Cabernet TN's: Etude, Lewelling, Ristow, Laurel Glen, Ramey

[Michael Malinoski]

Having missed one previous poker game and knowing I was going to miss the next one as well, I pushed for an interim Friday night game and lo and behold we got a full house together. I supplied the pizza, everyone brought a bottle to drink and the winnings were in the form of QPR bottles that served as ante into the game for each person.

By the time I got there (right on time, by the way), a bottle of corked 1996 Roederer Estate L’Ermitage Brut was already opened and discarded and a whole bottle of 1997 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve was already opened and completely downed. All that was left was a rather full bottle of 2002 Domaine du Pegau Chateuneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee—for reasons that became quite clear moments after I took a pour.

2002 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. The nose initially displays slowly fading barnyard aromas to go with leather and black cherry notes. Over time, though, this nice profile is marred by fuzzy and moderately volatile soy, balsamic and cough syrup overtones that come in and sort of make for an odd cocktail of smells swirling around. In the mouth, this is tinny, thin and bitter--largely lacking in charm or depth. It feels jangled and overly acidic--turning even greener with time and never rising above a feeling of flatness. There is not much complexity, lift or depth and just not a whole lot to recommend it.

And then the more or less official line-up:

1987 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This wine opens up seemingly a bit reduced, with lots of roasted and stewed red berries and roasted coffee beans dominating. It stays rustic all the way through the bouquet, but adds in more interesting nuances of mocha paste, mint leaf, cold bacon grease, cedar dust, eucalyptus and eventually a grilled a green pepper skin aroma that sort of comes to dominate too much after a while. It is much less rustic and more enjoyable in the mouth, where it comes across as tangy and juicy with decent acidic structure to carry it along. It is somewhat lighter-bodied and has a smooth texture, featuring flavors of cool dark fruits, earthy dustiness and a lemon citrus squirt. It finishes pretty fresh for its age and turns a bit more fleshy and red-fruited, with more of a cherry and dark raspberry profile. The tannins are completely resolved and overall it is a smooth and rounded drink.

1983 Chateau Belair St. Emilion. CORKED. And no-go on using Saran Wrap to try and bring it back from the dead.

1997 Lewelling Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This wine features an interesting and seemingly large-boned aromatic profile that shows off notes of scorched earth, toast, grilled peppers, black currant and graphite minerality. It feels like classic California Cabernet in a large but classy-styled package. In the mouth, it is creamy-textured but also sharply focused. It features lots and lots of warm baking spices to go with tart baked blackberry pie flavors. It has a bright acidic streak running through the middle, but also a slight hint of alcoholic warmth at times. It has solid intensity of fruit and drive. The finish is long and spicy, with a sense of purity. It is starting to round out and show some resolution of tannin, yet feels young and bright still—needing a bit more time to hopefully integrate the hints of alcoholic heat. Still, this was a real favorite of mine, probably #2 wine of the night for me.

1997 Ristow Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Quinta de Pedras Napa Valley. The cool nose of fireplace ash, black currants and white pepper is big and rigidly-structured, with occasional background scents of green pepper and a deeper well of sweet blue fruit floating around. In the mouth, there are some sticky tannins immediately apparent and the texture throughout remains a bit chalky and chewy. It is fairly big and definitely fudgy, but it is hard to deny that it also pumps out a lot of appealing chunky black currant and blackberry flavor. For all the tannin, it flows pretty smoothly across the back part of the palate. It is pretty young and large at this point and I’d probably suggest holding off a few more years on this one.

1985 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain. This wine takes a while to open up and unwind, slowly gaining in aromatic class and flavor intensity over the course of the evening. The nose features notes of charcoal ash, cool stones, green pepper skins, tobacco leaf and fine melted chocolate that combine to form a very classy, almost regal-smelling bouquet with a good deal of cool, reserved Bordelais character. It is solid and structured in the mouth, with just the slightest whisper of tannins through the mid-palate before turning a bit stickier with tannin toward the finish, which is otherwise long and classy. The black fruit is sweeter and more engaging through the taut, wiry mid-palate, with an interesting airiness to it. This feels like it could go a good while longer without question and overall it shows best now after extended aeration. An impressive showing and my wine of the night.

2000 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis. This was served double blind and placed here in the middle of the line-up. It does not seem like a very good bottle, as the nose comes across as rather flat and lifeless, without a whole lot going on. There are some stone, earth, smoke and dark cherry notes and perhaps a faint whiff of incense from time to time, but in a fairly compacted, linear style. In the mouth, it is medium to full-bodied and the texture is nicely silky through the mid-palate. However, there are tons of sticky drying tannins on the finish, which clamps down hard. Over time, it manages to find a bit of lift and shows some glimpses of high-toned red fruit, but overall it is mostly rough and astringent. When it was eventually revealed, I was deeply disappointed, as this really should have shown considerably better than this, I would think.

2002 Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain Napa Valley. The nose of this wine is super-bright and fruity, featuring loads of sweet pure red cherry and strawberry fruit framed by subtler aromas of chopped herbs, limestone, warm asphalt and generous oak-tinged spices. It actually reminds me of a Cabernet version of a MacPhail Pinot Noir style. In the mouth, the wine carries on the personality of the bouquet—showing big pinches of wood spices and oak dust to go along with confectionary red fruit galore, cocoa powder, creosote and chalk flavors. This is pretty much in your face with the bright, tangy, red berry fruit and oak, but has a lovely sweetness and purity that carries it along. It is certainly not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

2006 Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Prologue Napa Valley. I find the nose here to be rather weird—with lots of green herbs and stemmy notes accented by odd plastic and styrofoam peanut aromas. There is not much to like here, as this comes across to me as totally industrial-smelling. In the mouth, it is equally unappealing—with austere weedy notes and rubber flavors to go along with cool, crisp black fruits in a medium-bodied package. There are sticky tannins throughout and an herbal, smoky finish. I really have no interest in drinking this.

Zach then started making semi-regular trips down to the cellar to keep things going…

2003 Delas Freres Saint-Joseph Cuvee Francois de Tournon. OK, so now we are onto something entirely different. This shows a big hit of black pepper on the nose to go along with aromas of charcoal, grilled meat, burnt bacon bits, sweet creosote and fuzzy blackberry fruit. In the mouth, one gets some black cherry and blackberry fruit along with a bit of green herbal notes. It is medium to full-bodied, with a somewhat chewy texture and showing just a hint of heat. The cocoa-tinged finish is long, but a bit puckering and slightly tannic. A bit more time would probably smooth this out a bit.

2006 Eric Kent Wine Cellars Syrah Dry Stack Vineyard Bennett Valley. Like the Ramey tasted earlier, the nose of this wine is rather immediate, strong and super-sweet—featuring confectionary red fruit and red fruit compote aromas married to oaky overtones and a bit of browner Indian spices. In the mouth, this is young and oak-driven and also a bit warm with alcohol but it also delivers a huge dose of pure high-toned red fruits done in a confectionary sweet fashion. Again, this is not a style for everybody, but I was pleasantly surprised by its potential.

1994 Warre Vintage Porto. CORKED. Some improvement was evident post-Saran Wrap, but it never really came close to what it ought to be based on past experiences.

2005 Jorge Ordonez Malaga Seleccion Especial #1. A flowery and soft bouquet featuring aromas of orange peel, rose petals, nectarines, burnished grapefruit rind and white peaches is rather pretty and refreshingly light and airy. It is softly feminine in the mouth, with a very gentle sweetness to it and an easy viscosity of texture. Flavors of grapefruit, nectrarine, orange citrus and creamy caramel are light and airy, but persistently pretty and refreshing. This was a nice way to wrap things up on a freshening note.

There were also bottles of 2004 Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon Cold Creek Vineyard Columbia Valley and 2006 Falset-Marca Etim Seleccion Montsant opened at various times but I missed those.

-Michael

[DavidG]

Great notes as always Michael. I was surprised by the initial description of the Etude as rustic, though my experiences with their wines have been from the '90s, so perhaps some changes in techniques and styles occurred - I always thought they were pretty lush, rich, and ripe. Laurel Glen is one of the few Cali Cabs that I think ages pretty well, developing some nice complexity over time. Not to surprised about the '02 Pegau (or any '02 CduP) given the horrendous rains and flooding they had.

[Michael Malinoski]

Thanks, David. The Etude was surprisingly rustic aromatically, but not really at all on the palate--where it resembles the Etudes you are used to. I think that volatility or reduction or whatever funk it has on the nose may be a bottle-specific characteristic.

The Laurel Glen was a revelation--a fine mountain Cab with grip and stuffing for ageability but a certain cool Bordelais classicism that is so appealing. Wish I had more...

[Jay Winton]

No surprise here either about Laurel Glen but please keep mum about its ageability as I've picked up older vintages at good prices.

[Michael Malinoski]

Jay, this particular bottle was in great shape, too. The cork had like 1/16th of an inch of wine above the disc, if that. I was happy to spend $60 to get it and would pay that again and cellar for perhaps another 3-5 years before trying again. But otherwise, mum's the word!

-Michael