Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon

1977 Chateau Montelena Sonoma Cabernet was the most interesting bottle sold tonight. The winery was purchased by Jim Barret and Lee Paschich in 1969 and the first few vintages including this bottle were made from purchased fruit. In 1969 the estate was planted to Carignan, Alicante and other popular varieties. They replanted the vineyard to Cabernet and the still unpopular Chardonnay. Their first estate bottling of a Napa Cabernet was 1978.
The wine was very fresh, dense, some garnet color and no brown. Balsamic and soy, fig and dried leather. Very good shape for the age and was a surprise

Amazingly good! Dark fruit, supple tannin. Slight brett but in a good way. I’m very impressed with the longevity.

Still in a great place. A lot of fruit remaining. I called 85 Chateau Montelena blind.

Soft and supple with delicate blue plum fruit on the nose. A very nice interplay between the restrained plum and earth overtones and the hint of nice slightly (but pleasantly) sour blue plum skin flavor. Holding up nicely

Great bottle of '73

My girlfriend and I, both born in '74, had this recently for her birthday to commemorate our not-quite-end-of-30's. Worth the wait for every insanely good drop.

Flight 1 , wine 1 . Quite dense and intense sweet fruit on the nose . Touches of spice , currants , plum and liquorice . This is a little advanced and probably could just be this bottle . Currant and plum notes on the palate , good roundness and rounded sweet tannin . Balanced acidity . This is perhaps not the most representative bottle , but has to be Napa. Actually oxidised quite quickly in the glass, but was enjoyable whilst it lasted . Sure there are better bottles out there . Had this as the Inglenook .

Surprisingly good for how old it is. Tiny hint of ripe red fruits & sweet toasted oak. Light to almost minimal tannins & smooth finish.

Upon opening, my first evidence was the spongey cork, saturated top to bottom, of this 42 year old cab. I thought it would be either corked or port-like... it was... that is, right out of the bottle. I could not get past the musty, pungent smell and was ready to toss it... my wine bud, Andy Laursen, shouted, "WAIT!" He decanted it and we waited a bit. After a mere 5 minutes, it had calmed down considerably, blown off the must, and the fruit started to come out. Then some soft milk chocolate flavor emerged. The sharp initial smell shifted to a subtle chipotle smoked vegetal matter after an hour. After 2 hours, I was astonished to sense a pure blueberry nose, and the taste buds were singing fruit and sweetness. There was nothing at all resembling the first moments opened. Thank GOD for Andy's rescue. THE most memorable transformation I have ever experienced. And, the deep red and clear visual has been a sight to behold.

For 42 years old (1973) this was drinking amazing!!!! Soft Cherries shadows of oak that have lite sexiness of vanilla. I was so lucky.