A day of Cabernet in the Napa Valley

[CtznCane]

This Saturday turned out to be a Cabernet day for us. Our main plan centered around going up to Trefethen (since we are wine club members) for their holiday party. Since (along with their other wines) they were pouring a '00 Reserve Cab and (at least we'd heard) their Halo Cab (which theyturned out not to be pouring but we did bribe our way to a taste by buying a bottle as well,) we decided that we'd also go to Silver Oak, Opus One, and Robert Mondavi.

I know there have been several threads dealing with wine clubs, but before mentioning the wines we had, I can say that there is no way that we could have tried the wines we did (at any reasonable cost) without being wine club members. Most wine clubs now don't involve a long term commitment. Many use to be a 1 year committment while now, with many, you can cancel at any time if you decide to. This offers the consumer a lot of flexibility. We rotate most of our wine clubs (about a year each, with a few we mainain regardless) and only recently joined Mondavi's and Trefethen's. At Mondavi, we tasted 8 Cabs ranging in price from $85 - $175 per bottle at no charge. This alone makes being a wine club member (when one has accessability to get to the winery to taste) a good value. On to the wines tasted.

All in all we tasted 13 Cabs. No detailed notes, but here they are in inverse order of how we rated them along with their cost (winery prices.) All were good so even the lowest rated was really nice.

96 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cab Sauv $150

I can best describe this wine as having a very lean characteristic. Lean and straight-forward. I'd have preferred it to be a bit more supple. Perhaps in a few years, for it still has plenty of life left. Style wise, this one struck me as one of the more french styled that we tried, so perhaps it is the style that had us placing it lower on the list.

2000 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon $125

Nice balance, good fruit, not to complex. While pleasant, it is certainly not a wine worth its price point.

01 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cab To Kalon Vineyard $135

The To Kalon's we tried both had a nice mouthfeel, good depth, fruit and a nice structure. Very enjoyable, but again, at least for us, only rarely will we spend $100 for a bottle of wine, for that matter, while still not too frequently, even a wine over $50 needs to be very good to justify buying.

2000 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cab To Kalon Vineyard $135

Right along the same lines as the 01 but more supple and velvety. Very nice.

2000 Trefethen HaLo Cab Sauv Oak Knoll district of Napa Valley $150

Nice, bold, with good blackberry and currant flavors. This is another wine I"d describe as being a bit lean and direct, and what I'd consider to have a lot of Bordeaux characteristics. I'd probably have this one higher on the list except it needs more time. I'd really like to put an asterisk along side this wine as it was the last wine we tried, and this was after having a variety of hors d'oeuvre's which I think effected the taste. (The other wines were tasted only with crackers or plain french bread inbetween.)

02 Opus One $165

The 02 Opus is filled with complexity. Wonderful flavors but they're not seamless. At least at this time, while pleasant, it's missing that harmony. Perhaps it is just a matter of time for it certainly has the component. A fee months back we'd had the 01 Opus which I thought was magnificent. Perhaps this one too in time, but not now. Still a very, very pleasant Cab.

02 Robert Mondavi Rutherford Cab Sauv $85

I really liked this Cab. This just seemed to have all that is good about a Rutherford Cab, very full, rich, with great depth and a long finish that left that lingering fullness. I'm not the best with word descriptions in articulating the flavors, suffice it to say, this one is just one of those wines that leaves you feeling good.

97 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cab Sauv $150

Another wine with good depth, soft, supple, and drinking very nicely.

01 Robert Mondavi M-Bar Ranch Cab Sauv $85

This one is a 100% Cab Sauv. The fruit just seems to explode in your mouth but not in a bad way. Bright blackbeery flavors, velvety smoothe and a nice finish. I put this one here as while I had it below the previous 2 wines, my wife had it higher and in fact had it the second best Cab of the day.

00 Trefethen Reserve Cab Sauv $75

Rich, good fruit, soft underlying tobacco tones, good mouth feel and finish. Very nicely balanced and just a downright good Cab.

00 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cab Sauv $100

Until recently I hadn't tried a Silver Oak Cab since the mid 80's as I felt they had gotten overpriced. This was the second time recently that I had their 00 Napa Valley wine. Both times were quite delightful. I must say that if I judged by when I tasted it a few weeks ago it would have been the best of the bunch. Yesterday, while still quite nice it wasn't quite as nice as before. I wonder how the weather factored in as to their taste? (Any input on how weather effects the wines taste?) A few weeks ago it was sunny and low 70's. Yesterday, while pleasant it was in the mid to upper 50's. That aside, the Silver Oak has a wonderful complexity. The different components are well integrated resulting in a balanced, rich and very full Cab. Very elegant, slightly understated and one that leaves you feeling very good.

94 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cab Sauv $175

What a lovely wine this turned out to be. It still had a good strong backbone, with soft, supple fruit and a long full finish. Simply an elegant wine.

01 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cab Sauv $60

Sort of ironic that on a day of tasting Napa Valley Cabs that an Alexander Cab would be our favorite yet that is how it turned out. One effect I'm sure is that I just happen (in general) to prefer Alexander Valley Cabs. There is just something about the soil, that in a good AV cab has that gives that extra heartiness to it. This is just a fine AV cab. I'd describe the AV cabs as not as complex as their NV coutnerparts (the good ones that is) but very forcefull and bold with a richness and the Silver Oak has those qualities and is a fine example of what a top notch AV cab should be.

Overall there was not a single wine we did not enjoy. We found the price aspect to be interesting. The lower priced wines (while still expensive/expensive being over $50 per bottle) wound up being near the top of the list.