Friday, August 15, 2008
Sterling Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1974
This was a bottle from a case that two friends and I purchased at auction and split up. I am almost positive that the seller bought it on release and never moved the wine, judging from the sediment in the bottle and on the cork.
We opened it around 8pm and tried it; it clearly needed some time to come around, but was really promising. There was no bricking at all and the color was extremely deep for a 34-year-old wine. We poured tastes just to track it in the glass and then, around 9:30 when dinner was more or less ready, poured normal glasses.
This couldn't have been anything other than 1970s California Cabernet. There was that classic mintiness (toothpaste-y, in a similar way to the Mondavi Reserve 1974 posted on recently) but in contrast to the Mondavi this had much more Cabernet fruit, and a sense of sweet fruit (not actual sugar, not heavy concentrated fruit, just an impression of ripeness) that screams of 1970s California winemaking. There's still a lot of grippy tannin in the wine, but it's not harsh; rather, they're smooth enough that it helps the flavors to go on and on. Great wine.
Today's cult winemakers could take a lesson from the fact that this came in at 12% alcohol, has aged brilliantly and was plenty concentrated.
We opened it around 8pm and tried it; it clearly needed some time to come around, but was really promising. There was no bricking at all and the color was extremely deep for a 34-year-old wine. We poured tastes just to track it in the glass and then, around 9:30 when dinner was more or less ready, poured normal glasses.
This couldn't have been anything other than 1970s California Cabernet. There was that classic mintiness (toothpaste-y, in a similar way to the Mondavi Reserve 1974 posted on recently) but in contrast to the Mondavi this had much more Cabernet fruit, and a sense of sweet fruit (not actual sugar, not heavy concentrated fruit, just an impression of ripeness) that screams of 1970s California winemaking. There's still a lot of grippy tannin in the wine, but it's not harsh; rather, they're smooth enough that it helps the flavors to go on and on. Great wine.
Today's cult winemakers could take a lesson from the fact that this came in at 12% alcohol, has aged brilliantly and was plenty concentrated.
Labels: 1974, cabernet, sterling
