Wine Society of Riverside

Tasting Notes – Sept. 6, 2005

By Glen Frederiksen

One of the biggest topics of contention in wine circles is how long to age fine wine. Now, it is well understood that the vast majority of wine produced is structured for immediate consumption – but what of those expensive bottlings of extraction, structure and balance? When is the prime time to drink them?

If we are discussing First Growth Bordeaux from an exceptional year, the answer may be measured in decades. Likewise with fine vintage Ports.

Conventional wisdom for California Cabernets and Cabernet blends is that they peak at 10 to 12 years, and may age gracefully for two decades or more from the date of vintage.

So, what was one to expect from a line-up of fourteen California Cabernets from the outstanding 1974 vintage, thirty-one years after the harvest?

I approached this tasting with great anticipation and bated breath.

After the event, I looked up the results of a tasting done by Wine Spectator magazine of 1974 Cali Cabs in 1994, at the 20-year mark. I have included note of these scores at the end of the wines that were part of that tasting.

It is worth noting that these wines were, on the whole, still drinkable, although some were fading quickly. Most showed excellent structure, indicative of the great vintage.

Here are my notes and ratings, in the order that the wines were served. They were uncorked just prior to the tasting (to ensure overall soundness), immediately recorked, and not decanted.

1974 Beaulieu Vineyards,
George de Latour
Light garnet color, with bricking. Aromas of mushroom, cranberry, and light cedar. Tart in the mouth, picking up licorice notes. It quickly maderized in the glass.
My Rating: 75 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 86 points

1974 Spring Mountain
Medium garnet with bricking. Asparagus and green beans dominate the nose, with whiffs of vinegar and mushrooms. In the mouth, moderate dried red fruits with a tart edge.
My Rating: 75 points

1974 Trefethen
Medium garnet with light bricking. A pleasant nose of light mushroom, cranberry sauce, and cedar. It still shows some vitality.
My Rating: 85 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 78 points

1974 Simi Reserve
Light garnet with bricking. A closed nose with mostly wet wood notes. Tart in the mouth. Drying on the finish.
My Rating: 75 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 82 points

1974 Sonoma Winery,
Alexander’s Crown
This was my wine of the night, along with a few others in attendance. Pleasing aromas of fresh mushroom, cedar, and cranberry fruits, picking up some pretty cinnamon with a few minutes in the glass. Elegant and satiny smooth in the mouth. However, started to fall apart after two hours in the 75 degree heat on the patio setting.
My Rating: 90 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 74 points

1974 Clos du Val
I can’t say anything bad about this wine. Menthol, mushrooms, and spicy dried red fruits.
My Rating: 87 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 82 points

1974 Caymus
Deeper color than most. Muddy, earthy tobacco initially, with smoky red fruits emerging with some time in the glass. Alive, but not quite focused.
My Rating: 85 points

1974 Villa Mt. Eden
This was a highlight of winemaker Nils Venge’s early career. It is still hanging in there, with earth, mentholated woodspice, and mushrooms wrapped around the dried red fruit.
My Rating: 85 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 90 points

1974 Ridge York Creek
Leather, lead pencil, dusty dried currant and mushrooms. Turns tart in the mouth.
My Rating: 81 points

1974 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
This is the regular bottling.
Ugh. Earthy chocolate and prunes.
My Rating: 70 points

1974 Sterling Reserve
Chunky, drying tannins. Cedar, mushroom. Light dried fruit.
My Rating: 80 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 83 points

1974 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars,
Cask 23
Good color, more body than the others, with a hint of truffles, dried cranberries, and cedar.
My Rating: 87 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 94 points

1974 Mayacamas
Deep color; perhaps the deepest of all. Light mushrooms, menthol, and cedar frame the still discernable ripe black fruits. Still some tannins at the finish.
My Rating: 89 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 88 points

1974 Ridge Montebello
We were all prepared for a blockbuster wine. What the…? The nose was sour, almost vinegary. One person mentioned iodine. Better in the mouth, seeming younger than most. Shades of redwood, cedar, mushrooms, and black fruits. Bottle variation? Others at the table thought so, as they have had much better bottles previously.
My Rating: 84 points
1994 Wine Spectator: 94 points

In conclusion, the Wine Spectator noted eleven years ago, in its November 15, 1994 issue, that the 1974 California Cabs were already mostly in decline, while some were still showing at their peak. This current tasting is further evidence of the gradual slippage in wines that were hailed as World Class upon release nearly three decades earlier.

To anyone who still has these wines and intends to drink them, I would recommend doing so ASAP.

Some in attendance noted that there has been a significant change in the winemaking style of California Cabs since the early 1990s, going to a more extracted, higher alcohol style. The consensus is that these may age even less than the best bottlings pre-1990s.

This may explain why so many of the 1997 vintage are already becoming tired (the classic example is the 1997 St. Clement Cabernet Sauvignon, which was rightly rated 93 points on release, and is already in decline).

Thanks for a good read.

Thanks for the notes.

Of the wines you listed I've had the Mayacaymas and BV, along with a maybe a random few others from the '74 vintage (Mondavi Reserve comes to mind), over the last 18 months or so. Certainly, 31 years is a long time for near any dry wine, but with the exception of one out of three bottles of the BV (which was really good!) and the still rather young (but not stellar) Mayacamas, the others have been fading badly. Contrasting the '74s with a vintage like '78 (or some other examples from the 70s) where many of the top wines are not only drinking wonderfully but will still improve, I wonder what to make of the vintage. The 1974 vintage, it seems, has become legendary based solely on the Heitz Marthas (and maybe the Conn Creek which I hear is wonderful). Of course, I never tried the wines young, which in many years can be when California shows it's best. So, for the old timers here, was this vintage ever broadly deserving of its accolades?

Loved the notes. The '74 BV GdL's I've had have all been excellent, all 11 of them. I still have one left. I also have a '74 Mondavi Reserve left which has been improving every time I've had one.

Went through an entire case of the 1974 Heitz "Marthas Vineyard" and finished the last one on July 3, 1999. Wonderful wine with light bricking at age 25, my notes said that this wine will still be drinking fine at age 40.

Ouch...I would have expected more from a '74 tasting. Thanks for the notes!

Thanks for sharing your notes Glen.

VM

I like old cabs a lot, even the tired ones. I enjoyed the notes....

I was wondering, though - they weren't decanted off the sediment? There had to be a ton of sludge in these wines. Among other things, that could certainly affect the tasting.

I'd never open a bottle this old without decanting it, unless I could see that by some magic there wasn't any sediment.

Sweet Melissa,

Serious question, not trying to start a fire storm.

I know you like older Cabs, palate differences that makes wine fun.

However, I don't understand why you would like a tired wine?

Do you enjoy the tired ones for what it taste like or it's history?

There's a big difference between a tired wine and a dead wine. A good example of a tired-yet-enjoyable wine was the '74 Freemark Abbey Bosche at Otis' CDP. It was no doubt much better 10 years ago, but it was still very much alive, and quite frankly it was my favorite red wine of the evening...

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by pyang:
Sweet Melissa,

Serious question, not trying to start a fire storm.

I know you like older Cabs, palate differences that makes wine fun.

However, I don't understand why you would like a tired wine?

Do you enjoy the tired ones for what it taste like or it's history?

That's a good question, pyang. I guess what I was trying to say is that I like old wines that other people think are tired. And that even when I try a wine that I think might be a little tired... more orange than red... there are many things about it that I enjoy.... Perhaps its history might be a piece of it, but it's more than that. I long ago acquired a taste for old red wine, and there's something special to me about these mature flavors. I can't get this in a young red wine, but I can get this in an old red wine; even a tired old red wine.

I'm still wondering about these 1974's not being decanted. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Sweet Melissa:

Good question. Here is the answer, for better or worse...

The wines were stood upright in a winevault for 30 days prior to their uncorking. Since this was a quasi-organized (formal is not the right word) tasting, done in flights of 4 over nearly three hours, concerns were raised about the final flight getting too oxidized.

If it were just a bottle or two, all of us at the tasting would surely decant for sediment.

With 13 people in attendance, the bottle only had 18 or so ounces poured during the initial go-around.

As noted, some of these fell apart quite quickly, so avoiding too much exposure to oxygen probably worked, in this case.

FWIW, one of the attendees said that he still had 13 of the 14 wines in his cellar!!! So, this tasting may be revisited in the near future.

pippin:

I had the 1974 Heitz Martha's a few years ago, loved it, and agree with your assessment.

I always thought 1974 was one of the top vintages in California history. Your scores were disappointing.

elmo:

Yes, they are a correct reflection of my disappointment in the wines overall. I was expecting more.

But, keep in mind the comments and scores of the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker in 1994, on the 20th anniversary of the vintage. Both noted that most were heading South 11 years earlier.

HDW------thanks for those wonderful notes, they were very enjoyable and nostalgic.

I would add: the California wines of today, especially the elite wines, are far better than those produced in the 1960's & 1970's. I think the future is much better for the aging of today's California wines than those made in 1974. Simi, Sterling, Trefethen, Clos du Val, or even Stag's Leap, could hardly stand up to most any of the wines that are made today, including the wines they are producing.

All that aside, I wish I had been there with you!

hdw -

excellent post, let me echo the statements of "wish i was there"

latour -

interesting comments about today's wine versus the past, esp. in regards to the future of the wines or their potential ability to age. usually i hear or see rhetoric on the contrary, that the high alcohol, fruit bombs of today don't have the perceived balance to age like great wines of the past. granted, this conversation is usually in regards to CA Cabs vs Bordeaux, but still, i found your comments interesting & insightful of a different perspective

kumazam

Yes, there seems to be much rhetoric about the ageability of those fruit bombs. Still, I see so many new wines made with concentrated fruit, sufficient tannins, and all aged in 100% American or French Oak, which provides the characteristics for ageability. And, if alcohol content is supposed to have a profound effect on the age question----Perhaps Port has higher sugar and more concentration, but the alcohol is also very high, and yet nobody questions the age potential! Where is Vitis?

I was just going to say the same thing, latour...

I think it's pure pap that the top cali red wines today don't have the aging potential of the top cali red wines of 20-30 years ago because of their generally higher alcohol content. What about port?

Honestly, I think the wines of today are going to age longer than those of 30 years ago.

Only time will tell for the newer generation CA Cabs, but for the past it just shows that very very few have what it takes to be a true long-term ager. 41 years is a long time. I think the oldest CA Cab that I have currently is only 14 years old. I believe these wines drink very well between 8-12 years, and most will not improve beyond that. They may last beyond that, but IMO I don't think they really go up a notch. So the real question for me is not whether they will last that long from an aging standpoint, but how long will they last from me drinking them all standpoint.

I guess what I'm talking about is on relative terms.

I'm not saying that today's cali cabs have a 40 year aging potential. What I am saying is that I think they have every bit as much aging potential as the cali cabs released 20-30 years ago, and probably more.

For the good ones, I would say that they will reach maturity 15-20 years from now.

There's a variable here that should be addressed- provenance. How long ago were these bottles purchased? Unless purchased at release, poor provenance may have contributed to the poor showing.

Board-O:

These wines all came from the cellar of a doctor friend. He claims to have purchased most on release at the individual wineries. Things like the 1974 Villa Mt. Eden could only have been purchased at the winery.

As you know, dentists can be very, how shall I say it... fastidious about the storage of their prized wines. He has been planning this opening, on his 60th birthday, for 30 years.

Only one struck me as being a bit "cooked."