TNs: '80s and '90s Cali Cabs plus an '83 Malescot St Exupery

[Michael Malinoski]

Ed, Adam, Rob and I met on a Monday evening at a local tavern this past month and enjoyed a long, leisurely evening of wine and food and good conversation.

2005 Shaps & Roucher-Sarrazin Puligny-Montrachet Les Reuchaux. This was purchased off the venue’s wine list. It has a nose that accentuates aromas of green herbs, wet river rocks, moist chalk, spinach leaves, dried ash, allspice, Brazil nuts and fleshy pear. On the palate, it takes a good while to come around, if it can ever really be said to do so. It starts out totally contracted and rigid and only fleshes out in the mid-palate a tiny bit after a good amount of coaxing. It stays big, buff and burly, without much nuance to the sour-edged fruit and crisp minerality. It is very dry, with a fleshy, almost chewy texture for a white wine—almost as if it has a tannic toughness to it. It does finish even-keeled, but in my opinion, a bit boring. There is no denying that it gets better with time and air, but it just never comes close to capturing my affections. I did sense, though, that others came around on it more than I did.

1983 Château Malescot St. Exupery Margaux. Bordeaux was not supposed to be part of the planned theme, but nobody was complaining when Rob showed up with this bottle in tow. The color is slightly faded, but still clear and moderately bright. The nose is wonderfully savory and complex, with dried tobacco leaf, cigar ash, old worn leather, red currants, cranberry, jalapeno pepper, brown spices and warm brick aromas wafting effortlessly up from the glass. In the mouth, it is totally resolved, with no hard edges anywhere. It is lighter to medium-bodied, with a pretty feel all around. It is a bit linear on the entry but really finds a sweet spot when it fans out through the middle and back, where it highlights flavors of red currants and raspberries, ash and diced pepper. It finishes a bit more crisply-defined and with fine length. No question that it needs to be drunk up soon, though. This and the next wine were tied for WOTN, each garnering two first and two second place votes.

1984 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Stag's Leap Vineyards. This bottle was decanted on-site about 90 minutes before trying it. It offers up a very strong nose of crème de cassis, sexy black raspberry, cool incense, eucalyptus, white pepper, lava rocks and smoky jalapeno. It gives a lot of itself aromatically, but actually feels like it is holding something in reserve, as well. In the mouth, it again displays a sexy red fruit profile at times that is really kicking and lively. Despite this, it maintains a certain level of cool restraint that keeps a fine line to the flair. It still has a lot of life to it and a shadow of chalky tannins is never too far from one’s consciousness. It’s as a wine with a lot of raw stuffing but also a good amount of self-control. For all that, it is a pleasure to drink now—with flavors of red currant, cranapple, cherries, powdery dark earth and graphite driven along by fine-honed acidity. It is like a lady who is cool and classy on the outside, but with some sexy lingerie beneath—very nice to spend time with now but also worth deferring gratification for a short while if one is so inclined.

1985 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve Napa Valley. This particular bottle of this wine was hopefully not representative of others, as it is pretty damned awful. Right away, it opens with aromas of stewed or cooked red fruit, burnt cherry pie topping, dark caramel and musty, moldy edges. We wait for it to clear up or blow off, but instead it falls deeper into the chasm with time and air. TCA is suspected, as is heat damage, as is oxidation. You get the point. In the mouth, it tastes tart, pinched and puckered, with an odd cooked twang to it. It tastes like prune juice or fig paste at best and rotting fruit at worst. I took the leftovers home to see if a night in the fridge would help, and then served it to my unsuspecting wife without any explanation or warning. She gagged on it, looked at me with disgust and poured it out. Yup, a wine that can’t be saved…

1985 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Selection Napa Valley. This was Ed’s back-up bottle for the ’85 BV, and so when that wine was deemed flawed, he generously opened this up. The nose features cool, dark aromas of black currant, plums and dried thyme that are meaty, smoky and a bit tight at first. It then begins to fold in aromas of cinders, blueberry, raw leather and wet cedar that further enhance the sensation of savoriness. It is similarly cool in the mouth, but really pumps out a lot of gutsy flavor. It flows well despite the volume and fullness of flavor it possesses. Those flavors include black currant, blueberry, plum, raw dark chocolate, cool greens and chalky earth that are rich but perhaps a bit disjointed at times. The tannins are mostly resolved until the finish, where they feel more amplified than elsewhere. Really, this could use some more time to pull everything together, but there is a whole lot to like right now, too.

1995 Stags' Leap Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This wine features a bouquet of eucalyptus, melted chocolate, black currant and dark incense that improves over the evening, but never really reaches any particular heights. In the mouth, it is rather smooth and polished, with a lithe feel to it. There are no tannins left, really, and the acidity is clearly present but on the soft side. Dark cherry, cocoa and cool spice flavors are nice and even throughout the palate journey, which ends with an easy-going but not especially profound feel. The wine has seemingly peaked and should be drunk soon.

1997 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. There are beautiful aromatics at play with this wine. Notes of cedar shingles, spice cake, blackberries, blueberries, mace, mincemeat and sweaty leather combine in a very appealing way that draws one back to the glass time and again. In the mouth, it is also quite nice—with a fine rich core of cool and spiced blue and black berries. Furthermore, it is smooth, fresh and delineated, with tons of character. It has softly enveloping tannins, for sure, but they mostly stay out of the way and just give the wine more cushioning. This is a really fine drink and was my #3 wine of the night.

1997 Justin Vineyard Isosceles Paso Robles. Aromas of shoe leather, jalapeno pepper, green tobacco leaf, ferns, ash, black currants and a strong steak of iodine combine on the nose here. On the palate, it is rich and rounded and layered, with chocolate, blackberry, black currant, blueberry and mocha paste flavors softly textured throughout. It has a languid feel more so than a driven one, with easy body and lush character. However, it does seem to find more explosiveness on the tangy and iodine-tinged finish--where it seems to brighten up, but also to let some alcoholic heat find its way to the surface. Overall, it is an enjoyable wine to drink, though, and can probably stand some more cellaring, as well.

1998 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Napa Valley Oakville. Scents of black currants, black beans, cedar dust, pencil shavings, dark toasted bread and a sweeter core of cherry fruit are clean and clear. In the mouth, it is very lively, with bright acidity and perhaps even a puckering edge to it at times. It features a blend of fruit flavors riding above some sticky, chalky tannins that need time to find greater resolution. It has plenty of body and fruit, but that acidity and those tannins need time to hopefully come into better balance down the road.

2002 Lillypilly Estate Noble Blend New South Wales Big Rivers Riverina. Finally, we ended on a 375 ml bottle of this wine. I’ve had this about 4 times now and this was probably its best showing. It features really fresh aromas of apricots, tangerine, grapefruit and spicy botrytis cream in an elevated, lifted bouquet that has an airy weight to it. Unsurprisingly, tropical fruits dominate the palate, with an interesting creamsicle sort of note in there, as well. It is not real dense or viscous, but rather easy and gently tangy. The finish does turn a bit rough around the edges, but it is still a nice finish to the evening.

-Michael

[Mike Christensen]

Your review of the 1985 BV GdL is pretty much consistent with every other bottle I've had (about 10-12 over the years). On release it had a weird weedy/herbal/insecticide note that made me go: "Is this corked or is it just really weird"?. Ironically, about three or four years ago, I was served a 1985 BV GdL double-blind, and my comment was: "It's either corked or it's 85 BV GdL". Needless to say, everyone's jaw dropped when it was exposed, but I was just laughing hysterically.

[Michael Malinoski]

Wow, Mike! I just assumed we'd gotten a bad bottle. But if you've experienced this 10-12 times over the years, it sure sounds like it is just a wine to steer clear of. I got a kick out of your story, but I also feel sorry for you that this wine keeps rearing its ugly head in your life!