1978 California Cabernet's

On November 16, 2002 Peter Mika proctored a horizontal tasting of 1978 California Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines were from Peter’s brother's (Tom) cellar; a hearty thank you toast goes out to Tom, wherever he is now. All the bottles were in great shape, with only two bottles’ corks wet through. Accompanying the tasting were a nice selection of cheeses, beef, and bread. There were 4 flights overall covering 4 different areas, with the last flight being the best overall. Below are some brief taster notes over each of the wines.

Flight one wines were from the Sonoma county, Alexander Valley AVA.

Clos du Bois Marlstone: Tar, pepper, and earth with some oxidized character; little left in the mouth.

Clos du Bois Briarcrest: Sweet, vanilla with dusty, minty highlights on the nose, the mouth had sweet fruit with oak and an okay finish.

Jordan Estate: Pepper (bell), sweet vanilla and dust. Mouth included pepper, cherry on an acidic ending. Best of flight.

Flight two was from Napa County, Rutherford sub-AVA.

Pine Ridge winery: Great earthy-barnyard and tar with vanilla and dust. Mouth was nicely coated with plum fruit (prunes) and had a very nice finish. Best of Flight

Raymond Estate: Very little nose (sweaty highlights). Medicinal mouth, nothing left.

Flight three were from Napa County, Stag’s Leap District AVA

Clos du Val: Peppery, faint mint with underlying stinky cheese aromas. Average mouth fill.

Shafer Vineyards: Sherry aromas (oxidized). Sherry-like mouth that a lot of people really enjoyed. Best of Flight Runner-Up

Stag’s Leap: Wonderful Tobacco, tar, earth, and pepper aromas. Decent mouth with ending tannins. Best of Flight

Flight four was from Napa County, Mayacamas Range.

Diamond Creek Vineyard, Gravelly Meadow: Rich aromas with tar and earth highlights. In the mouth there were lots of cherry, cedar and ending tannins. Best of Flight Runner-Up.

Diamond Creek Vineyard, Volcanic Hill: Floral, rich cherry aromas. Lots of cherry fruit (softer than gravelly) and ending tannins. Best of Flight

Robert Keenan Winery: Poopy, earth underlying currents. Great color (best of the night) and soft mouth full of plums.

Ridge Vineyards, York Creek: Had a cooked plum, sweaty aromas, mouth was very soft and a bit flabby.

Overall, this demonstrated how terrain and elevation affects the ability of a wine to age. As flight four showed, apparently environments that stressed the vines the most produced the most age worthy wines. In this writer’s opinion, most of the wines were probably drinking at their best 10 years sooner; but hindsight is 100%.