Have been wanting to try an older Dunn Cab since the historic vertical tasting in NYC earlier this year that spanned vintages of the Howell Mountain bottling from 1979 to 1999.
This 1987 vintage bottling was really nice. The fruit is 85% Howell Mountain and 15% Napa valley floor. Opened about 2 hours before dinner and fully decanted. This wine had the most significant olive influence on the nose and on the palate as any California Cab I've had. Quite strong at first and then gained balance with air over the next couple of hours ... settling into a wonderfully mellow-aged black currant palate complemented by olive and earth influences along with tasty minerality (almost blood iron in nature)... decent complexity from start to finish with each sip... compelling aromatics. Fine grained tannins and still robust color with slight bricking. Modest 13 % alcohol, which I really enjoy.. contributes to the overall elegance of the wine. It was very enjoyable over the next 5 hours before we had the last of it. Talk about a perfect match with steak....I rarely get a chance to enjoy a California Cab from the '80's... this is certainly a noble one.
Also paired with the steak was a 1994 Rockland Petite Sirah that was showing well. This wine is sourced from Mark Aubert's family vineyards. This example had aged nicely. Briary, dark fruit with a mellowed peppery twang ... the aromatics were somewhat reticent. Interestingly, alcohol % was not shown on the label. I would guess it to be in the 14% range .. pretty well balanced.
As a prelude to dinner, we had a 2004 Melville Estate Pinot Noir that was really showing well. Excellent purity of fruit... it was paired with prosciutto, cheese and fresh cherries. 14.9% alc but it managed it well. This is a blend. Sometimes I enjoy the pinot blends from different vineyards more than the single vineyard wines (I find this to be the case often with Kosta Browne wines).
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