Our Wine Choice: Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve 1975

A couple of weeks ago, Marie and I invited Tim Mondavi and his partner, Suling, to dinner at our house in St. Helena, California, and among the wines that we drank was a special bottle of 1975 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve. It was in beautiful condition (it had been stored in Tim’s cellar for decades), with blackberry, blackcurrant, mushroom and intense crushed stone undertones. Most people who are lucky enough to know talk about the historic 1974 Mondavi reserve, but I have found over the years that the 1975 is just as awe-inspiring in the glass.

But what came to mind that night around our small round kitchen table was how many of the wines that Napa is making today are new renditions of such Napa classics as the 1975 reserve – even some of the few outstanding quality 2020s. I don’t completely remember what Tim said about the alcohol and it’s not marked on the label (the empty bottle is in the kitchen to remember it), but I believe it was just over 12 percent alcohol. Tim explained that the wines of that time were all mostly 12 to 13 percent alcohol because it was difficult to get the grapes riper to produce slightly bigger wines since many of the vines had a virus. So, they could not ripen their grapes any higher in sugar.

Of course, that all changed with the replanting of Napa in the late 1980s and 1990s because of the phylloxera outbreak and then a trend toward high-octane wines. That has happily changed recently, and some wineries now make balanced, fresh and tannin-driven wines reminiscent of these magnificent, old bottles of Napa reds from the 1970s and 1960s, as well as 1950s for that matter.

From what I have tasted of Napa 2021s from barrel over the last month, cabernet sauvignon-based wines are going to be in the same genre of the great wines of the 1970s, with their tannin-driven nature and polished yet austere personality. The 2021s have more ripeness but they have a new classicism that is inspiring and beautiful.

– James Suckling, Editor/Chairman