Last Thursday life deception

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Nicklasss
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Last Thursday life deception

Post by Nicklasss »

Last Thursday was my monthly tasting group, with the theme of California Cabernet Sauvignon. 6 bottles were over 50 $cad, and the two first wine cheaper.

First, at the end of the tasting, we always do a tour of everyone to do each our top 5 wines of the night. Last Thursday, for a first time for me, i did a top 2 only! And let say my favorite wine was the one I brought, but rated it only 91.

My 2004 Freemark Abbey Bosché was very good. More elegance and acidity than the others, good blackberries, coffee, berries, earth, some oak, but all in a medium convenient way. Mellowed, medium long, very good to excellent... Only. Tn 91.

Second favorite was the meritage blend 2005 St-Supéry Elu. Rich in a Californian way, but still having some freshness in the good merlot berry fruit, mixed with the darkberries from the Cab. Blackcurrant cream, light cookie, purple flower, very good. Tn: 90.

All the other, I did not care very much.the other "promising" wine that night was the 2013 Inglenook 1882, but it was soooo closed on the nose and limited in mouth, couldn't make my mind. The 2013 Frei Brothers or the 2014 Beringer Knights Valley were thick, syrupy, spicy, very sweet fruit. The 2005 Heitz Bella Oak was more looking like a non fruity Chilean wine, with extreme aromas and flavors of mint, eucalyptus, pine tree. Fresh, final is eucalyptus and oak, i never understood that wine, of what the producer was looking for. Last one, i taste it 3 sips and it was enough. I couldn't believe some people rave about that wine. The 2014 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon is a wreck. Black purple color, nose of hyper concentrated fruit, that concentrate every negative aspect of the fruit. Sugar, candy, cola, strawberry cola, lush vanilla, super soapy, tiring to drink, thick syrup, forget about any freshness or structure, undrinkable and without soul. Don't know if this will "age gracefully", but I will never know as I really thought life is too important to drink wine like that. Make more red wines tasting like that, and i will quit my wine hobby easily. I just can't believe you can ruin some nice Cab Sauvignon like that.

So dstgolf, i think i would exchange that Californian Cab tasting with your Mouton tasting, anytime!

Nic
Last edited by Nicklasss on Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
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JimHow
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Re: Last Thursday life deception

Post by JimHow »

Nice. Yeah, I think I'll go with the Mouton.
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William P
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Re: Last Thursday life deception

Post by William P »

Aloha Nic. As you know, I live in California but none of the wines you drank interest me. I cellar very few Caiis because they don't inspire me. Hope all is well.

Bill
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brodway
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Re: Last Thursday life deception

Post by brodway »

Nik...not sure what the group selections were, but the sample you referenced is not representative of all California Cabs. I recently had a 1995 Forman Cab that was singing from the moment i popped the cork to the last drop, and got better with every sip.....easily a 93+ point wine. would easily challenge any classified Bordeaux....i've had similar experience with Beringer Reserve, Mondavi Reserve, Phelps Insignia and a few other old style California wines. By the way, i drank the Freemark Abbey Bosche before and its a nice wine, but as with the other wines you mentioned, they are more of the modern in your face fruit style California wines.....you may have a palate for the backward, evolves in your glass kind of wine where the fruit sneaks up on you in more elegant way.... and you finish the bottle before you know it, wanting more.....you just haven't found it yet...
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dstgolf
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Re: Last Thursday life deception

Post by dstgolf »

Nic,

Sounds like we were both losers. I don't like any of the wines you had in the lineup of Cali Cabs and find the QPR of them terrible let alone not to my style. The Mouton tasting sounds like it should have been a wow experience but when you have 8 wine lovers around a table and terms like glorified paint thinner for the 81 are mentioned you know we're in a tough spot. We had to look hard and coax redeeming characteristics from the glasses hunting for an excuse to find positives out of this tasting but we all left disappointed. Thank god the dinner wines were stellar across the board making up for it.

PS

Still looking at a date for Ottawa this Summer if possible...any chance Nic,Jim,BWE et al?? Time is running away on us.
Danny
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AKR
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Re: Last Thursday life deception

Post by AKR »

It sounds like you tasted through a pretty decent spectrum of widely available export worthy Napa/Sonoma cabs. I've had most of those, although only the base Freemark bottling, rather than their top Bosche and I think your descriptors are fair.

Chilean is a good way to describe Heitz. I've liked some examples, but they are pretty $$$ given that there are some Maipo cabs that taste the same for under a sawbuck (Try Cousino Maculs CS Antiguas Reservas or Dos Andes 'Gran Reserva' CS for a minty lark)

Beringer makes at least 50k cases of their KV now, and has started using purchased fruit in recent years. This used to be an estate wine back in the day. When you drive around Northern Sonoma the vineyards for this are extensive, yet still not enough apparently.
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AKR
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Re: Last Thursday life deception

Post by AKR »

I don't know if you can find Cameron Hughes wines where you are, but he bottles up small lots from well regarded, but undisclosed CA producers, and sells them directly on his web site.

If one can live without a label and some cachet, they are great, tasty values.

I would not group them into the restrained, European style of CA Cab though.
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Nicklasss
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Re: Last Thursday life deception

Post by Nicklasss »

If I understand your points, the California Cab that are interesting are above 150 $cad? I quit.

That tasting last Thursday was one of the most deceiving I ever had. I guess my palate is not aligned with that type of wine. A few years ago, I read an article (was it in Wine Spectator) that the California cab were not anymore on steroids... I was badly impressed how the wines had no freshness, and were still (too) sweet.

Even at BWE 2017 in SF, the California Cab on Friday night were good, and the 1991 Insignia being excellent, but even that Insignia was no competition for Thursday or Saturday nights Red Bordeaux.

Each time I taste a Californis Cab, I'm always thinking that the first Paris Judgment is completely a fraud.

Nic

P.s. WilliamP, hope your wife and your back are doing well. Say hello to Linda.
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