Yet another old California cab that has no business being this good.

B

BJ

BJ
This, an '80 Sebastiani Sonoma Proprietor's Reserve. I have a few of these, and the first was completely dead, leading me to believe this would be the same. A rough bottle, with a sticky dry cork, but pretty good fill. Dark and inviting. A nice coffee, tar, dusty construction paper nose, easing into a full throttle wine of coffee, fruit, black tar, beautiful balance, bitters, cedar, just a bit of tannic grip. A nice touch of pine in the finish. Actually young.

Not much Bordeaux analog; maybe Mission? Talbot? This is good. Again, not all that subtle, but nothing like modern Napa.

Such a shame.
 
Sounds good, Brad. You give me hope for the '74 I just picked up. I just picked up a couple of cases worth of older Cal Cabs and while I'm sure a bunch of them maybe shot, it should be a lot of fun to pop them and see what surprises may lay in wait.
 
Hey Brad,

I think you're in for some fun. It seems to me like 70s CA cab is tough stuff too, pretty resistant to crap cellar conditions - I've had many that seem like they're hopeless as I open, and they surprise me. It can tend to be a little monolithic and simple, but very fun - really nice grill wine. Makes me think of Trevallon perhaps.

Hope you share what you find.

BTW, this wine at hour two has turned a corner and seems to be drying and packing it in.
 
originally posted by BJ:
Makes me think of Trevallon perhaps.
Click to expand...

Speaking of which, with the caveat that Winebow sells it, the '01 is insanely good these days. I try to keep my hands off my stash, but always fail to.
 
Had a 1974 Joseph Phelps Cabernet the other day and it's held together pretty well. Not big and juicy and gobby by any means but a nicely balanced, elegant wine. It was followed by a totally-bretless 2001 Beaucastel (kind of lacking in the character I would have expected from a producer I equate with "stinky")(but in a good way). We then opened a 1999 Michel Perraud Cornas that was quite nice - maybe a little full bodied for Cornas, but with the requisite acidity lurking behind a dose of oak. With an hour in the glass everything integrated well and the wine had a bit of mintiness washing through it. Not exactly Crest, but more like spearmint from the garden. Unexpectedly nice, but not going to force Clape to keep an eye on the rear-view mirror.

-Eden (never a good idea to drive while peering at what's looming in the rear-view mirror anyway)
 
Keep it to pre 81, at least according to John Gilman. I've been following that advice, with good results.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top