February 2010
Taking a Look Back at a Vintage of the Decade
Have they stood the test of time?
While I remain enamored with the great wines of California’s past, I am on the fence in regards to what can be called their more modern style first embraced in the very early... Read more Taking a Look Back at a Vintage of the Decade
Have they stood the test of time?
While I remain enamored with the great wines of California’s past, I am on the fence in regards to what can be called their more modern style first embraced in the very early 1980s. The wines from the 1960s and 1970s were often made by winemakers operating in the field, basing their actions on the accumulated wisdom of the generations that had come before them.
In one fell swoop, the University of California at Davis changed almost all of that. In the late 1970s there was a backlash against wines that were perceived as too tannic, alcoholic, and over-ripe. Boy how things have changed! In an effort to tame these brutes, and bring elegance to the wines of California the concept of “food wines” was born. A marketing major could not have come up with a better idea!
Food wines, simply put, were wines that were to be lighter, more elegant and less aggressive in their youth. What the winemakers actually achieved was to strip the glory that is California from the wines and make them resemble cheap, almost innocuous table wines. Guess what happened next.
What to expect: Napa Cabernet Sauvignon
California's Napa Valley has been a source of world-class Cabernet Sauvignon for well over a century. It's warm climate, and varied terrain, allows for many styles of wine. One thread that runs through almost all the Cabernet based wines from Napa is their lush, ripe full-bodied feel and rich flavors of currant and berry. Wines from the valley floor, particularly around Rutherford, are famed for a dusty quality, while those coming from the hillsides surrounding the valley, Mt. Veeder, Diamond Mountain and Howell Mountain for example, tend to be a little leaner with more obvious structural elements.
Learn more about Napa Valley
There was another backlash but now the winemakers in California were equipped to properly deal with whatever might come. I won’t go so far as to call the techniques used trickery, in fact they are more akin to make-up, but their effect on California’s wines has been dramatic and very wide spread.
The goal of the winemakers during this backlash to the “food wine” movement was admirable. They simply wanted to find a way to put that Californianess back in the bottle while making the wines softer and more accessible in their youth. While some regions produce fruit that is ideal for this style, many simply do not. The only way to get to there, rich fruit and soft tannins, especially with Cabernet Sauvignon, which is not exactly famous for its soft tannins was to get them ripe.
Now there is ripeness, and then there is RIPENESS. Unfortunately some very influential people in the world of wine seem to have a distinct fondness for RIPENESS so those wines garnered many, many points. Points, being the harbinger of a wine’s retail success, are pretty highly valued in the wine world. It’s no surprise that winemakers, and more importantly winery owners, figured out that really ripe wines got, in general, higher scores than less ripe wines.
So what’s a winemaker to do? Harvest riper and get those tannins soft and supple, or even non-existent. But of course as grapes ripen they lose balancing acidity. Not a problem, they can acidify. And as grapes get really ripe they accumulate tremendous amounts of alcohol producing sugar. Not a problem. Produce a wine with 16% alcohol, or add some water to the must, or extract some alcohol with new machines. It’s not a problem.
Well you know what was a problem. The wines that were produced. I hate to generalize, and I really am a fan of very many California wines, but the truth is that many wines produced in California today, and expensive wines at that, are produced in a style that makes them sweet, fat and easy to drink on release yet obscures most of the character of the grape and virtually all of the terroir.
Another issue I have with these wines is that they just don’t age well. Allow me to be more precise. These wines simply do not have the balance to age into a wine that is elegant, velvety and full of complex flavors and aromas. All too frequently these wines are attractive in their youth, full of super fruity flavors and creamy choco-mocha oak but with a few years the fruit drops out, the wood tannins and acid remain and you get one painful surprise in the mouth; nastiness.
I’ve been drinking California cabernet long enough to see follow the wines through these cycles and to my mind 1991 had remained one of the benchmark vintages of the past two decades. The vintage produced wines with exceptional balance and lovely, ripe fruit that retained freshness and purity. Even after quite a few years the wines gave all indications of evolving well and seemed to promise great things in the future.
Well, the future has arrived and I was looking forward to a long planned retrospective tasting of this fine vintage. So it was that I joined 10 of my fellow wine geek friends to sample 20 wines from this outstanding vintage. We tasted the wines single blind, in that we knew what wines we were supposed to have but not the order. I remembered a few of the wines but I did not keep the list handy. The wines were served with dinner, roasted marrow and bone-in sirloin steak, medium rare, for those interested.
Would the wines vindicate the winemakers who choose to follow the recipes of UC Davis, or would they show the error of those ways and serve as a warning for the vintages that followed. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Violate Zone.
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Two great values from 2005 for the cellar.
2005 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains
Priced from $24.99
The aromatics are still a bit raw with rich notes of wild plum and blackberry tones that follow through on the moderately rich mid-palate, with a rather restrained feeling on the palate.Already showing well this should be a wonderful wine with spicy black fruit accented by vanilla and cedar spice tones.
2005 Field Stone Alexander Valley Cabernet
Priced from $12.45
This features toasted oak as well as floral top notes and subtle suggestions of sage embedded in the red cherry fruit of the nose. On the palate this is already silky with a finish that is nicely spicy with layered jammy red cherries and spice leading to a nice mineral tone on the finale.
The Wines: 1991 California Cabernet Sauvignon
Flight One
1991 Mount Veeder Reserve – This came off as a bit hot and compressed on the nose with a lean profile that included notes of dried meat, dusty earth, and small, somewhat dried berry fruits. In the mouth this was lean and a bit linear with good acidity and tannins that were mostly resolved. There’s not a tone of varietal character, and while the wine is a bit hot it has good length and retains good fruit on the finish with a nice touch of mint. Solid yet uninspiring. ( The lack of varietal character should not be taken as a negative here since this is in fact a Meritage blend that includes all five of the Main Bordeaux grapes) 87pts
1991 Mayacamas – Fresh leather and herbal, almost artichoke tones greet the nose with earthy, slightly bretty notes lurking underneath. With air this gains lovely complexity with notes of cherry fruit, a bit of rubber, black olive, and rocky, mountain fruit minerality. This is very youthful and linear in the mouth with tannins that are a touch drying but well integrated. The fruit here remains fresh and red though it tapers off a bit early leaving a finish dominated by minerals, leather and a nice medicinal tone. Snappy, young and transparent, this is interesting and enjoyable. 91pts
1991 Dominus – Clean and pure on the nose with a nice edge of vegetal funk up front and background notes of smoke and oak all over a very cassis driven core. This is decidedly varietal on the nose but note very California. In the mouth this is pretty soft with some fairly dry tannins still making their presence known. The fruit is soft and subtle with some dark, dried fruit notes that lead to a cinnamonny finish. Overall this promised more than it delivered and was rather dry and graceless. I have had better bottle of this, but they were all in the past. My last experience with this unfortunately mirrored this one. 84pts
1991 Rafanelli – This smells chunky and full with a lovely sweetness to the fruit that gains floral accents and hints of mint, though the wood aromas do become more assertive as it sits in the glass. On the palate this begins as dark and earthy but quickly blossoms to reveal a core of rich, chunky, dark cherry and blackberry fruit. There is good acid here and a fair amount of tannin too but everything remains in balance and the fruit, though it is a bit monolithic, ultimately retains the upper hand. The finish is long with hints of eucalyptus and wood spice contributing complexity. This is delicious and probably as good as it’s going to get. It’s a gutsy, old style Cabernet that’s packed full of fruit but I do not get the sense that it’s going to develop into a particularly complex wine and my best guess is that the structure here will win out over the fruit sooner rather than later. But for today and the next 3-5 years it’s a winner. 93pts
Flight Two
1991 Fisher Wedding Cuvee – Slightly corked but smelled as though it could have been a very nice wine.
1991 La Jota Howell Mountain Selection – Hard and rich smelling with great depth on the nose. This is imposingly rich and packed with fruit blackberry fruit accented with bay leaf, cocoa and baking spices. Wow this smells impressive, and on the palate it delivers the goods. Remaining very young and rich this is packed with dark cassis fruit and has a huge palate presence filled with ripe fruit tannins and superbly integrated acidity. It’s not yet fully open on the finish but the snappy, crisp acidity gives this phenomenal focus through the mouth and keeps that intense core of fruit fresh and bright. The finish reveals notes of earth, spice and some herbal stemminess and gains surprising finesse with air. A real find. 95pts
1991 Newton – Very woody on the nose with jammy notes of seared black fruit and eucalyptus top notes. Air brings out good complexity with a slight vegetal tones being joined by hints of coffee, leather and oak spice. In the mouth this is surprisingly soft and short. The mid-palate has plenty of jammy black fruit and the finish reveals rich, chocolaty oak but the overall package never shows enough integration. A clumsy wine . 84pts
1991 Guglielmo – This smells shallow and weird with notes of melon and cherry contrasted by lots of mushroom and forest floor aromas. In the mouth this opens with rather sweet and pleasant fruit but then quickly turns dirty, hard and lean with searing acidity on the finish. I want to like this but it is simply a bit painful to drink. 70pts
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Flight Three
1991 Forman - Very black fruited on the nose with notes of currant and cherry that almost conceal a touch of brett and hints of mint, tea, and bean starch. In the mouth this is lean and crisp with lots of tannin and not a lot of fruit. There's a lot of espresso to be found on the palate and a pleasnt, mineral tinged, crisp fruit skin element but the wine is very short. I like the taut structure but this lacks a bit of depth. 86pts
1991 Phelps Insignia – This smells like Bordeaux, balance and complex with intriguing notes of aromatic herbs, cigar wrapper, earth, small berries and plums. Smells a bit like Merlot. On the palate this is very nice with a richness to the ripe fruit balanced by ripe tannins and supported by well integrated acids. This doesn’t change much in the glass, and while it is a touch soft and monolithic it retains a lovely, aromatic nose and an elegance in the mouth that is appealing. 90pts
1991 Montelena – The nose on this is youthful and complex with lots of oak spice buffered by plenty of red and black fruits with a jammy edge to them. There are lovely complicating notes of wet horse, grilled peppers, leather and chalky soil adding to the bouquet. On the palate this is surprisingly elegant and composed with a fine, layered fell and deep flavors of black currant edged with smoke and earth. The backend is still a bit hard and feels a touch extracted but the balance to allow this to continue to improve is here and I expect this can only get better. 93pts
1991 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains – Liquory on the nose with nice freshness and notes of coffee beans, dilly American oak, fudge and toast help to frame the sweet, slightly jammy black berry fruit. In the mouth this is a bit simple and a bit short but the fruit is pleasantly spicy with a nice crisp edge to the black berry tones. The tannins are present but well integrated, just supporting the sweet rich fruit. A very nice example a California Cabernet and peak and perhaps just beginning to fade away 89pts
Flight Four
1991 Mondavi Reserve – Smells like wood and candy at first with notes of smoke and leather adding some detail. Air brings a brightness to the nose that recalls candied citrus peel as well as a lovely floral top note. The bouquet is fresh, complex and evolving In the mouth this feels a little compressed with a bit of obvious wood still in evidence but the bitter cherry fruit remains assertive through the palate and leads to a nice finish with notes of slightly under-ripe fruit that remains fresh, vibrant and detailed, this will not blow anybody away but rather seduces you with it’s subtle detail. 90pts
1991 Simi Reserve – Reticent at first then quite seductive with deep black raspberry fruit joined by creamy oak and nutty nuances and finally a floral top note. In the mouth this is soft and still creamy with confected notes of black cherry and chocolate dominating a mid-palate, which has not structural center. On the backend the oak gains the upper hand and the finish is limp and dominated by oaky flavors. This has seen better days and appears to be only a shadow of it’s former self. 84pts
1991 Ridge Montebello – Very bright on the nose with red currant fruit and a hint of boysenberry all joined by very complex notes of vanilla, raw meat, sun dried tomato, and balsamic notes. This smells down right sweet. In the mouth this is very rich and seems to have been acidified. The mid-palate is hollow and remarkable soft considering the acids on the finish, which is also bitter. The nose was promising but this bottle is a disaster 80pts I’ve had this wine several times and it has consistently been one of the greatest California Cabernets I have had the pleasure to drink. I can only hope that this was a bad bottle.
1991 Dunn Howell Mountain – Coffee and candied currants great the nose followed by black currant jam, hot iron, minerals and rocks. This smells hard and pure with a penetrating scent that is pure mountain fruit. On the palate this is bright and crisp, taut like a drumskin, with very fine, minty edged black cherry fruit. The tannins are lovely, crisp and fine grained if particularly abundant and the acid is solid and in balance. There is a very fine kernel of nervous, sweet fruit lying at the core of this wine that peeks out on the long finish to reveal it’s sweet red berry notes and subtle medicinal edge. A great wine that remains very youthful but is amazingly precise and fresh. 95pts
Flight Five
1991 Spottswoode – Deep and spicy on the nose with hints of allspice, white pepper, vitamins, vanilla, toast and old chicken bouillon cube all blending for an intriguing, if not totally appealing bouquet. Up front this offer a nice bit of sweet, bright red fruit but the mid-palate becomes dominated by the acidity as it turns harsh and hollow which becomes unrelenting on the moderately long finish. With air this fleshes out a bit as the fruit gains traction and begins to cover the mid-palate but the finish remains raw and aggressive. I’ve had better bottles of this and can only assume that this has seen less than ideal storage over the years. 86pts
1991 Cain Five - This offers a rather appealing Bordeaux like nose of violet florality, leather, a bit of brett and forest floor all knit together with a subtle yet sweet wild black fruit character. On entry this is rich and soft with spicy fruit tones edged in black tea with more dried fruit tones appearing on the mid-palate. The finish lacks some flesh and turns subtly spicily vegetal with a soft yet natural feel. This is certainly ripe feeling but with good balance, and a fair amount of tannin still obvious, this does retain an appealing mouthfeel. But the brett might be an issue for some. 88pts
1991 Beringer Private Reserve – This smells like totally typical, straight forward Napa Valley Cabernet. There are leafy edges that frame the cassis fruit and an underlay of toast and spice. With air the nose gains a nice perfume with almost lemongrass vegetal tones and hints of roast coffee beans and candied raspberries. On the palate this is nice and crisp feeling with integrated tannins that give the dark fruit a slightly hard feel. The finish is short and while the fruit is rich this seems like a wine that will never actually mature and the best we can hope for is that it fades away gradually. 89pts
1991 Frogs Leap - Aromatically this is starts off very restrained with a big note of bologna and subtle berry tones. With air this blooms, revealing medicinal cherry fruit that is slightly candied and supported to subtle cedar cigarbox tones. On the palate this is very light and easy with spicy red fruits that lead to a somewhat flat, neutral mid-palate. The finish is a bit hot and laced with assertive coffee cream tones. A wine that seems to be starting to fall apart. Drink these soon if you have them 86pts. (hide)
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