Poured straight from the bottle, this 1994 Dalla Valle Cab (not Maya) was deep in color, sweet, rich, with vanilla & darker fruits of plum/prune flavors, and just a small tannic finish. Still a young wine in appearence and finish, I should have decanted this bottle! I think it would have improved with an hour or two of air time, and I won't open another bottle until 2007.------------93/95 points

latour67,

Sounds wonderful and so glad to see a '94 that is showing well!

I still have many and some of the opinions have had me worried.

I think this is the 1994 vintage in Napa Valley at its best. I have had this wine five times and with 2 hours of decanting, consistently 95+ each time. Fortunately, several more to go.

The 1994 DV is much better than the wine they have been making since the 2000 vintage! Dalla Valle has had a lot of replanting and their wines have just been too ordinary. So, I did not order any Dalla Valle this year. There were just too many other wines that were better than the DV at half the price!----I think the 1994 Dalla Valle was only $45, and not the gouging price of $100 that they charge today!

great note. i'm not suprised the 94 isn't ready to go yet. imo the 92 still needs more time. i just popped a 98 the other day that needs more time imo.

I too dropped off the DV mailing list after many years. I replaced the budget room with Match Vineyards after barrel tasting the 02 and 03. After getting the 02 in bottle I was not at all disappointed to no longer be getting DV. I think there has been a bad triple whammy at DV, lowering quality, raising prices, and out of control attitude.

tlily

That triple whammy comment is rich, and it is also very true from my perspective. I've felt like Dalla Valle thought it was a priviledge to permit me to buy their wine, and not like a customer whose patronage they wanted to earn or retain!!!

Also, Match was my replacement for Dalla Valle. I tasted to 02 and was very impressed. I didn't have the opportunity to stop by there last year, but I expect it possess the same level of attention and quality. Congrats to Babnik!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: latour67,

Tasted blind alongside 2 other '94 Napa cabs.

Decanted for just over an hour. Black cherry colored. Earhty and light fruit notes on the nose. Velvet-textured. Plum, soft earthy flavors, mint and just slightly tannic, with a lengthy finish. Over the evening, the nose evolved to show more dark fruit, earth and prominent eucalyptus notes. The tannins were very fine-grained, with the plums and earthy flavors. 93 pts now, should be even better with a couple more years on it.

I also think the '94 DV has many years ahead of it, though it has been always wonderful to drink for the last 4 years. The '92 is another story in my experience with the wine clearly needing to see its 15th birthday before it may even be close to ready.

The '92 is drinking very young as above. Excellent wine though. I need to pull out one of my '94s and give it a try. 1994 was the last vintage I purchased of either the Cab. or Maya.

1994 Dalla Valle Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
Atlanta Vielles Vignes – Bone’s and Cabs (Bone's Restaurant, Atlanta, GA): Floral nose of violets and red fruits with surprisingly rich, supple tannins rendering this full-bodied gem of black fruits and currants with amazing youthfulness for a 10 yr old Napa Cab. Has pencil shavings on the edge giving it wonderful depth and settles nicely into a lengthy finish. This has years more cellar life ahead. S94 3/28/2006