Last Tasted 2/93 This extraordinary wine is backward and unevolved, but even neophytes will recognize its potential greatness. The opaque, saturated, dark purple color reveals no sign of age. The huge, smoky, oaky, blackcurrant, herb, and vanillin-scented nose only hints at what will be achieved with further evolution. Sweet, decadently rich, dense, highly extracted flavors are wrapped around a full-bodied, chewy, super-concentrated, moderately tannic wine that, ideally, needs 7-8 more years of cellaring. It is a 25 to 30 year California Cabernet Sauvignon that is just beginning to become civilized. A potential legend in the making!

Tasted at the Robert Mondavi Cabernet Reserve vertical. This has a wonderful lifted minty nose that actually reminds me of a great Mouton-Rothschild. Sublime definition and purity with scents of blackberry, black plum and just a touch of prune. Very intense and beautifully defined. The palate is medium-bodied, very svelte and supple, beautiful balance and poise, notes of blackberry, cedar, black plum and just a touch of iodine. Elegant finish. Superb. Tasted June 2009.

(retasted at Mondavi) Very good full medium ruby. Currant, black cherry, roast coffee, cedar, leather, tobacco, truffle and black olive on the flamboyant nose. Sappy, youthfully tight flavors of currant and tobacco leaf, with a faint gamey nuance. Very ripe and rich but adamantly dry. Strong finish features big, ripe tannins. A superb bottle, far closer in character to my memory of this wine than the more politely styled example shown at the group tasting.

87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot. A vintage with early budbreak and a cool spring. A heat wave during flowering led to reduced yields, which were then reduced further through less water availability from reduced rainfall. The combination led to small berries with more concentration. The cool season led to overall higher acidity levels. Fermented in stainless steel at 86 °F (30 ºC) for four days then kept on skins for three weeks. After malolactic conversion it was aged in 85% new French oak for 18 months. Aromatics of green bell pepper with a musky note that integrates with time in the glass. The green herbal notes carry forward into the palate lifting the wine from a core of creamy spice and mixed fruits. There is a lot of amplitude and density on the palate here with nice aromatic complexity and a lifting freshness. This is a pleasant wine that drinks well right now but does have a few years left in the bottle. (ECB)