Unauthorized

Dinner with close friends included a sumptuous prime roast of beef accompanied by a gratin of potatoes. The wines were highlighted by a tasty Chardonnay from Tor Kenward’s up-and-coming project, and a still youthful, but sumptuous magnum of 1994 La Jota Anniversary Selection Cabernet Sauvignon (sure wish they made wines like this today). This still young, dense purple-colored 15-year-old wine revealed beautiful aromas of new saddle leather, charcoal, blackberry liqueur, cedar, and spice box. It is an opulent, full-bodied effort from a great vintage in Napa. From a not so great year, a hugely successful wine is Bryant Family Vineyard’s 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon. While it is not the pure perfection of the 1997, or one of their greatest efforts, it performed even better than I anticipated, and for the vintage, it is a resounding success. A beautiful bouquet of spring flowers, blueberry jam, and camphor is followed by a rich, full-bodied wine that had me shaking my head about this vintage. It is more forward than either the 1994 La Jota or 1996 Araujo, but it should hold up for at least another decade. A young, vibrant, mineral-laced, black currant, cedary, gorgeously proportioned and textured wine is the 1996 Araujo Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. Following the brilliant 1994 and 1995 vintages, and the top wines of 1997, 1996 is a somewhat forgotten vintage. It is a firmly structured effort displaying gorgeously pure black raspberry and black currant fruit intermixed with notions of crushed rocks, flowers, and earth. Full-bodied, fresh, and still an adolescent in terms of its evolution, this beauty should drink well for another 10-15 years.