Pretty frigging good for a wine that was stored upright for at least 10 years (by mistake)! The cork was falling apart, and air must’ve been oxidizing the wine, but through it all, it shines! And maybe it was improved by the less than optimal storage. I’ve always found that the Cabs and Pinots from the Santa Cruz Mountains are tight-fisted tannic balls. Perhaps it takes some suboptimal storage to make these vintages blossom.
Anyway, sage and old leather on the nose. Slughtly unripe red fruit on the front. But a medium- to-heavy tannic structure kicks in on the middle palate, which makes this wine delicious! Not a very long finish, but the notes of sage kick in at the end. Very nice!
I wish I had more of this vintage in my collection, but I may have used them for an adjuvant for pasta sauce too early in their development. Maybe I needed to treat them badly to make them shine?
Pretty frigging good for a wine that was stored upright for at least 10 years (by mistake)! The cork was falling apart, and air must’ve been oxidizing the wine, but through it all, it shines! And maybe it was improved by the less than optimal storage. I’ve always found that the Cabs and Pinots from the Santa Cruz Mountains are tight-fisted tannic balls. Perhaps it takes some suboptimal storage to make these vintages blossom.
Anyway, sage and old leather on the nose. Slughtly unripe red fruit on the front. But a medium- to-heavy tannic structure kicks in on the middle palate, which makes this wine delicious! Not a very long finish, but the notes of sage kick in at the end. Very nice!
I wish I had more of this vintage in my collection, but I may have used them for an adjuvant for pasta sauce too early in their development. Maybe I needed to treat them badly to make them shine?
Dec 13th, 2025
Santa Cruz Mountains, San Francisco Bay, California, USA
