TN: A delicious surprise

B

Brad Kane

Brad Kane
Went out to the wilds of NJ on Saturday to have dinner with Eden & Scott. I brought a bottle of '05 Giacosa- Nebbiolo D'Alba with me to go with some scrumptious oxtails just in case my first choice of wine didn't show well, but ended up leaving it as a housewarming present. Why? Because my friends and I were more than pleasantly surprised with how well the '78 Raymond- Cabernet showed. Gotta love when an old Cab blows away your expectations.

1978 Raymond Vineyard & Cellar- Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Still a youthful, vibrant garnet color. The aromas are highly fragrant and enticing, full of sweet black cherry fruit, herb and dusty earth. On the palate I'm amazed at how youthful and sweet the fruit is, though it's by no means jammy. The alcohol is "only" listed at 13.8%, which actually makes it relatively high for the stash of older Cal Cabs I've purchased over the past year, but would certainly be low today. Along with the beautiful black cherry fruit is a nice herbal component, dusty earth and, with time, a little bit of a cocoa powder note appeared on the finish. While the wine has a little bit of an aged patina, the structure is still holding form. If there was one little knock it's that it's maybe a little bit one-note in the complexity department, but I can't really ask for much more out of a 32 year old Napa Cab that cost me $31, delivered, a few months ago. Absolutely delicious. Solid A-.
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
TN: A delicious surpriseWent out to the wilds of NJ on Saturday to have dinner with Eden & Scott. I brought a bottle of '05 Giacosa- Nebbiolo D'Alba with me to go with some scrumptious oxtails just in case my first choice of wine didn't show well, but ended up leaving it as a housewarming present. Why? Because my friends and I were more than pleasantly surprised with how well the '78 Raymond- Cabernet showed. Gotta love when an old Cab blows away your expectations.

1978 Raymond Vineyard & Cellar- Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Still a youthful, vibrant garnet color. The aromas are highly fragrant and enticing, full of sweet black cherry fruit, herb and dusty earth. On the palate I'm amazed at how youthful and sweet the fruit is, though it's by no means jammy. The alcohol is "only" listed at 13.8%, which actually makes it relatively high for the stash of older Cal Cabs I've purchased over the past year, but would certainly be low today. Along with the beautiful black cherry fruit is a nice herbal component, dusty earth and, with time, a little bit of a cocoa powder note appeared on the finish. While the wine has a little bit of an aged patina, the structure is still holding form. If there was one little knock it's that it's maybe a little bit one-note in the complexity department, but I can't really ask for much more out of a 32 year old Napa Cab that cost me $31, delivered, a few months ago. Absolutely delicious. Solid A-
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originally posted by Lou Kessler:
78 was a warm year in the valley, that's why the higher than usual alcohol for those days.
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Well, it's actually higher than most of the other '78's I have, which are generally in the 12.5%-13.2% range.

In any case, the '78's I've been having lately have been really good. Same with the '77's. '74's have shown old.
 
No question! The '70s Cabernet Sauvignons have long shown very well.

And Raymond did some nice things back in those days.

As for the comment about the '74s, my experiences have been uniformly fine. We had a 2-day '74 retrospective a while back, sampling probably 60+ wines. Most impressive! The stalwarts were as predicted, Mayacamas, Mondavi Reserve, Phelps Insignia, Heights Martha's, Monte Bello, BV PR ... to mention a few.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
78 was a warm year in the valley, that's why the higher than usual alcohol for those days.
Click to expand...

Well, it's actually higher than most of the other '78's I have, which are generally in the 12.5%-13.2% range.

In any case, the '78's I've been having lately have been really good. Same with the '77's. '74's have shown old.
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My experience has been that the 77s have lasted longer than the 78s.
You get into the 80s a lot depends on which ones were acid adjusted?
 
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
You get into the 80s a lot depends on which ones were acid adjusted?
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More than just acid. I recall Paul Draper saying that there wasn't a bag of sugar to be found in any market in Napa Valley during harvest time in 1982.
 
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
Personal
originally posted by Brad Kane:
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
78 was a warm year in the valley, that's why the higher than usual alcohol for those days.
Click to expand...

Well, it's actually higher than most of the other '78's I have, which are generally in the 12.5%-13.2% range.

In any case, the '78's I've been having lately have been really good. Same with the '77's. '74's have shown old.
Click to expand...
My experience has been that the 77s have lasted longer than the 78s.
Click to expand...

I've liked most of the '77's I've had recently, too. A '77 Sebastiani- Proprietor's Reserve Cab was faded, but a '77 Mondavi Reserve and a Mayacamas were stellar.

If I can corral some troops, I'd like to do a '74, '77 and '78 horizontal in the next few months. Any idea how '73's are? Gilman is very keen on that vintage and wants to put a horizontal of those together, but I know little about the vintage. I do have a '73 Sterling Reserve Cab, which is historically significant as I'm told it was Ric Forman's first year there.
 
I haven't tasted 1970s Cal Cabs in more than 20 years, other than an an occasional bottle here and there, but I always thought 1973 and 1975 were superior to 1974, reputation notwithstanding. 1974 was just too fat and lacked the edge the other two vintages had.

Based on my recollections, Caymus is a must, also Ridge Monte Bello. Mount Eden is very good, as are Heitz, if you like the style (I don't), and Clos du Val. BV isn't bad. I never was a Mondavi fan. Some really good Diamond Creeks, and of course, Montelena. I recall 1973 Martini being very good.

But the greatest vintage of the 1970s, and maybe ever, in California was 1970.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
I haven't tasted 1970s Cal Cabs in more than 20 years, other than an an occasional bottle here and there, but I always thought 1973 and 1975 were superior to 1974, reputation notwithstanding. 1974 was just too fat and lacked the edge the other two vintages had.
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I can't speak about '75, but '73 was in many eyes a year that proved to be superior to the much-ballyhooed '74. Brad, you know Charlie Olken -- he's one of those who's publicly expressed that view.

Mark Lipton
 
I haven't had nearly enough to make vintage proclamations, but I will agree with the increasing assembly that the intact '73s I've tasted have had more verve and zip than the intact '74s. Better? That's wine to wine (especially after this many years), and it can go both ways. But I could also be saying that I'm less sure they're to your taste, Brad.
 
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