Tasting Notes

Release Date: Spring 1993

Let me announce it right from the start, 1990 has been the best Cabernet vintage since 1975.

Looking back to attempt to dissect the weather elements, the year 1990 started out with one of the biggest freezes in memory, giving the vines a deep hibernation and subsequent late budbreak.  Rainfall was low, being another successive drought year, and yields were low as usual. The summer was fairly normal but the fall was a vintner's dream.  The pattern of even, moderate temperatures and cool, crisp nights continued for weeks throughout September and October.  This slow, even ripening developed the full potential of the Cabernet Sauvignon character and created a harmony in the wine which is unparalleled.

Irresistible flavors of raspberry, mint, blueberry, mountain sage, briar, vanilla, black currant, lavender and sarsaparilla attest to this completeness. If complexity is a goal, this vintage should live to be a benchmark.

Delicious now, I would suggest bottle aging for another 2-4 years and then drinking over a 8 - 10 year period.

NOTE: Starting with this 1990 vintage, our Cabernet program has changed. This wine is our previous Lathweisen Ridge produced form ten-year-old vines.  The traditional old-vine wine that has sported this label in the past is now designated Old Vine Reserve.

Production

1,056

Tech Notes

Sorry, technical notes are not available for this vintage.

Reviews

91 points Anthony Dias Blue 

Smooth and earthy, ripe and smoky, plummy and dense, rich and fascinating. Drink in 1995.

Restaurant Wine  

Four Stars- A well balanced, moderately tannic wine with good depth of flavor (green love, pepper, oak) and a long finish. With the 1990 vintage, this estate designation replaces the “young vine” and “Lathweisen Ridge” bottling, while the former “estate bottling” becomes the “old vine reserve”. 1994-2000.

The Underground Wine Journal  - March 1993

The 1990 Mount Eden “Lathweisen Ridge” Estate Bottled Cabernet has a bright perfume of black cherry, black currant, mint, boysenberry and spice, etched with tasty vanilla. The flavors echo the aromas of this complex, rich, highly concentrated wine. It has balanced acidity and tannins and a long toasty vanilla/black cherry finish. Delicious now, cellaring can only enhance. 18 Outstanding

Rating Scale for The Underground Wine Journal:

18-20 Outstanding

15-17 Very good

12-14 Good

Under 12 Below Average