Cooper-Garrod '97 cab - Lone Oak

J.H.D,

GMTinJapan and Board-O rated the Valley View Vineyard here and had similiar 92ish ratings. I've commented on the 98, which I'd give a 86-87. Otisabdul gave the 98 a 89. 1998 was a blend of all the vineyards.

The 1999 just hit retail. I think Lone Oak, but I've forgotten. (They told me they sold all the fruit from Lone Oak or Valley View in 99 but Barbara Cooper couldn't remember which one.) Stef and I had a bottle at A.P Stumps a couple months ago, 89-90 for me as I recall, still wrapped up tight in French oak. The 1999 George's hasn't been released yet as far as I know, I saw it at the winery 6-7 weeks ago, but Barbara wouldn't open it yet, although I did get to be the first person to have 2000 Cab Franc opened for them.

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Santa Cruz Mountains Vintage Chart

tlily - I tried the Valley View from '97 as well and thought the Lone Oak to be slightly better structured with about the same concentration of fruit.

Yeah, the recent releases comment was more of a blanket statement about their wines in general since '97. All C-G '97 cabs are very good to great but they haven't had as successful a vintage since. The '99 cab franc was pretty good though.

Thanks for the note JHD.

Has anyone tried a George's recently? I still have one I received on trade from Tlily and I'm wondering when to open it.

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Yes, but I came here for an argument.

Oh! Oh! I'm sorry, this is abuse.

a couple of weeks ago I shared a bottle with the winemaker at Charter Oaks in St Helena. I had just a bit, but it seemed to be doing fine. A little hard to tell, we where in a 70 year old root cellar with about 69 years of odors from home winemaking hanging around.

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Santa Cruz Mountains Vintage Chart

grossie,

I had the George's again 3-4 weeks ago. It appears to me as if the wine is closing down a bit. The nose is still the same, but the flavors are becoming somewhat muted. I haven't been in the game long enough to know if this is just a phase and it will open back up again, or if it's on the downhill side of its peak.

I have one 1996 Lone Oak cab. Is this a HOLD?

Dave - A bit of a tough call. tlily's SCM vintage chart says hold for '96s but I think this may have been the first release of this particular single vineyard cab. I suspect it's ready but could easily go a few more years.