A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness …

When John Keats wrote these opening lines of “Endymion,” he was thinking of the Platonic and transcendental beauty of nature, not a bottle of wine, though he wrote some fine, brief descriptions of wine here and there in his body of work, notably in the second stanza of “Ode to a Nightingale,” where he calls for “a draught of vintage! that hath been/Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth…” Later in this stanza, he calls again, ecstatically: “O for a beaker full of the warm South,/Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,/With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,/And the purple-stained mouth …” I taught this poem for years in the second semester of English Literature survey, and every time I read those lines, I thought, “Damnit! I want some of that wine!”

Unfortunately, unlike the endlessly melodic and unchanging song of the nightingale — “Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!” — a bottle of wine is not immortal, though some wines are capable of aging into mature beauty. In fact, Keats hits on both of the themes that have dominated the world’s wine industry since the ancient times of the wine-loving Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, and that is that some wines are intended to cool their heels “a long age in the deep-delved earth” until they attain a plateau of subtlety and nuance, while other wines, “with beaded bubbles winking at the brim,/And purple-stained mouth,” something like 95 percent of all wine produced in the world, are meant for more or less immediate consumption. In the wine-reviewing business, we don’t often have the opportunity to try those lovely, old, fully developed wines — and we are jealous of those who do — because our focus is on wines in current release, which we taste too young and have to evaluate more in terms of potential — “Best from 2016 or ’17 through 2025 or ’27″ — than for their ability to deliver pleasure in the present. The truth, though, is that nowadays many winemakers are producing wines, particularly reds of course, intended to be drinkable soon after release as well as 15 or 20 or more years later.

Paradoxically, and perhaps perversely, the wine that inspired this post was not a fine old vintage — though I’ll get to a few of those in a different post soon — but a just released cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley, a region widely and justly acclaimed as having one of the best climates and geographies for the grape. The wine is the St. Clement Oroppas Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Napa Valley, a blend of 87 percent cabernet sauvignon, 10 percent merlot, 2 percent petit verdot and 1 percent cabernet franc that aged 19 months in French oak, 75 percent new barrels. Winemaker is Danielle Cyrot. A portion of the grapes for Oroppas ’08 came from the valley floor, in Rutherford, but the majority derived from higher altitudes in Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain and Mount Veeder.

The color is pure intense dark red-ruby, while the bouquet presages the perfect balance and harmony that characterize the wine; no edges here, no risks, just the sheer beauty of a wine that’s so totally poised and integrated. Aromas of licorice, lavender and potpourri, warm and slightly roasted and meaty black currants, black cherries and a touch of wilder mulberry are permeated by hints of cedar and thyme, graphite and bittersweet chocolate. Yes, there are tannins and they grow more powerful or at least evident over 20 or 30 minutes, but they’re tannins of the finely milled, minutely sifted variety, sleek and suave as the oak influence on the wine is sleek and suave and almost invisible. Who said that oak should be like the Holy Spirit, everywhere present but nowhere visible? Why, that was me! And so it is here! I mean, the wine soaked up that oak and turned it into another dimension. This cabernet sauvignon is, in other words, an absolutely lovely, pure and intense expression of the grape, delivering the immediate gratification that’s so important for consumers in these times yet possessing enough backbone and grip and earthy minerality — and nothing overdone, nothing too ripe or opulent — to allow the finish its quiet and slightly demanding moments of dignity and austerity. 14.9 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2018 to ’22. Excellent. About $55.

Why did this wine inspire the post you’re reading now?

To corral another poet to my purpose, Wallace Stevens, in “Sunday Morning,” one of the greatest poems written in the 20th Century, said “Death is the mother of beauty.” Though that sentence sounds like a grim sentence indeed, Stevens means that beauty is born of its inherently fragile and inevitably ephemeral character. We value beauty all the higher because its very nature embodies its impermanence, its decline and final dissolution. Keats’ nightingale is not immortal in the individual bird; they all die, but the identical song lives on in each generation of nightingales. The greatest wines ever made — Margaux 1900, Mouton-Rothschild ’29, Cheval Blanc ’47, Petrus ’49, Lafite ’59, Latour ’82 — however extravagantly lauded and loved will soon be gone from this ever-changing earth, faded, weakened, cracking up, fled, departed. That G. Roumier Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 1998 that you’ve been holding onto like Silas Marner his hoard of gold (a wine that shook me to the core when I tasted it from barrel in December 1999, as it happens on my birthday); drink it, my friend, because it will soon go the way of the dodo and the passenger pigeon. That last bottle of Heitz Martha’s Vineyard ’74 in your cellar, you lucky bastard (depending on its condition, of course)? Gather your loved ones, roast a chicken, sit down together and eat and drink. It will not last much longer nor was it meant to.

St. Clement Oroppas 2008 is an absolutely gorgeous wine, fine and beautiful in every small detail and broad stroke, and when we drank it, we felt privileged. I would love to try the wine again in 10 years. It is not immortal, nor does it stand among the greatest cabernet wines ever produced. It was made for pleasure, both now and through the next decade, and that is a goal and accomplishment not to be disparaged, and a great deal of its pleasure lies in what Keats, so wise for one so young — he was 25 when he died of tuberculosis in Rome in 1821 — wrote about in another poem, “Ode on Melancholy.” Melancholy, he wrote, “dwells with Beauty — Beauty that must die;/And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips/Bidding adieu…” Dissolution and decay dwell with the beauty of great wines, and tasting them, drinking that lambent, plangent liquor, we feel the death inside them and the beauty, and we are made glad.

Image of John Keats from Bettmann/Corbis; image of dusty old wine bottles from rapgenius.com. The St. Clement Oroppas 2008 was a sample for review.

Hope you’re not sick of reading about cabernet sauvignon, because I have lots more examples to write about, though I’ll keep it within reasonable proportions.

For this seventh edition of “Pairs of Great Wines,” we turn to Hawk & Horse Vineyard, established in Lake County — that’s the county above, that is, north of, Napa County — in 1999 by Mitch and Tracy Hawkins (pictured at right) on the El Roble Grande Ranch that Tracy Hawkins’ stepfather David Boies bought in 1982. The three are partners in the enterprise. The Hawkins planted vines in 2001. The vineyard is operated on biodynamic principles; a small herd of Scottish Highlander cattle is kept on the property to provide the all-important manure. The estate produces only two wines, a cabernet sauvignon and the Latigo cabernet dessert wine. Tracy Hawkins acts as executive winemaker, while consulting winemaker is Dr. Richard Peterson, one of those personages to whom the label “legendary” is inevitably attached.

Peterson grew up on a farm in Iowa, making his first wine at home in 1948. He began his career in California in 1958, going to work for E.& J. Gallo in new product development and research. He was picked by Andre Tchelistcheff to be winemaster at Beaulieu Vineyards, where he served from 1968 to 1973, going on to The Monterey Vineyards and then Atlas Peak. He headed a group of investors that acquired Folie à Deux in 1995, selling to Trinchero Family Estates in 2005. Peterson now is proprietor of Richard Grant Wines (his first and middle names) where he makes small amounts of sparkling wine from a unique pinot noir clone that he brought back from England. His daughters are the well-known winemaker and consultant Heidi Peterson Barrett and chef and entrepreneur Holly Peterson. Peterson’s quest for innovation led him along every high and low path in the vinous arsenal, from making the finest cabernet wines and pioneering sangiovese to concocting the formula for Hearty Burgundy and inventing the wine cooler for Monterey Vineyard. Each task he takes on is a problem to be solved; few imaginations can be, like his, both visionary and pragmatic.

These wines were samples for review.
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The Hawk & Horse Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Red Hills, Lake County, includes 2 percent merlot midst all that cabernet sauvignon; the wine aged 18 months in French oak, 50 percent new, 50 percent two-year-old barrels. The color is dark ruby-purple almost to the rim, where it shades to a violet-magenta hue. The bouquet rates a “Wow!” as my first note; this pungent and potent amalgam of mint and iodine, iron and graphite, spiced and macerated black and red currants, mulberries and blueberries embodies the decisive cabernet paradox of delivering a sense of warm spice and cool minerals simultaneously, all underlain by a dusty, slightly brambly and mossy earthy element. Though solid and firm of structure, this is no truculent powerhouse of a cabernet sauvignon; rather it’s smooth and supple, almost lithe and sinewy, with dense, chewy dusty tannins that lend texture and depth to the ripe black and blue fruit flavors and vibrant acidity that offers essential liveliness and verve. You sense the oak more prominently through the finish, which is packed with granitic minerality, woody spice and hints of fruitcake and bitter chocolate. 14.1 percent alcohol. Production was 1,150 cases. Drink now through 2018 to ’20. Excellent. About $65.
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The previous vintage produced something different. The Hawk & Horse Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Red Hills, Lake County, is 100 percent cabernet and received the same oak treatment as the 2008, or I suppose I should say that the 2008 received the same oak treatment as the ’07; the alcohol content, 14.1 percent, is also the same, so the point is the consistency. (Of course producers are granted leeway by federal regulations in stating the degrees of alcohol in a wine.) By different, I mean that the ’07 displays more rigorous structure than its cousin from 2008, yet equal vitality. The bouquet is all smoke and cedar and thyme, cloves and allspice and walnut shell, elements that gradually unfold to reveal intense and concentrated yet seductively ripe notes of black currants, black cherries and plums, so the balance is between slightly austere, woody, spicy qualities and luscious fruit; adding dimension (to the texture as well as depth to the bouquet) is a reservoir of graphite and loam. Yeah, that’s quite a performance. The wine is full-bodied, mouth-filling, seamlessly layered, though emphasizing, still, the framing and foundation of slightly leathery, tarry tannins, polished oak, resonant acidity and a resolute granite and shale lithic quality. Production was 430 cases. Drink now through 2020 to ’22. Excellent. About $65.
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Maintaining the theme of cabernet sauvignon, instigated by last Thursday’s World Cabernet Day, I offer as the Wine of the Week an inexpensive crowd-pleaser from Argentina.

The Graffigna Centenario Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 comes from a winery founded in 1870 in what is now Argentina’s state of San Juan by Italian immigrant Santiago Graffigna. San Juan is the country’s second largest producer of wine, after Mendoza, which lies just to the south. The vineyards of both regions thrive in the fairly arid altitudes of the Andean foothills. The family sold the estate in 1980 to Allied Domecq, which in turn was acquired by Pernod Ricard. Winemaker for Graffigna is Gerardo Danitz. At four years old, the Graffigna Centenario Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, which aged 12 months in 85 percent French oak barrels and 15 percent America, has shed the initial hard edge of its tannins and become something altogether softer, plusher and more approachable. The first impression is a wafting of fresh wild black raspberries couched with black currants and blueberries, cloves and sandalwood, with hints of cedar and thyme and spicy wood. The wine is smooth and polished in the mouth, luscious in its battery of ripe black and blue fruit flavors but held to rigorous deportment by vibrant acidity, mildly robust tannins and a tinge of graphite and bitter chocolate. 14 percent alcohol. Though the current release of this wine is 2010, the Internet reveals plenty of this eminently drinkable ’08 in the pipeline. Very Good+. If you pay more than $15, you wuz robbed; I’ve seen it as low as $10.

Imported by Pernod Ricard USA, Purchase, NY. A sample for review.

Yesterday was World Cabernet Day, but I extend the concept to today’s “Friday Wine Sips” because I have a boodle of cabernet sauvignon wines or blends on hand. Here are 15, from 2009, ’8 and ’07, mainly from Napa Valley and Sonoma County but also an example from Lake County and two from Lodi. In fact, this column serves as a transition or segue to September, which for some reason has been designated California Wine Month. A couple of these wines I am lukewarm about — there’s even a “Not Recommended” — but 10 receive an Excellent rating. I haven’t done a “Friday Wine Sips” in two weeks, so I’ll remind My Readers that these brief, incisive, insightful reviews eschew technical data and historical, personal and geographical narrative for the sake of getting to the essence. All of these wines were samples for review.

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Mettler Family Vineyards Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Lodi. 15.3% alc. With 8% petite sirah, 4% cabernet franc, 2% petit verdot. Unpalatably sweet, hot and jammy, but alternately brusquely tannic and austere; a zinfandel lollipop gone to the dark side. What were they thinking? Not recommended. About $25.
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Mettler Family Vineyards Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Lodi. 14.9% alc. With 8% petite sirah, 2% cabernet franc. This is better or at least a bit more under control; very dark ruby-purple hue; yes, still big, rich, fruity and jammy — European palates avoid! — very spicy, very brambly and briery, brilliantly-etched black fruit with a blueberry tart edge, a velvet fist in a velvet glove but still more granite and flint minerality and bright acidity for backbone than the rendition of 2008. Now through 2015 to ’17. Very Good. About $25.
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Hess Allomi Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Napa Valley. 14.4% alc. With 9% petite sirah. Dark ruby-purple color; makes a fetish of its deep flint-graphite, iodine-iron character that gradually yields to notes of cassis and blueberry and plums laved with smoke, lavender and licorice; a few minutes bring in potpourri, mulberry and a touch of pomegranate, all ensconced in a dense, chewy texture freighted with finely-milled tannins. Now through 2016 or ’17. Excellent. About $28.
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Obsidian Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Red Hills, Lake County. 14.3% alc. With 3% each cabernet franc and petit verdot. Sleek and scintillating, notably clean and fresh, a powerhouse of spicy black and blue fruit scents and flavors tempered by layers of earthy, dusty graphite and plush finely-milled mineral-laced tannins dressed out with vibrant acidity; comes close to being elegant, even as it conceals a truckload of coiled energy. Definitely needs a steak. Excellent. About $30.
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Arrowood Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Sonoma Valley. Jackson Family Wines. 15.5% alc.(!) Pure and intense, a bright arrow of granitic minerality, very tight, very concentrated, very ripe and spicy; does it really need so much toasty, vanilla-laced oak? I don’t think so. 250 cases. Very Good+. About $35.
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Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Napa Valley. Jackson Family Wines. 14.5% alc. Cabernet sauvignon 79%, merlot 14%, petit verdot 5%, malbec 1%. Dark ruby shading to medium ruby; lovely bouquet, cedar, lead pencil, tobacco, black currants and cherries with a touch of plum; but tough as nails; here’s the iron fist, where’s the velvet glove? very spicy, a little tart, finish is boldly tannic and austere. Try maybe from 2014 through 2017 to 2020. Very Good+. About $40.
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Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Napa Valley. 14.4% alc. Almost opaque dark ruby color; briers and brambles, cedar, thyme and leather; spiced and macerated black and blue fruit, dredged with dried spice and potpourri; buttresses of fine-meshed tannins and granitic minerality; moody and brooding, a note of tar and sweet oak; feel the power waiting to be unleashed. Try 2013 or ’14 through 2018 to ’20. Excellent. About $40.
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As I said a few days ago, it’s not as if cabernet sauvignon languishes without fans, it’s not as if cab sav doesn’t have advocates all over the place, but here it is, World Cabernet Day, and what the hell, what else do we have to do to fill our empty lives but give days and months and whole seasons to the celebration of grape varieties. I offer two examples of cabernet sauvignon today, a selection that doesn’t even begin to scratch the top layer of veneer on the massive oak cabinet that metaphorically could stand for the monumental presence that the cabernet sauvignon grape exerts in the living room, as it were, of wine producers, wine drinkers and wine collectors; I mean to say, it dwarfs every other red grape that might attend the party. Cab sav is planted in most of the world’s wine regions, whether suited to them or not, but where does it perform best? The short list: The left bank of the region of Bordeaux (remember, the Right Bank is dominated by cabernet franc and merlot); a few spots in California, principally Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley, Alexander Valley and Paso Robles; Coonawarra and Margaret River in Australia; Hawkes Bay in New Zealand; a narrow range of southwestern Tuscany, by the Tyrrhenian Sea. Other vineyard areas, such as Maipo and Aconcagua in Chile and Salta in Argentina are showing improvement.

This post, however, offers two fairly directly appealing inexpensive cabernet sauvignon wines that reveal marks of individuality as well as adherence to the character of the grape. These were samples for review, as I am required to inform you by the Federal Trade Commission, though if I didn’t, would they slap me in chains and drop me in the hoosegow?

The photograph, taken by me, is of cabernet sauvignon grapes in the Fay Vineyard, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Napa Valley, August 6, 2012.
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BenMarco is a label from Susana Balbo who with all respect could be called the mistress of wine in Argentina. The BenMarco Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, Mendoza, contains 6 percent merlot and 4 percent cabernet franc; the wine aged a conservative 11 months in 60 percent new French oak barrels, 40 percent in second-use American oak. (The implication of “second-use” barrels is that their influence will be milder and more mellow, less spicy and woody than new oak.) The color is dark ruby-purple; the bouquet offers a heady amalgam of macerated and lightly roasted black currants and cherries, with an undertow of plum, bolstered by black olive, thyme and sage and a touch of lavender. In the mouth, BenMarco Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 is intense and concentrated, a mouthful of boldly framed, slightly grainy tannins, supple oak, vibrant acidity and ripe but slightly dusty black and blue fruit flavors. The finish is packed with spice and underbrushy earthly elements. 14 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2014 or ’15. Very Good+. About $18, though around the country you find prices from $15 to $20.

I also tried the Susana Balbo Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 and — another Balbo label — the Crios Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, both from Mendoza, and found them oddly stiff with oak and unpalatable.

Imported by Vine Connections, Sausalito, Ca.
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The Jacob’s Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, South Australia, spent 18 months in French oak hogshead barrels, and while “hogshead” is a rather amorphous measurement of liquid volume I’m sure you get the point that it’s a large barrel, the point being that such a barrel will not have the intensity of influence exercised by the standard 59-gallaon barrel or barrique. This wine has its eccentricities, and they’re lively and attractive ones. The color, first, is dark ruby with a slightly lighter violet rim; aromas of mint, eucalyptus, celery seed and black olives burst from the glass, with notes of cocoa powder, licorice and potpourri, oh yes, and scents of crushed black currants, raspberries and mulberries. I have seen a few reviews of this wine that scored it down because of the herbaceous bouquet, but I think that aspect is part of the wine’s charm and individuality. Flavors of black currants and plums are cushioned by a texture that’s paradoxically a bit lush and velvety while being invigorated by taut acidity and moderately dense, slightly leathery tannins. The finish is rift with sandalwood and cloves and a hint of iodine-and-iron minerality. 13.9 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2014 or ’15. Very Good+. About $13, a Distinct Bargain.

Imported by Pernod Ricard USA, Purchase, NY.
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The Silverado Trail winds through the bucolic eastern side of the Napa Valley, a 29-mile long road that was created as a wagon trail in 1852 to link the cinnabar mines on Mount St. Helena with the shipping outlet of San Pablo Bay. The palisades of the Vaca range lie just east of Silverado Trail, which runs parallel to state Highway 29 a few miles to the west, the main road that runs up the center of the valley through Napa city, the small but important towns of Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford, to St. Helena and up to Calistoga in the north. Compared to the carnival atmosphere of Highway 29, especially on weekends, Silverado remains quiet and isolated, a reminder of the valley’s rural days.

Warren Winiarski arrived in the Napa Valley in the late 1960s, a political science professor from Chicago whose interest in wine had been piqued when he studied in Italy. He apprenticed himself at Souverain Cellars and Robert Mondavi Winery before buying 45 acres in 1970, between Silverado Trail and the Stag’s Leap formation, in what is now Stags Leap District, the little red area on the accompanying map. He was persuaded to do so after tasting the homemade cabernet sauvignon of Nathan Fay, produced from his vineyard next to the land that Winiarski eventually purchased. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars produced its first wine — 400 cases — in 1972, but it was the 1973 bottling that changed everything. (Consultant in the early days was the highly influential André Tchelistcheff, mastermind behind the Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.) That 1973 vintage of cabernet sauvignon, from the Stag’s Leap Vineyard, was chosen for the famous and infamous Paris Tasting of 1976, in which the wines of two obscure fledgling wineries, little known even in California, prevailed against the best estates of Burgundy and Bordeaux. The other triumphant wine was the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay 1973, made by Mike Grgich.

Winiarski coined the well-known phrase “iron fist in velvet glove” to describe the cabernet sauvignon wines from his Stag’s Leap Vineyard, a handy rubric for a character that combines a granitic quality with a plush texture. Indeed an almost feral iron-iodine element runs through all of the SLV wines that I encountered on a recent sponsored visit to the winery, where the group I was with tasted the 1979, ’83, ’93, 2003 and 2007, ’08 and ’09. The winery produces an SLV in every year, a Cask 23 wine only in the best vintages, and a Fay wine from the vineyard that Winiarski acquired in 1986. (This image of the Fay Vineyard looks east toward the Vaca palisade and the promontory from which the legendary stag is supposed to have leapt.)

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars — not to be confused with Stags’ Leap Winery, the position of those apostrophes the result of a lawsuit — thrived not only as a result of winning the Paris tasting but because of the quality of its cabernets and chardonnays, being regarded as one of the great Old School Napa Valley wineries, along with Heitz, Beaulieu, Caymus, Robert Mondavi, Freemark Abbey, Clos du Val, Beringer, Charles Krug, Montelena and others. Stag’s Leap, however, seemed to get lost in the shuffle as newer, heavily financed producers came along in the late 1980s and the 1990s and achieved the status of cult cabernet-makers in the hearts of well-heeled collectors. Perhaps the Stag’s Leap wines lost a shade of dimension and depth. In any case, Winiarski sold the winery, in 2007, to a partnership of Washington state’s Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Tuscany’s Marchesi Piero Antinori.

Vineyard manager for Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars is Kirk Grace; winemaker, now in her 12th harvest, is Nicki Pruss.

On a side note, my first encounter with a wine from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, oddly, was not one of its vaunted cabernets but the Gamay
Beaujolais 1981, which I purchased for $6.99 and drank on November 5 and 6, 1983. It was quite charming, but I have never seen so-called “gamay beaujolais” mentioned on any product list for the winery, so I assume the attention it received was short-lived. Anyway, it turns out that gamay beaujolais was actually the French valdiguié grape; the term “gamay beaujolais” was banned on labels of American wine after April 2007.

Map of Napa Valley wine appellations from napanow.com. Image of Warren Winiarski from napawinelibrary.com.

Here are my notes on seven vintages of cabernets from the Stag’s Leap Vineyard, later abbreviated as SLV on labels, tasted at the winery.
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Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars SLV 1979, Napa Valley. The vines were only nine years old when this wine was made; the wine aged 15 months in a mixture of French and American oak barrels. A dollop of merlot, 1.5 percent. The color is medium ruby-garnet with perfect clarity and transparency, in the old sense. The bouquet is warm and spicy and inviting, a gratifying amalgam of crushed and macerated black and red currants and plums with mint and iodine and graphite and hints of tobacco, cedar and soy sauce. The wine is well-knit, smooth and balanced, though vibrant acidity is a bit prominent; it grows more complex, more vigorous as the minutes pass, adding touches of celery seed, candied fennel and lightly roasted plums or fruitcake, and the tannins seem to expand in volume too, though they are soft and moderately plush. Altogether a lovely wine at 33 years old and with some life, say five to seven years, ahead. 12.9/13 percent alcohol. Excellent. Price at the time: $15; seen on the Internet for $180.

It’s fascinating to read James Laube’s evaluation of this wine in California’s Great Cabernets: The Wine Spectator’s Ultimate Guide for Consumers, Collectors and Investors, published in 1989. He first writes, briefly, that that 1979 SLV “has an off, mossy quality.” In the principle review, he says: “This wine has never appealed to me — it tastes extremely dry and tannic without much in the way of fruit or charm. Drink 1990,” and he gives the wine a rating of 68 on the 100-point scale. As you can see by my notes, the wine must have shed its theoretically detrimental qualities, smoothed out those tannins, gained fruit and blossomed into something wonderful.
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SLV 1983. Poured from a 1.5-liter magnum. The color is radiant medium ruby with a light garnet-tinged rim. Again there’s that touch of mint and iodine, but the wine displays slightly less graphite or granite-like minerality; it is, on the other hand, slightly cooler, detached and more elegant than the ’79 discussed previously. On the other hand, again, even after 30 or 40 minutes in the glass, this example, anyway, did not offer quite the depth or complexity of the ’79, though it was still a lovely wine. Flavors of slightly macerated and stewed red and black currants are ensconced in a sizable, mouth-filling structure dominated by potent, even pregnant tannins that assert a dense and gritty presence. The finish brings in that back-note of slightly caramelized fennel. Drink now through 2020 to 2023. Very Good+. Price at the time: $18.
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SLV 1993. Poured from a 1.5-liter magnum. The wine aged 18 months in French oak barrels; there’s five percent petit verdot in the blend. A dark ruby color sports a slightly lighter ruby hue at the rim. Here’s a cabernet that feels, at 19 years old, whole, complete, authentic and essential. The wine is remarkably lively and vibrant, ringing with the resonance of its iron-and-graphite-like minerality, its fleet acidity and its dense, intense, pervasive, chewy tannins; in other words, it performs like a youngster, and while the wine could profitably be consumed now, it has many years ahead to develop and mature, say from 2020 to 2030. No kidding. Excellent. Original price: $40.
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SLV 2003. From an unpredictable year, with early heat spikes followed by the rainiest April on record, Stag’s Leap produced a gorgeous cabernet sauvignon for SLV. The color is solid ruby with a dark, almost opaque center and a shading toward magenta at the rim. The wine aged a whopping 27 months in French oak; a dab of merlot totals 1.2 percent. This is a deeply fruity, spicy and vibrant wine that draws you in with its power and vitality; SLV ’03 is profoundly minerally in the earthy, graphite, iodine-and-iron range, with attendant dense, dusty, leathery tannins, yet the wine is exquisitely detailed with hints of cedar and sage, celery seed and black olive, crushed black currants, plums and mulberries, all drawn out to a long finish packed with loam and underbrush. The alcohol content is a comfortable 14.1 percent. Drink now through 2030 to ’35. Excellent. About $110.
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SLV 2007. A contradictory year — some winemakers said that it was like having two or three different years in one — that turned into a great vintage for cabernet sauvignon. SLV ’07 is 100 percent cabernet; it aged 24 months in French oak, 88 percent new barrels. The color is dark ruby with a purple-violet rim and an opaque center. Young as it is, as rigorous as the tannins are, the wine almost gushes with black and blue fruit scents and flavors that would edge close to being rich and jammy if not held in check by those finely-tuned, well-oiled tannins, by vibrant acidity and by a granite/graphite/iron character of magnificent proportions. Despite the profundity, though, despite the monumentality, the wine is precisely balanced and poised, and it’s edged by delicate details of mulberry, ancho chili, bitter chocolate, sage and lavender. 14.5 percent alcohol. Best from 2013 or ’14 through 2030 to 2037. Exceptional. About $125.
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Looking for a real mouthful of old-fashioned cabernet sauvignon? Fitting that description is the Justin Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, Paso Robles, made from 100 percent cabernet sauvignon grapes, aged 18 months in American oak barrels, 28 percent new. The winery was established by Justin Baldwin in 1981, when there were about 10 wineries in Paso Robles. Justin’s reputation lies mainly in several levels of cabernet sauvignon, but the winery also makes an excellent sauvignon blanc. Winemaker is Scott Shirley. FIJI Water bought the winery in December 2010. (Mark the new label design: sleek, elegant, a little dangerous.)

The color is an almost opaque dark ruby tending even unto black. Aromas of black pepper, black olive and leather unfurl to reveal notes of intense and concentrated black currants, black cherries and plums that exude an aura of slightly exotic spice and dried Mediterranean herbs; then come the palate-challenging tannins, robust and grainy; the tongue-tingling acidity, vivacious and essential; the black fruit flavors, saturated by graphite, lavender, leather and loam-like earthy elements. It all adds up to real presence and tone in a wine that would benefit from a year or two of aging — or would probably be great right now with a medium rare rib-eye steak, hot and crusty from the grill. A mannerly 13.9 percent alcohol. Sort of now through 2016 to ’18. Excellent. About $26.

A sample for review.

Thursday, August 30, has been declared World Cabernet Day — you know how these things go, like “The Month of Sauvignon Blanc” or “The Year of Riesling” — and I usually ignore such feats of marketing prowess and go about my merry old way, I mean, it’s not as if cabernet doesn’t have its champions or enviable recognition, but since I have a back-log of cabernets that I need to write about, I decided to be a good sport and try to review as many cabs as I can this week. I’ll celebrate World Cabernet Day in my own way, thank you very much.

At the Wine Bloggers’ Conference 2012, the Napa Valley Vintners Association presented a tasting of some of the top Napa cabernet sauvignon wines from 2002. This event precipitated happiness in many hearts and minds and palates, first, because most people don’t get many opportunities to taste 10-year-old cabernets, and, second, because 2002 was an excellent vintage that produced wines of intensity and concentration, depth and complexity, though with fairly prominent tannins; the year suffers a bit in comparison to 2001, which with its magnificent purity, dimension and balance is one of the best vintages in California’s history. Forget that quibble though; this little tasting was fun, even with what seemed like 100 people gathered in a hotel room, all reaching for the bottles arrayed on a table. These are going to be quick mentions rather than full reviews. The order is that of my tasting; no hierarchy is involved. The prices cited are average for the country. Mainly limited in production, these are not cheap wines, but benchmarks never are.

1. Far Niente. Deep purple color, opaque at the center; very lively, spicy and earthy; dense chewy velvety tannins; burgeoning hints of lavender, black licorice and bittersweet chocolate; powerful intensity and concentration yet deliriously sensuous on the tongue. Best from now through 2018 to ’22. Excellent. About $144.

2. Heitz Martha’s Vineyard. I’m not always a fan of this wine, but for 2002 I think it’s fabulous. Beautiful balance, a sort of sweet aching poise between sheer sizable presence and lovely detailing; tannic, yes, but rolling and finely tuned, the pent energy of an XKE at idle; graphite, iron and iodine; deep, dense, chewy but with a high polish and intensely concentrated sweet black fruit. Now through 2020 to ’22. Exceptional. My first favorite. About $125.

3. Beaulieu Vineyards Georges De Latour Private Reserve. Profound in every sense; profoundly deep and earthy, profoundly iron-like in minerality with a modicum of the compensating velvet element; very dry, a trove of dusty, slightly leathery tannins; lacks the Lafite-like surface sheen that BV Private Reserve offers at its best. Give it a couple more years and then drink through 2018 to ’22. Very Good+. About $96.

4. Opus One. Pretty damned fathomless in its depth of dense dusty earthy and brooding tannins and granitic mineral qualities; imposing, majestic in black drapery but a little truculent; pretty damned unyielding even at almost 10 years; glimmers of intense and concentrated black fruit etched with spice and flowers, but I wouldn’t try until 2014 or ’15 and then drink through 2020 or ’24. Very Good+ with Excellent potential. About $250.

5. Spottswoode Estate. Black cherry and plum compote, a bit fleshy and roasted, broad and deep earthy and iron-like mineral influence but sleek and burnished; finely-milled tannins, somehow both hard and soft; a sense of intensity and compactness leaking into expansiveness and generosity; absolutely beautiful cabernet. Now — please with a steak — through 2018 to 2022. Exceptional. My second favorite. About $206.

6. Dyer Diamond Mountain. Whoa, unlimber the backhoe for these huge, impenetrable tannins; perhaps the most intense and concentrated of this selection of Napa Valley cabs from 2002; no denying its brilliantly dynamic character, its revelation of the pungent and pregnant darkness of the grape, but I wouldn’t touch it until 2014 or ’15. I’ll speculate a potential rating of Excellent, but for now Very Good+. About $62.

7. Corison. It’s testimony to the fine character of the wine and perhaps to the affection and regard with which Cathy Corison is held, but this was the first bottle at the tasting to be consumed, much to the consternation of those waiting eagerly in line. Again, a cab monumental in structure, truly so resonant and dynamic that it practically shimmers in the glass, though the energy is tempered somewhat by the authoritative yet gentle proportion and balance of its all elements. Remarkable purity, intensity and grace. Now or 2013 through 2018 to ’22. Excellent. My third favorite. About $95 and, considering the company, Great Value.

8. Pride Reserve. Wrong about #6; the Pride Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is the biggest, hugest and most enormously tannic, mineral-laden, the most intense and concentrated of these wines. Will it ever soften and mature and allow the fruit to come forward? I’m not certain about that. No rating; just wait, patiently, as for Godot, drinking other wines to pass the time. About $207.

9. Spring Mountain Elivette Reserve. Oh damn, oh joy; what a beautiful cabernet. Polished and sleek, deep, dark and spicy; the iron and iodine and slightly minty syndrome happily married to gushing black currant, black cherry and plum fruit bolstered by massive, hard-edged yet paradoxically velvety tannins and a smoldering core of potpourri, lavender, black pepper and ancho chili. Wonderful purity and intensity. Best from 2014 through 2020 to ’24. Exceptional and my fourth favorite, I mean chronologically in the tasting. About $94, and relatively speaking Good Value, meaning that it doesn’t cost $250.

10. Robert Mondavi Oakville District. Another beauty cloaked in monumental tannins; spiced, macerated and slightly roasted black and blue fruit scents and flavors; perfectly balanced in terms of all elements and a wine that for its size and power and resonance feels suave and elegant; no mistaking those austere tannins on the finish, though, or that sweet loamy earthiness. Now through 2018 to ’20. About $40, and the Bargain of this Bunch.

11. Chateau Monetelena The Montelena Estate. I have tasted several of these Montelena Estate cabernets from the late 1990s and early 2000s, and this rendition is easily the most daunting and demanding of them all. This is a huge, multi-dimensioned wine in every sense, and yet, because great wines always present themselves as a series of unfolding paradoxes, it offers lovely details of fruit and spice and dried flowers that one could almost call winsome, and, funny, when I first typed that word, I wrote “wisdom.” A fruitful slip of the fingers, since great wines also embody the wisdom of their vineyards and the soil from which the vines sprang forth. Try from 2014 or ’15 through 2022 to ’25. Excellent. About $122.

How often does one get to try what is commonly regarded as New Zealand’s greatest wine? Not often, I would say, and certainly not in my case. What is that wine? Hint: It ain’t sauvignon blanc.

I was at a meeting last week of a new board for the glossy year-old local wine magazine Cork It! Memphis, and of course people on the board of a wine magazine would bring wine to the meeting, n’est-ce pas? I took a bottle of the Trimbach Gewurztraminer 2007, a wine transcending to a state of beautiful pure minerality. Enough of that though, because another member of the board brought the Te Mata Estate Coleraine Cabernet/Merlot 1998, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. That’s right, 1998. Where do people get these wines?

The Hawkes Bay wine region (without an apostrophe) occupies a semi-circle of geography around Hawke’s Bay in the southeast area of New Zealand’s North Island. Muddying the waters, however, the Hawkes Bay wine region is sometimes also written with an apostrophe, so if you are the kind of person who gets Stag’s Leap, Stags’ Leap and Stags Leap mixed up, you’ll be right at home here. Though the region is the oldest wine-producing area of New Zealand — the first winery was established there in 1851 — and home now to about 75 wineries, that’s a recent development, in vinous terms; even in the early 1970s, there were fewer than 10.

The winery dates back to 1896 and was acquired by present owner John Buck in 1974. Launched in 1982, Coleraine was made from a single vineyard until 1988; since that vintage, it has been made from parcels of vines in other Te Mata estate vineyards but with the preponderance of the cabernet sauvignon coming from the original Coleraine Vineyard.

Te Mata Estate Coleraine Cabernet/Merlot 1998, Hawkes Bay, is a blend of 68 percent cabernet sauvignon and 32 percent merlot. The wine aged 20 months in French oak barriques. The estate’s website touts Coleraine as a 10 to 15-year wine, and I would say that at the age of 14 it’s definitely fully mature and will remain on this plateau for another four to six years. The wine — this bottle, anyway — was as smooth and mellow as you could ask a cabernet/merlot blend to be, with richness and succulence defining the spicy, slightly macerated black currant and plum aromas and flavors, while structure was founded on depths of well-honed tannins and polished oak which, like the Holy Spirit, were everywhere present but nowhere visible. Beyond those factors was a permeation of earthy, graphite-like minerality and still vital (and essential) acidity that tied the wine together, both lively and grounded. Wines like Coleraine Cabernet/Merlot 1998 exist on a plane of integrity, confidence and completeness all their own; when the opportunity to taste one comes along, take it and thank the people who can afford it and offered you a glass. I don’t mind being humble. Current vintage is 2010. Excellent. About $110.

We are so damned eclectic here where our heads are bigger. Today, on this Saturday of the “Friday Wine Sips,” we gotcher rosé (er, not a great one, sorry), we gotcher sparkling wines, we gotcher white wines and we gotcher red wines. Your life will be complete. The countries represented are Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. (Remember, by the way, that all reports in the “Friday Wine Sips” are not favorable; we applaud for, and we warn against.) As for grapes, well, we offer verdejo, vermentino, pinot blanc, pinot auxerrois, chardonnay and riesling; we offer tempranillo, syrah, mourvèdre, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and a host of grapes that typically grow in the Douro Valley. What we don’t offer is much in the way of technical, historical, personal and geographical material; instead, these are quick reviews, some transcribed directly from my notes, others expanded a bit, and designed to be a rapid infusion of knowledge and direction. So, seek out, try, taste and enjoy, where I have recommended that you do so; for a few others, um, just avoid. These wines were samples for review. The order is rosé, white, sparkling and red.
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Valdelosfrailes Rosé 2011, Cubillas de Santa Marta, Cigales, Spain. 13.5% alc. Tempranillo 80%, verdejo 20%. Bright cherry-crimson color; pungent, pert, perky, strawberry and dried currants, hint of pomegranate, dried herbs and limestone; very dry, lip-smacking acidity and viscosity, austere finish. Doesn’t quite hold together. Good+. About $10.
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Emina Verdejo 2010, Medina del Campo, Rueda, Spain. 13% alc. 100% verdejo grapes. A confirmation of the theory that delicate, fruity white wines should be consumed before they lose their freshness. Not recommended. About $10.
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Prelius Vermentino 2010, Maremma, Toscana, Italy. 12.5% alc. Probably delightful last year but overstayed its welcome. Only in a pinch. About $15.
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Domaine Roland Schmitt Pinot Blanc 2010, Alsace, France 12.5% alc. Pale straw-gold color; lovely, soft but lithe, very clean and fresh, quite spicy; apples, lemons, pears, touch of yellow plum; vibrant acidity keeps it lively and appealing, while a few minutes in the glass pull up notes of jasmine and limestone. Now through 2014. Very Good+. About $16.
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Domaine Mittnacht Freres Terre d’Etoiles Pinot Blanc 2011, Alsace, France. 12% alc. Pinot auxerrois 60%, pinot blanc 40% (can that be right and still be labeled pinot blanc?) Pale straw-yellow, like Rapunzel’s hair; entrancing aromas of camellia and jasmine, spiced pear and roasted lemon, quince and ginger; very dry, resolutely crisp, yet with such an attractive texture and balance, a sense of soft ripeness and sinewy limestone elements. Very stylish. Now through 2014 or ’15, well-stored. Excellent. About $19, Fine Quality for the Price.
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Dr. Hermann Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2009, Mosel, Germany. 8.5% alc. Pale, pale gold; lychee and petrol, pear and pear nectar, lime peel and quince preserves, hint of jasmine, just deliriously attractive; but very dry, formidably crisp and steely; then a dramatic shift to apples, apples and more apples; the entry is quite ripely, kssingly sweet but resonant acidity and scintillating limestone-like minerality turn the wine dry yet still delicate from mid-palate through the finish. Now through 2015 to ’18. Excellent. About $23, Get It! .
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Antech Émotion 2009, Crémant de Limoux, France. 12% alc. Chardonnay 70%, chenin blanc 18%, mauzac 10%, pinot noir 2%. Pale copper-onion skin color; a fetching froth of tiny bubbles; apples, strawberries, lime peel, steel and limestone; touches of smoke and red and black currants, almost subliminal; orange zest; so damned pretty and charming; very dry finish. Very Good+. About $18, a True Bargain.
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Sekthaus Raumland Cuvée Marie-Luise Blanc de Noirs Brut 2008, Germany. 12% alc. 100% pinot noir. Pale gold; a constant stream of glinting silver bubbles; stimulating bouquet of roasted lemons and lemon curd, toasted hazelnuts, tropical back-notes, sea-breeze and salt-marsh, both generous and chastening; very dry, high-toned and elegant, lots of steel and limestone; yet that intriguing tropical element and a muted hint of leafy currant at the core. Really lovely. Excellent. About $45.
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Dow Vale do Bomfim 2009, Douro, Portugal. 14% alc. Tinta barroca 30%, touriga franca 25%, touriga nacional 25%, tinto roriz 15%, tinto cao 5%. Color is dark ruby; ripe and fleshy, warm and spicy; intense and concentrated black and red currants, plums and blueberries; heaps of briers and brambles and underbrush, coats the mouth with fine-grained tannins; lots of personality brought up short by a dusty, leathery finish. Drink through the end of 2012 with burgers. Very Good+. About $12.
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Prelius Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, Maremma, Tuscany, Italy. 14% alc. Dark ruby-mulberry color; spicy, tightly wound, chewy, mouth-coating tannins; black currants and plums, very spicy; decent basic cabernet with an earthy, astringent finish. Very Good. About $15.
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Chateau La Roque “Cuvée les Vielles Vignes de Mourvèdre” 2006, Pic Saint Loup, Coteaux du Languedoc, France. 13.5% alc. With 10% grenache. Deep purple with a tinge of magenta; lovely, lively, lots of tone and personality; dense and chewy, intensely spicy, exotic, ripe and fleshy but a slightly hard edge of graphite and walnut shell; plums, plums and more plums, hint of fruitcake (the spices, the nuts, the brandied fruit); a dry finish with earth, leather and wood. Now through 2014 to ’16. Excellent. About $20, and definitely Worth a Search.
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Pierre Gaillard Domaine Cottebrune Transhumance 2007, Faugeres, Languedoc-Roussillon, France. 14.5% alc. Syrah 50%, grenache 40%, mourvèdre 10%. Dark ruby color; ripe, fleshy and meaty black and blue fruit scents and flavors, spiced and macerated; nothing shy here, huge presence, plenty of oak and lipsmacking tannins that pack the mouth, but succulent too, deep and flavorful; sea salt, iron and iodine, a whiff of the decadent but a decent heart. Put yourself in its hands. Now through 2015 to ’17. Excellent. About $22.
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