Some friends treated 8 of us to a superb blind tasting last weekend. Not only were the wines top-notch, but the way they presented them was a lot of fun. We were told, "There is a theme. These are all California wines from the '90s. Figure it out from there."

It was pretty clear from the first flight that we were tasting Napa Cabs. And by the second flight some of us were noticing similarities between a couple of the wines in the first and second flights. Were these parallel verticals? This feeling was reinforced as we tasted through the third flight. Indeed, we were drinking '95-'96-'97 verticals, with the '95s in the first, '96s in the second, and '97s in the third flight. We were pretty confident that we were drinking Harlan, Phelps Insignia, and Shafer Hillside, but had trouble identifying the Mondavi Reserve. And thought we'd identified three of the wines correctly, we mixed up which was which about 50% of the time.

All wines were purchased on release and stored in a temp-controlled cellar. They were uncorked about 3 hours prior to tasting, but not decanted until about an hour before tasting. In the order tasted, with my rank in flight/group rank:

First Flight - 1995s

1995 Harlan Estate: Dark purple. Medium-intense nose of creamy, lactic toasty-oak with lots of dark fruits, smoke, mocha, and caramel. Full bodied, good fruit, hint of ripe sweetness, medium finish, maybe a little closed? 3/3(tie)

1995 Phelps Insignia: Dark purple. Nose of black and red fruits, cassis, smoke, coffee, cream is coaxed from the glass. Medium bodied, ripe fruit notes seem to be submerged, fine tannins. Lightest in this flight, seems closed. 4/3(tie)

1995 Mondavi Reserve: Dark purple. Nose of cassis, vanillia, oak, and tar is most complex of this flight. Biggest bodied wine of the flight, with layered ripe fruit, good balance, ripe tannins, medium-long finish. 1/1

1995 Shafer Hillside Select: Dark purple. Somewhat muted nose of currants, cedar, tar, toasty oak. Full-bodied, rich fruit, moderate tannins, seems to be more fruit lurking beneath them, a bit restrained but suspect this has better days ahead. Medium-long finish. 2/2

Second Flight - 1996s

1996 Phelps Insignia: Dark purple. Nose of dark and red fruits, cassis, smoke, toasty oak. Full-bodied, ripe, rich, concentrated fruit and moderately substantial, but ripe, tannins. Not as complex as others in this flight, good finish with slight drying at the back end. 4/2

1996 Harlan Estate: Dark purple. Intense nose of cassis, smoke comes roaring forth, with definite caramel undertones and hints of allspice or cloves. Absolutely huge body, mouthcoating layers of ripe concentrated fruit, well-integrated smooth tannins, and a fine, long finish. Several of us pegged this as Harlan. Ultimately, my WOTN. 1/1

1996 Shafer Hillside Select: Dark purple. Big forward nose of cassis, dark fruits, creamy oak. Very full-bodied, powerful, rich, and concentrated. Long fine finish with well-integrated tannins. 2/3

1996 Mondavi Reserve: Dark purple. Intense funky nose of currants, vanilla, oak, hint of mint, tar (others said veggies). Good concentration of fruit and medium-full bodied, nice complexity on the mid palate, but tending to slightly more aggressive (but not green) tannins on the back end, medium finish. 3/4

Third Flight - 1997s

1997 Mondavi Reserve: Dark purple. Uh-oh, hints of wet-cardboard. Subtle, but they're there. And the fruit is seriously muted on the palate. At least two of the other tasters agree that this is corked. 4/4

1997 Harlan Estate: Dark purple. Big forward nose of cassis, ripe dark fruits, toasty oak, coffee, and smoke. Full-bodied, concentrated and layered lush fruit, well-integrated tannins, fine long finish, nice complex interaction between the fruit and the oak. Very open now and should drink well for many years. 1/1

1997 Phelps Insignia: Dark purple. Intense nose of cassis, dark fruits, smoke, coffee/mocha, a creamy, caramel, lactic note, and a hint of mint or eucalyptus. Huge mouthfeel and body, ripe, rich, layered fruit, ripe tannins. Fine medium-length finish is a half-step behind the other wines in the flight. 3/3

1997 Shafer Hillside Select: Dark purple. Another killer intense nose of cassis, toasty oak, and a floral note of complexity that had me wondering if there was Cab Franc in this. Huge, palate-coating concentrated fruit, ripe and pure, with great balance and integration with the oak and tannin. Fine, long finish. Just a nose behind the previous wine. 2/2

Some observations: The '96 and '97 Harlans and Shafer Hillsides were all incredible wines. Tonight, I preferred the Harlans by a hair, but the Shafers were right there. I have no explanation for those who have loved Harlan but have been disappointed with the '97s, we must be tasting different wines. The Insignias, while also outstanding wines, surprised only in that they were edged out, as they have had a tendency to come away with WOTN honors in the past. All of the wines were excellent or better, even the "losers" in each flight, with the exception of the corked '97 Mondavi Reserve. All of them have many years of great drinking ahead.

The '95s all seemed a bit closed, particularly compared to how they have been drinking in past years. There seems to be plenty of fruit still there, so I expect them to make a comeback.

The '96s did perhaps a little better than expected vis a vis their peers, given the reputation of the vintage. This illustrates the difficulty of making sweeping generalizations.

Finally, a comment on the occasionally heard complaint of a boring sameness in recent-vintage California Cabs, particularly the '97s. In reading the notes, one might say that they see a sameness, or repetitiveness. All I can say is that this is solely due to my limited ability to come up with nuanced descriptors. The wines do have distinctive identities, as evidenced by our ability to identify several of them and recognize them as being sibs through the different flights. Yes, they share common characteristics of ripe, concentrated, layered fruit, substantial (but well-integrated) oak treatment, and relatively low acidity. For those who find these characteristics boring, I have no rebuttal. To me, these are some of the most exciting wines coming out of California.

Now whether they're worth the freight is a whole 'nuther topic...

What a great tasting and notes! My only comment is on the 95 Insignia. I too feel this wine closed down last year. I think that it will come around again and show much better than it has recently.

It sure sounds like all of these wines are great examples of California wines and worthy of their high ratings and worth seeking out.

What awesome friends! I need to meet some people like that.

I have had the 97 Hillside Select twice recently and I concur with your notes, especially the comments about the huge fruit, balance and long finish. What a great night that must have been!

tp-

Holy Lasik, Tannin Pig. Now those are some friends.

DrT

Very tasty notes...thanks. Too bad the 1994's weren't included in the flight...most of my California cabs are 94's.

Nice flights tannin pig, of those I have only had the 95 Insignia and the 95 Mondavi Reserve, both were outstanding wines. The 95 Mondavi is a very pleasant suprise, and has one of the most gorgeous nose's I have smelled in a long time.

Olateone - We have a small group (call ourselves the Gang of 8) that rotates hosting every few months. We did the '94s a couple of months ago, and the '91s a couple of months before that. I probably posted the '94 notes here somewhere. IAC, they were all right up there with the best of the wines we had at this tasting. The only exception was the '94 Araujo, which was still closed down and in need of a few more years in the cellar.

Guess what, you just became the "gang of 9". When is the next party?

I've had some of the Mondavis and Insignias you mention and concur with your observations, especially regarding the '95 & '96 Insignias. I have not opened the '97s or any of the Shafer Hillside Select 94-97. I’ve gotten the impression over the years from this forum that better days are yet to come for SHS.

Also agree with your observation that '96s are drinking well right now while the '95s are still a year or two away. Also greatly agree with the statement that there is considerable diversity in the '99 crop of Cali cabs as was there in '97. I would also add that I have had more fine, fine '99 cabs with interesting and diverse flavor profiles than I did with the '97s upon release. Not only is '99 a vintage on par with the finest of the '90s, but many of these bottles are delightful right now. Recent '99 90+ point tastings:

Silverado Vineyards
Atalon
Artesa
Richard Perry
Dunn Napa
Turnbull Meritage
Turnbull cab
Whitehall Lane Reserve (WS shorted them @94 pts)

Not to mention several others from August and September and a number of highly rated wines (like Dalla Valle) that I dare not open now. My appreciation of Cali cab began with the '94 vintage, so I don't know if '91 and prior vintages represent some higher standard. But the back of my tongue tells me that '99 will be hard to top when it's all said and done - '2001 notwithstanding.

TP

Thanks for the notes! We recently had the 97 shafer and Insignia and I can not tell you how much I agree with your notes. You nailed it. We are planning on having a 94, 95, 97, tasting in November. Could you give me more advice on th 95 vintage? Do you think we should skip it? I dont want to wast these wines. We were going to do a Shafer HS, Insignia, Dominus. Sugestions? I have really fallen in love with Shafer after drinking a 97 Hillside Select at a resataurant 2 weeks ago. Wow!! It is just as you have stated, you really cant just say that it has loads of fruit, cherry, currant, etc...etc... I am not saying I cant describe it. It's just that these words dont do it justice. I recorded a finish of over one minute on this wine. all I can say is wow!!!!!!

RedMeat - thanks for the '99 recs. I went lighter on this vintage from CA, partly because of budget and partly because the cellar needed balancing with a few more French wines. I think there's a tendency to dismiss '99s, which they don't really deserve. It's just a matter of being selective. Then again, I find broad generalizations about any vintage subject to numerous individual exceptions.

Vista - We were surprised that these 4 wines (well, 3 of the 4 anyway) were more closed than we recalled from a year or so earlier. I wouldn't say we wasted them. Even though they weren't at peak, and we don't have cases of them lying around, we weren't disappointed. They were all A-, or 90-93 point wines. And we learned something. I would wait a couple of years before opening my next bottle of '95 Insignia, Shafer HS, or Harlan, especially if I had only a few bottles. These were really luscious on release, and great for drinking while waiting for the '94s to come around. The '94s I've been drinking seem to be opening up while some of the '95s are becoming less generous. I think it's difficult to generalize from a few wines to an entire vintage. Why not start a topic asking for recent TNs on the wines you're considering?

Thanks, I will when I get some free time here in the next few days. Could you tell me one more thing? How would you describe the differnces or likeness of th 95, and 97 Hillside select.

Thanks Again,

Vista

Take a look at the notes. The '95 was somewhat closed, but big fruit seemed to be lurking. Otherwise, it was more similar to the '97 than different. One difference: a bit of tar in the nose on the '95, some floral notes (unusual for Hillside Select?) on the '97.

Very Helpful looking back at notes. Thanks and drink up!

Wow! I am having dinner and reading these posts. This topic has been wonderfully informative. Just super!

Thank you,
Mark, N.H.