St. Clement Vineyards
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley, California, USA
The third bottle from 1981 to celebrate my 40th birthday week! From the early days of St. Clement prior to being sold to Sapporo. I used a Durand to pull the cork which was completely saturated about 3/4 but otherwise perfectly intact! Poured into a decanter to remove as much sediment as possible and I could already tell this wine was in really good shape! The color is a deep garnet with very little visual sign of age and, in fact, appeared quite youthful! On the nose, this wine comes across quite spicy with noticeable pyrazines, tobacco, red and dark fruits and a hint of baking spices. On the palate, the wine is red and dark fruited with some leather and earth but the fruit was very much a central figure and while it seemed a little thin on the mid-palate, the tannins were still quite apparent and the medium + acid proper everything up quite well. Compared to the ’81 Beringer K.V. and ’81 Silver Oak Napa Valley consumed earlier in the week, this showed better with deeper, fresher fruit and more impressive structure. FWIW, I acquired this wine from a private collection; provenance was excellent.
The third bottle from 1981 to celebrate my 40th birthday week! From the early days of St. Clement prior to being sold to Sapporo. I used a Durand to pull the cork which was completely saturated about 3/4 but otherwise perfectly intact! Poured into a decanter to remove as much sediment as possible and I could already tell this wine was in really good shape! The color is a deep garnet with very little visual sign of age and, in fact, appeared quite youthful! On the nose, this wine comes across quite spicy with noticeable pyrazines, tobacco, red and dark fruits and a hint of baking spices. On the palate, the wine is red and dark fruited with some leather and earth but the fruit was very much a central figure and while it seemed a little thin on the mid-palate, the tannins were still quite apparent and the medium + acid proper everything up quite well. Compared to the ’81 Beringer K.V. and ’81 Silver Oak Napa Valley consumed earlier in the week, this showed better with deeper, fresher fruit and more impressive structure. FWIW, I acquired this wine from a private collection; provenance was excellent.
May 4th, 2021Surprised by the vibrancy of this 38 year old.
Surprised by the vibrancy of this 38 year old.
Jun 16th, 2019