Recently, there must've been either a big cellar cull, or perhaps an estate sale on Winebid, as a couple of months ago there were 37 pages worth of old California wines available at auction on the site. Having had success with some older California Cabernets Jay Miller had purchased there and after checking fill levels, I took the plunge and bought a couple of cases worth mostly from '74 and '78, with a '69 and some others from the '70's thrown in, as the prices were just too good to pass up on trying a bit of California wine history. This past Saturday, I tried the first bottle after having let it rest a couple of weeks. I was more than pleasantly surprised.
1978 Sycamore Creek Vineyards- Cabernet Sauvignon, Central Coast, Santa Clara Valley
Starts off with some old musty barrel flavors and aromas, but they blew off to reveal surprisingly youthful and decadent cassis and plummy fruit with just a hint of cocoa, earth and herb in the background, but make no mistake about it, this is a fruit driven wine. While the fruit still has youth and vitality, the wine itself is nicely softened and has that wonderful aged smoothness that's just like buttah. Not so much a thinking wine, but it's a lot of fun and a surprising example of how good an old school California Cabernet can be and how well they can age. $25 delivered was a steal. A-/B+.
Not Posted From Cellartracker
1978 Sycamore Creek Vineyards- Cabernet Sauvignon, Central Coast, Santa Clara Valley
Starts off with some old musty barrel flavors and aromas, but they blew off to reveal surprisingly youthful and decadent cassis and plummy fruit with just a hint of cocoa, earth and herb in the background, but make no mistake about it, this is a fruit driven wine. While the fruit still has youth and vitality, the wine itself is nicely softened and has that wonderful aged smoothness that's just like buttah. Not so much a thinking wine, but it's a lot of fun and a surprising example of how good an old school California Cabernet can be and how well they can age. $25 delivered was a steal. A-/B+.
Not Posted From Cellartracker