about how the late 1990s were a turning point for Napa, with new vineyards just on-line after the phylloxera mess, and winemakers shooting for high brix, super ripe wines. I couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry that I didn’t save my glasses of the 1985 Cabs to finish off the dinner. They were sad too.
I had the '97 Harlan recently and was disappointed. Not well-intergrated, however, there are some who love it. I've heard that there's a lot of bottle variation, which is bad at around $1,300 per bottle. Have you had the '97 Harlan before, James? Notice any variation?
I have scored the 1997 Harlan 88 before and even higher on other occasions. The volatile acidity seems to be more prevalent in some bottles than other or may be I am less sensitive to it sometimes than other. In any case, it's not a perfect bottle.
Most interested in the early '90's Cabs, particularly the Ridge. Score are great if you have them, and how much life you believe some of these wines have left.