TN - 99 Chappellet PHEV Cab Franc

davidandrose;
Did you try this wine at the winery, too, or just purchase locally after an encounter at the restaurant? If at the winery did you get to sample any earlier vintages?

I have access to a couple bottles of '97 PH CF for $53 and I'm wondering if its worth the effort. I'm sitting on two '97 PH Cab Sav's and I hear/read they're top-flight cabs.

We were at the winery and did our tasting with Jon-Michael Chappellet...We've been in their wine club as long as we've lived in a reciprocal state, and Jon-Michael invited us to taste anything he had EXCEPT for the 99 PHEV CabFranc. It's was early and completely sold out, and nobody is allowed to open, sell or look at the few remaining bottles, including himself.

We did have a few barrel tastings. My notes indicate that the '00 PHEV was very well-balanced for such a young wine. The fruit was of course still quite strong but my overiding comment was simply "exquisite." Buy more of the 99 if you can find it. Feel free to drink some now if you wish as the bottle we had in a restaurant the other night was fabulous.

We also barrel-tasted the '00 Signature which was very dry. The heavily tannic and oak flavors were still trying to blend with the fruit. The wine just wasn't yet ready to be tasted but clearly has the foundation to be solid. We also tasted (bottle) the 99 Mountain Cuvee, which is typically available at Costco. It was an excellent wine and if Costco sells it for the $16-17 that they've sold it for in the past, it's an outstanding value. I spoke with Costco's wine buyer about 6 weeks back and they're yet to release it, and even then only in select markets.

Rereading your comments, I'm also afraid that I can't comment about the other PHEVs you mentioned, as we didn't sample at the winery nor do I possess any. But the indication from the rest of the PHEV family is that they'd be worthwhile. Whenever I really question something, I've never hesitated to call a family-winerey. The Chappellet's, Fisher's, Behrens',etc are all very happy and willing to speak to individuals about their wines and share comments and insights.

Incidentally, we went to Fisher immediately before Chapellet, and Parker had been there the day before on his annual tasting. We did some barrel tastings and had some trial blends that were leftovers from the Fisher's presentation to Parker, and Fisher has some truly phenomenal wine in their future. The 99 Lamb and Wedding were great, but the real killer was an unnamed and unknown "Unity Blend" from the 01 vintage. It was a Cab/Merlot/Petite Verdot blend that had a solid 40+ second finish, beautiful balance for such a young trial wine, and just screamed to say "put more in my glass." We seemed to follow in Parker's footsteps during much of our trip and had some of his leftover trials during the last week, and this was possibly the finest wine of any sort we sampled.

Rereading your comments, I'm also afraid that I can't comment about the other PHEVs you mentioned, as we didn't sample at the winery nor do I possess any. But the indication from the rest of the PHEV family is that they'd be worthwhile. Whenever I really question something, I've never hesitated to call a family-winerey. The Chappellet's, Fisher's, Behrens',etc are all very happy and willing to speak to individuals about their wines and share comments and insights.

Incidentally, we went to Fisher immediately before Chapellet, and Parker had been there the day before on his annual tasting. We did some barrel tastings and had some trial blends that were leftovers from the Fisher's presentation to Parker, and Fisher has some truly phenomenal wine in their future. The 99 Lamb and Wedding were great, but the real killer was an unnamed and unknown "Unity Blend" from the 01 vintage. It was a Cab/Merlot/Petite Verdot blend that had a solid 40+ second finish, beautiful balance for such a young trial wine, and just screamed to say "put more in my glass."