The Montelena Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Dusty with cigar ash.

Great Cabernet with with blue fruit and spice box it aged beautifully

Dark scarlet color. Opaque. Nice aged cab nose. Notes of black cherry, plum, leather saddle, herbs, sweet balsamic vinegar and cigar box. Rich and powerful in the mouth. Needed all of its 5 hours of decant time to open up. Very nice but just a slight step below the 90 Cos next to it.

Purple tawny, almost opaque. Herbal nose. Dark fruits, ripe plums, cedar, some dark soil, some menthol. Starts out a bit harsh and tannic, tight. Needs several hours of air to open up. Good now but likely needs another 5 years of slumber to gain more complexity and shed some edges.

Fully mature, essential Napa Cabernet. Plum, cedar, short bread, licorice. A hint of slightly savory A1. Elegant mouthfeel with a slightly receding mid palate. Surprisingly firm tannins. Drink now. Perfect with lamb chops.

WNH Montelena Estate virtual tasting. Others represented were the ‘94 (evidently corked), ‘01, ‘03, ‘07, ‘15.

I may be an outlier here, but Montelena is one of the few wineries where I not only don’t care for them young, I just honestly don’t enjoy them at all (and that’s coming from someone who enjoys the likes of Myriad, Bevan, Rivers Marie, etc on the young side). For my preference, they are just so vastly better with 15+yrs of age to them. YMMV.

After standing this upright for about two weeks, I gave this about a 45min decant. Starting off fairly thin and having some funk to blow off, it really bulked up after an hour and a half. Dark ruby/tawny in the glass. Reminiscent of left bank Bordeaux (leather, herbs de Provence, only a hint of tobacco), but a sweet cherry liqueur and dried cranberry on the nose bring this back to possibly New World. On the palate it sports underripe and dried black cherries, red clay, cedar, bay leaf, and earthy tertiary notes. Gripping, tannic finish with balanced acidity. In harmony here. I’d say this likely has another 3-5yrs in this beautiful drinking window before evolving more.

Perfection In winemaking..... the magnum offered the perfect vessel to deliver a truly amazing experience.....

Dark scarlet center with tawny rims. Opaque. Notes of dark fruit, violets, tobacco leaf, some black licorice, herbs and sage. Stark contrast of fruit and structure in the mouth. Has a green element that is more evident as the wine gets air. This did not show as well as I had hoped.

Dark scarlet to the rim. Nice nose. Notes of black fruit, cedar, some rhubarb and a hint of menthol. Nicely balanced in the mouth. Great wine with grilled ribeyes by the lake in the mountains.

Dark tawny color. Mostly opaque. Notes of black cherries, evergreen trees, oak barrel and some spice. Good fruit and structure in the mouth. An herbal thing exists. An OK wine. No need to wait longer for it.