My wife and I opened three exceptional California Cabs last weekend that made me remember how good and how different these wines can be.
On Saturday we opened a 1994 Shafer Hillside Select. This was the first time I have tried this wine and what a surprise. At 15 years old it shows no signs of age. It is a big wine that is full of black fruit and is in perfect balance. The bottle says 14% alcohol. As good as the Shafer was, it found that I kept describing it as lacking flaws and not as a wine I enjoyed. It was not hot, it was not jammy, it was not tannic, it was not unbalanced. It did not inspire me either. I ended up describing it as a Baywatch era Pam Anderson. It has all the right stuff in all the right places and it wants to show you that it has everything. Great if that’s what you like.
So to compare we opened our last bottle of 1987 BV GdL. Talk about contrast. This is all dark chocolate and red fruit and just a touch of sourness. It’s only medium body and the bottle states its 12.8% alcohol with the back label claiming harvest started on September 18th. Do they even pick Chardonnay that early these days? This is not a perfect wine and it is showing its age but I enjoyed it more than the Shafer. This is not a Baywatch beauty; it does not show you everything at once. It has grace and elegance.
On Sunday we opened the 1999 Long Meadow Ranch. This wine cut somewhere in between the Shafer and the BV, flashier than the BV but much more restrained than the Shafer and again showing great balance. I assumed Cathy Corison was still making the wine in 1999 because this wine shows very similar to the Corison wines I have enjoyed in the past.
There was also a 1988 Chateau La Tour Blanche that was DOA and a 2002 champers that was light in body with a hint of lemon. I am not a fan of bubbles but this wine underwhelmed me to the point that I forgot the name.
On Monday looking for something simple with a pizza pulled out a surprisingly good Arnold Caprai 2003 Poggio Belvedere which is an IGT Sangiovese. Not complex at all but real easy drinking with nice fruit, a little dust and firm acidity. Medium body with a listed 13% alcohol. At $16 will buy more.