Vintage Chart

Dark, deep and amazingly young, near ruby color. We remember thinking that this bottling was about as good as it gets in California Cabernet, and even though the price was double that of most others, we bought a case of it. And are we glad that we did. Here is a wine that has come through a quarter of a century as if it were a decade. The ripe currant and black cherry fruit is stunning in its depth, richness and vitality, and the still evident tannins do nothing to interfere with the wine but do enhance the notion that another decade and more may lie ahead for this absolutely stunning bottling. And need we mention the complexing notes of black tea, dried spice, orange peel loam, roots, vanilla and even chocolate that are waiting in reserve while the fruit maintains itself front and center. It is aged perfection; this one is still growing into that state. Three stars when first reviewed.

Rating: 

Only 4700 bottles of this exquisite Cabernet were produced but the small size of the winery forced two bottling’s four months apart. Both bottling’s were comparatively tasted after approximately the same length of time in the bottle.

The August 1975 bottling nose opened up with rich ripe berries and lots of vanillan from the oak.

The January 1976 bottling was less open and had more pronounced wood extract.

Both are big, mouth filling wines of rich depth and intensity. The wines are long in tannin but not astringent. Both have ample fruit to carry them as the tannins soften during aging. The first bottling seems to have better balance between the wood and fruit. It also possesses a creaminess that was muted by the additional wood tannins in the second. Feel fortunate to have bottles of either in your cellar. Keep for eight or more years and then decant carefully. The finest of the vintage yet released