BAWDY: Old Cabs/Old Bordeaux Tasting

I'm catching up on past tastings, as you will see. This was a February 2009 tasting of one of my wine groups, BAWDY ("Bay Area Wine Drinkers and-a-Y"). Hosted by Brian and Jill Oana at their Alameda CA home, the theme they chose for this BYOB was "OLD CABS/OLD BORDEAUX."

Well, who's going to miss a thing like that??

Of course, this means "old" in affordable terms -- we're not rich and our cellars are relatively lacking in age-depth. But here's what we 20 or so people came up with -- and a remark by me about the ones that jumped out at me. If I didn't remark on it, I either didn't get to taste it, or I don't remember it.

Here they are, listed by age:

1974 Inglenook Cab Limited Cask A-3, Napa

--over the hill but not awful

1986 Simi Cab Commemorative Edition, Alexander Valley

--fantastic!

1991 Cline Mourvedre, Contra Costa County (CA)

--good

1995 Chateau Clerc Milon Grand Cru, Pauillac

--very good

1995 Sterling Vineyard Reserve Cab blend, Napa

--outstanding!

1996 Lolonis Cab, Redwood Valley, Mendocino

--good

1997 Kiona Cab, Washington State

--outstanding!

1997 Inniskillin Gamay Noir, Niagara Peninsula

--a whaaa? but tasty!

1998 BV Rutherford Cab, Napa

--outstanding -- no surprise!

2000 D’Agostini Cab, Alexander Vly

2000 Close Du Bois Merlot, Sonoma

--very good

2001 White Oak Cab blend, Napa

--good

2001 William Hill Reserve Cab, Napa

2002 Retzlaff Cab, Livermore Vly

--good

2002 St. Supery Cab, Napa

2003 Mount Eden Vineyard Cab blend, Santa Cruz Mtns

--good

2005 L’Ecole No 41 Perigee Seven Hills Cab blend, Walla Walla, Washington

--this is supposed to be fab, but I didn't get to taste it, darn it.

2005 Rodrigue Molyneaux Cab, Livermore CA

2006 Chateau Haut-Sorillon, Bordeaux Superieur

2006 Educated Guess Cab, Napa

2006 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz-Cab, S. Australia

2006 St. Francis, Chard, Sonoma

2006 DeCanal Montepulciano D’Abruzzo (unopened--just too many wines!)

2007 Robert Mondavi Private Select Cab, Calif.

Great evening!