98 California Cabs

[NewYorkTexan]

I have notice several wine shops have been offering blanket reductions on all of their California 1998 cabernets. Must be to clear the shelves of the less heralded vintage and make room for the stronger 99s. Are they any 98 cabs they were especially good that year and maybe could be a good bargain?

For example I saw 98 Jordan for $36 marked down from $55.

[Ron Johnson]

NYtexan,

Much has been made about how '98 was such an "off" year. the truth is most years in Napa and Sonoma are consistently good, unlike, say, Bordeaux. The thing about '98 was that it came on the heels of '97, which was just one of those years that was perfect in every way. '98 was just not perfect, but still a season that winemakers in other parts of the world would kill for year in and year out.

As such, I think certain of those wines are good buys. The key is to figure out which. As you know, Cal cabs have been overpriced badly since the mid-90s, and even more so in '97. The good winemakers, among which I would include the Jordan you cited, made very good wine in '98. If you put credence in the scores given by various publications, many '98 California Cabs scored well over 90 points. I think the key thing is to look for good producers who consistently make good wine and then buy their product if it is substantially less than what it has been in past years.

Edited February 21, 2003 by Ron Johnson (log)

[melkor]

I'd seriously recommend against buying more than 1 of any California cab you haven't yet tasted. Over the past winter we visited about 100 Napa wineries, the bulk of them pouring their 98 cabs, some are good, some are great, and an awful lot taste like cabbage. Buy one, go home and drink it, and return the next day to acquire more if you like it.

[Matt Seeber]

melkor - of those that you tasted, we'd love to hear which were good and which were cabbage

[melkor]

melkor - of those that you tasted, we'd love to hear which were good and which were cabbage

There was alot of cabbage out there, the ones that were good include:

Cardinale

Caymus

Chateau St Jean

Chimney Rock

Dominus

Harrison

J C Cellers

Joeseph Phelps

Lakoya

Merryvale

Opus (the monster cable of wine)

Pine Ridge

Quintessa

Raymond

Silver Oak

Simi

Viader

It seems like the people who could afford to throw out 50% or more of the grapes that came in made good wine, the people who couldn't afford to reduce their production that much made wine with under-ripe fruit and that’s obvious in the finished product.

Location also played a large roll in the success of the 98 vintage. I can’t recall anything from stags leap or from Rutherford that I’ve tried that was at all vegetal. On the other hand, I think almost all of the 98 cabs I’ve tried from the Sonoma have been mediocre at best, Simi being one of the few exceptions.

There are definitely some good deals out there, but an awful lot of wineries shipped an awful lot of bad wine and I can't imagine that spending a year or two cooking in wine shops across the country has improved it any.

[rich]

I've purchased a few 98 Jordans at $37. The wine is a good bargain at that price. It probably won't last as long as some of the other Jordans, but at that price, it's worth buying a few bottles for near-term consumption.

To me, Jordan never "tastes" well, but is much better with food that many of its counterparts that score higher at tastings.

[Beachfan]

I think the 98's will prove to be better than the 2000s (which isn't saying much).

Mondavi Reserve 98 was very nice (better than 97!), and Phelps Insignia was delicious. That being said, the prices have a long way to fall before it's reasonable. And they will continue to fall. If you want to try a bottle fine, but don't by any for holding.

[jeniac42]

I'm throwing in my underinformed 2 cents just to remind myself of what I learned last Sunday, and to do a sort of fact check (i.e. if you know this is wrong/misguided please let me know).

We had a wine tasting for the restaurant with one of our reps and tasted the 1998 Franciscan Magnificat, which, as I recall, consists largely of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. He explained to us that part of the reason '98 is considered a "bad" year for California wines is that the weather was pretty cruddy and then it rained right at harvest time. Apparently growers who sell their grapes to different winemakers are paid the same price/lb regardless of grape quality so there was nothing to be gained by waiting the rain out, but Franciscan took a chance and left the grapes on the vine and the rain cleared up within a week, so the fruit wasn't as saturated with water and the wine came out better.

Vrai ou faux?