It's been a long silence. My blogging seems to come in spurts. Too much work at work and short attention span up to today, just like the little boy I was some ages ago.
Alan invited some of us to join him and a few other winelovers to his home to review five Napa cabernets circa 1994 vintage. This was done in the name of charity, by the way. These wines were served semi-blind:
1994 Shafer Hillside Select
1994 Chateau Montelena
1994 Silver Oak (Napa)
1994 Beringer Private Reserve
1994 Dominus
I arrived late, but the whole set up was ready. This means five Bordeaux stemware per person already filled and labelled by coloured dots corresponding to the bottles. I was having very uncomfortable stomach (gastric?) for a few hours leading to my arrival but as soon as I started to taste and nibble at the finger foods, it got better. Hmmm... Is this a sign? I really shouldn't have stayed away from wine too long.
Everyone in the room already started sniffing and taking notes. Conversations were all about the wines. This was going to be good. As soon as I buffered my stomach lining with some of those hearty bite-sized Bockwursts, I was now ready to explore.
Napa 1994. Well, a very illustrious vintage for California and one that would go down in history with many a Californian classics to its credit I suspect. Personally I did not have many encounters with this vintage. In fact relatively speaking my experience with Napa, cabernets or otherwise, in any vintage is cursory at worst, trivial at best. And so after months of burgundies I begain my momentary journey tonight into this strange land...
Wine #1 (fuschia dot) -- Slightly sweaty nose. Blackcurrants, quite oaky, turned cedary and had dryish rustic tannins. With extended aeration the aromas and fruits turned green. Somewhat a flawed wine, but is it just this bottle? 1994 Dominus
Wine #2 (black dot) -- Generous plummy nose, smelled somewhat Merlot dominated with hints of redcurrants. The oak was spicier here but the fruits density and structure balanced out the modern treatment. Tannins were evidently due to oak (not raw materials). I didn't quite enjoy this at first but aeration gave it more balance and roundness as well as a late savoury note. Quite delicious. 1994 Shafer Hillside Select
Wine #3 (orange dot) -- Immediately evident american oak nose of vanillin and fennel. Spicy, Cabernet dominated dark fruits profile. A forceful, rather aggressive wine that finished off simple and relatively short. More aeration tired out the wine further with the fruits drying up slowly but surely. 1994 Silver Oak Napa
Wine #4 (white dot) -- Very ripe and quite opulently red-fruited, verging on jammy yet not quite there... On the palate quite savoury and carried brighter fruits. Very delicious and upfront. Morphed aromas of sweet tea leaves after some time. Finished off with dusty tannins and lost a bit of steam afterward. 1994 Beringer Private Reserve
Wine #5 (yellow dot) -- The only wine tonight that was reticent and inexpressive at the nose and also the darkest coloured. Serious, brooding wine. Muscular, taut and impressively voluminous, forceful and structured. Dark fruits and ripe. Even density characterises the mouthfeel. A classic Californian cabernet which is unforthcoming today but impressed me with its stature and latent persistent sweetness. My favourite of the flight. 1994 Chateau Montelena
Andy selected a ringer wine, also a 1994 Napa cabernet which I brought along. This one sported a very ripe, meaty, crunchy currants nose mixing together terroir characteristics -- ash, earth and tobacco after plenty of air -- and very chewy tannins. A big boy but well behaved. Delicious but still had unexpressed layers that might require some time. A classical Californian done in an old style to rival Bordeaux if it were to mature. 1994 Corison
Indeed a very interesting exercise. If these wines were representative of the vintage, then the wines generally behaved like its region and the structure of this undoubtedly ripe vintage is quite commendable. Frankly I would have preferred gentler bodied wines with better acid structure. But for what they are, these are very good indeed. Special mention must go to the Montelena. Most impressive and original.
But wait! There were Burgundy glasses, and Alan topped up a few more stemwares, and so each of us now had four Burgundy glasses each. Very impressive logistics of vinous vessels... Now I know that we're finally arriving at the main course of the night. A Burg workout of some kind (only the host knew).
Four wines were poured into respective glasses which were again colour coded. All the wines were served out of a decanter. Having poured all the wines we asked the host what the theme might be. He asked us to guess. After sniffing around and tasting bits of the pours, I thought this might be two different communes, two wines each, different vintage and possibly same producer. Some conjectured it's same commune different producers, while others thought it's same producer different grand crus. The host, after taking his time to watch the debate, disclosed that it's the same commune different producers, different vintage. When I asked whether he meant same commune or same grand cru, he said they were all of one grand cru. Now this gets interesting... In fact they were all Le Musigny. Nice! Not to mention, very generous.
Burg #1 (brown dot) -- Darkest hue of the lot. Smoky, almost reductive and flinty nose. Fruit flavours were dark, almost blue-fruits. This seemed to have been vinified with stems, but the stems were very ripe. Quite extracted and gave suggestions of mocha and coffee. Despite the massiveness and modernity, this had a nice tangy acids. 1999 Drouhin "Musigny"
Burg #2 (green dot) -- Dense but tea like on the nose with secondary aromas of mushroom and sweet tea. Acids were somewhat lower pitched but there was clear minerality. With aeration it turned caramelly sweet with a medicinal tinge. Interesting and quite delicious. 1991 Comte Georges de Vogue "Musigny VV"
Burg #3 (blue dot) -- Spicier oak on the nose. Quite opulent and sweet. Dense but rather low pitched. Sweet and in fact this was so ripe it bordered on being nearly cloying in the finish. In my opinion, I thought this was rather Vosne-like. Possessed good acid lift at the back but the density and extracted sweetness still weighed the wine down. Picked up intriguing roasty and oily texture. 1990 Moine-Hudelot "Musigny"
Burg #4 (red dot) -- This was the favourite of the group. Most lightly hued, quite advanced bricking. Floral nose from obvious stems treatment. Hints of rose petals on the nose. Easy going and nicely drinking but lacked structure and grip. Finished off with dusty fairly dry tannins, a sign of unbalanced extraction or a dehydrated vintage. 1995 J.F. Mugnier "Musigny"
When the night goes well, and people are excited about the wines, there almost always would be another unplanned bottle. (Wine freaks are sooooo predictable...) And so another bottle was poured and this one was utterly delicious. Very aged, heavily bricked and lightly hued. Some sediments. Palate staining sweetness with its red fruits still intact and in fact quite lively. Gentle wine but possessed good yet discrete structure. This too used stems but very well executed with all the elements in harmony. This is one simple example why people should age burgs. 1966 Leroy Corton
And a superb evening ended in technicolor olfactory sensations.
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