The vertical tasting of BV Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve was eagerly anticipated by all. Inexplicably, I was in Milwaukee in the middle of Winter, and missed the registration deadline. Luckily, two of our members had been so overcome by the aromas of marine epoxy and paint that they failed to show up, and I was called at the last moment to step once more into the breach. Provided with 8 glasses (I have always depended on the kindness of Wykoffs) I was able to sample all the wines in rapid succession. All the wines were in good shape; like our membership, nary a one was over the hill. The high variation in taste and flavors among the 1968, 1970, 1974, 1976, and 1978 was striking compared to the low variability of flavors in the wines from the 1980's, and our own Dr. Mika explained that might have been caused by winemaker turnover during the '70's. The 1968 had mint and chocolate in the nose, was just a touch oxidized, but was full of soft tannins, and earned a grade of "fantastic!" on my tasting sheet. The 1970 smelled of chocolate and cedar, had soft tannins and a minty tobacco flavor, resulting in the highly quantitative score of "excellent!". The 1974 had some flavors of earth and leather, but was thin and tasted a little like plastic, and for me was the only disappointing wine of the lot. The 1976 was musky, meaty and minty, with some bright cedar flavors, while the enigmatic 1978 was inky and musky yet had some bright cherry acid too. The 1982 smelled of cedar, and was minty with soft tannins, had a "hot" alcohol taste, but did not seem out of balance. The 1984 had higher acid than the 1982, and bright berry fruit, and also cedar and mint flavors. The 1985 was like the 1984, only more so--more acid, more bright berry fruit, more cedar, with a little vanilla thrown in too. Finally, the 1997, kindly provided by Dean, was rich with noticeable tannins, and had an interesting nutmeg-vanilla-mint thing going on. To quote Muddy Waters, the whole event was enough to "make pretty womens jump and shout", and we send a hearty thank you to Peter Mika and his brother for having the foresight and generosity to cellar and share such fun wine!!