1990 Chateau Montelena, The Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga, Bottle (750ml)

RP94 "Medium to deep garnet-brick in color, the 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate sings with amazing expressiveness, sporting crème de cassis, blueberry tart and dried roses on the nose with touches of cloves, cigar box and Bovril. Medium-bodied, the palate is chock full of expressive black and blue fruit preserves with velvety tannins and a long, spicy finish." LPB for TWA Feb 2018

VM94 "Good medium amber-tinged red, with a healthy rim owing to the small crop. Aromas of plum, earth and hazelnut; shortly after the wine's release I read its nutty quality as an herbaceous element but not today. The plushest and silkiest of these wines to this point of the tasting but quite dry and classic too, showing surprising acidity to frame its cherry, dark berry and licorice flavors. Concentrated, tactile and smooth; this is altogether suaver than preceding vintages. The tannins arrive later, gently coating the palate. Barrett noted that this was his first vintage with a gentler destemmer." ST for VM May 2019

"The iconic Gothic stone winery now known as Chateau Montelena was originally built by Alfred Tubbs in the 1880s. It was purchased by Jim and Judy Barrett in the early 1970s. The property came with around 100 acres of vines, but rather surprisingly, there was no Cabernet Sauvignon planted. At that time, it was believed that Calistoga was too warm to produce high quality Cabernet, and so the Estate vineyard was mainly planted to Zinfandel and Rhône varieties. In 1972 and 1974, Jim Barrett grubbed up a lot of the old vines and began planting Cabernet Sauvignon. Meanwhile, the Cabernets produced in 1974 and 1975 were prototypes, using purchased fruit from Sonoma, Alexander Valley and Napa Valley, until the Estate vineyard began to come online. 1973 was the first vintage that Jim’s son, Bo Barrett, helped with on the estate, and today he remains in charge as CEO and master winemaker. “We used a lot more acid back then,” Bo Barrett commented, “than we do now. I think you can still taste a bit of stems in these early wines too. It was around 1990 that we got a new destemmer.” In fact, his comment explains the slightly tart, disjointed acid on the 1974 and 1975 vintages as well and the somewhat rustic/astringent nature of the tannins prior to 1990." TWA