Ridiculously bricked; dark, tired nose headed into that almost-VA sensory area, but still gobs of cassis, dull pruny fruit and squished-bug briar. Fruit hot and zangy on the tongue, strong blackberry prune and fierce granny smith. A middle full, round and preserved, with a finish full bitter press with the faded fruit trying to keep up. A beautiful drink, really and I love wines like this.
My 5-second guess was “late-80’s Napa/St. Helena zin” my 5-minute guess was “89 Mondavi Unfiltered cab” but at 10-minutes altered it to my final: “79 Mondavi Unfiltered”. Hell, I was only 400 miles and 2 decades off. We ran into this situation last week with a 2007 Paso cab everyone agreed tasted at LEAST 10 years older than it was. Something in the water up there.
Those in the back rows will remember this is, like, a 7$ wine?!! I don’t care what anybody says, Chuck Ortmann is one of my wine-making heros and this little supermarket California proves it.
1995 MERIDIAN VINEYARDS Cabernet Sauvignon California 13.5
Stephen McConnell 