“Ten Years After” Tasting Party of 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Wines
We were invited to a unique wine tasting venue on Saturday at Tremayne’s Concetta Wine Shop in Modesto. Paul Tremayne hosted the event at his wine shop/wine tasting/office (in the process) and Rick Eason provided the wines from his cellar. There was a nominal charge for this event.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The intent was to see how some very good wines held up over ten years. This was a blind tasting, and the wines were revealed at the conclusion of the event. This was a very interesting and informative tasting.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Wines were priced from $75 to over $300 a bottle buying them today. Each participant had eight wines already poured for the first flight and then a second flight of six wines was poured. Everyone rated their two best wines from each flight and the worst one from all fourteen wines. A simple vote by a raised hand determined which were the winners and losers.
The top wines that held up the best, surprisingly were not the most expensive. Coming in first place was the Nth Degree by Wente Wines from Livermore at $95. Others rating top honors were Beringer Winery – Steinhauer Ranch, Berringer – Private Reserve, Seaver GTS – $220-$300, Selah – $135. All the wines were drinkable, but a few were “over their prime” and on a slippery slope downwards. Those included Mt Brave – $100-$150 95pts, Karl Lawrence Cellars $75-$85 94 pts, Faust $139, Silver Oak Cellars Napa Valley $150-$175, La Jota Winery $250 95 pts, Silver Oak Cellars Alexander Valley $150-$160, Gemstone $179 – 93 pts all receiving the lower scores.
The balance of wine “in the middle ratings” included Far Niente $170-$350, Seaver NLS Diamond Mtn, BV Georges De LaTour $140-$197.
Concluding the afternoon tasting was a treat of two Cabernet Sauvignon wines being 1996 wines and one 2006. The first was Dunn Vineyards from Howell Mtn and a 1996 Silver Oak Cellar Napa Valley. The third wine was a 2006 Berringer Private Reserve. By a show of hand, recorded Dunn Vineyards held up the best by an overwhelming majority.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
I very much appreciated attending this event and thank you Paul and Rick. Another mention should be for Tom Bender who coordinated this event.
Key take aways from this event are: 1) know how long to hold a wine 2) know how to store a wine for optimum enjoyment 3) price alone is not a criterion for longevity of a bottle.
Sláinte,
Michael Kelly