Dark, almost opaque color. After an hour of decanter time a subtle nose of sweet cherries opens up and which continues on the pallate with cassis, pine, and mild oak. Not a big wine, but the tannins are well integrated in a very pleasant way. Drinking well right now. 90 points.

Make Cab, not War.

• 2000 Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon John C. Sullenger Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville (3/29/2006)
  A light, thin wine, not without its charm but lacking the mid-body concentration I'd like to see in this level of Cabernet. Floral aromas. Red berries, cocoa, and coffee. Not much oak. Slightly green tannins. Could use more mouthfeel. From Nickel & Nickel's home vineyard. I've recently had much better wines from N&N's Rock Cairn and Tench vineyards from this tough vintage. Back in 2004 I thought this wine was showing well but this year it's a pass. (83 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Randy,

Do you think it could have been an off bottle?

That is a huge drop in just two years don't you think?

Sean, I don't think so. I'm usually pretty good about spotting TCA and other external wine maladies. This bottle came from the same case as the original Tasting Note, given to me directly by Nickel & Nickel when they purchased my grapes in 2003. Providence isn't a question. In my opinion, what I'm seeing is wine from a weaker vintage that is past its prime by a couple of years. On the up side, I'm seeing many 2000 vintage wines that are drinking well right now. N&N's Rock Cairn, Tench, and Dragonfly all are presently beautiful.

Another point: I interpret scoring quite literally by the RMP and WS standards: an 83 is still in the middle of the "good" range.