With a wonderful horseradish encrusted rare beef tenderloin
1984 Niebaum-Coppola Rubicon, Napa Valley Red Table Wine, alc ??, $74: Decanted for 30 minutes..promising nose of graphite/pencil lead that I most associate with well made Bordeaux..the theme follows to the palate with a rich minerality that infuses the complex ever-changing fruit motifs..still going strong with superb balance and the most lacy-silky texture...finishs with good length and a soft descrescendo of sweetness..probably at it's best but it could remain there for a least a few more years
The term "Bordeaux blend" is often liberally applied to CA/Napa wines but never has the term been more appropriate in my experience.. this could easily have been slipped into a blind tasting of 5-15 yr old Bordeaux and fooled at least many of the tasters (comparison to any of the lesser classified wines obviously not Latour, Lafite, etc..although Lafite does come to mind with all the graphite going on!)
BTW.. what in the world happened at this winery to cause such a "fall from grace" in terms of quality
1984 Niebaum-Coppola Rubicon, Napa Valley Red Table Wine, alc ??, $74: Decanted for 30 minutes..promising nose of graphite/pencil lead that I most associate with well made Bordeaux..the theme follows to the palate with a rich minerality that infuses the complex ever-changing fruit motifs..still going strong with superb balance and the most lacy-silky texture...finishs with good length and a soft descrescendo of sweetness..probably at it's best but it could remain there for a least a few more years
The term "Bordeaux blend" is often liberally applied to CA/Napa wines but never has the term been more appropriate in my experience.. this could easily have been slipped into a blind tasting of 5-15 yr old Bordeaux and fooled at least many of the tasters (comparison to any of the lesser classified wines obviously not Latour, Lafite, etc..although Lafite does come to mind with all the graphite going on!)
BTW.. what in the world happened at this winery to cause such a "fall from grace" in terms of quality