Nicely written article about Dunn

http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2015/08/lower-alcohol-question-dunn-and-dusted

Thanks for posting. A true iconoclast.

One of my favorite Cali Cabs yet I have so little of it. Need to remedy that.

Don’t know if this is still true, but once upon a time older vintages tended to be underpriced on steakhouse wine lists. Maybe its less popular than the Silver Oaks etc. in that kind of environment so sold poorly.

Dunn really is intriguing, tannic and austere sounding but lower in alcohol.

I want to jump on mail list but i just keep on holding back

Ive never had a Dunn of any age I didn’t think was drinking well. Yes they have some serious tannins but there is so much extract it always seems balanced to me. I might be more tannin tolerant than other people possibly.

I’ve rarely had one that I thought was ready to drink. It isn’t about the amount of tannin; it’s about the wine opening up and showing some maturing character. Different tastes…

I’ve had some incredible bottles of Dunn cab and I started buying it pretty widely. But eventually some subsequent bottles seemed too dry to me, perhaps fruit deficient compared to the tannin levels. The main example was a bottle of the 85 Howell Mtn opened last year or so-- it was bone, bone dry, plenty of extract, but zero fruit or sweetness. It was no fun to drink. I’m not sure more age will help.

I’ve similar experiences with other Howell Mtns (but not all, the 91 seems to have plenty of fruit and is softer for a Dunn HM). I’ve had better luck with the Napa bottling overall, it might not reach the heights of the HM (no pun intended) but it more consistently delivers for my mileage.

Yeah the Dunns Ive had certainly were not very evolved. Still enjoyed them though.

As to the focus of the article—the changing from Randy to Mike at some unnamed point in the future—my first instinct is that Mike’s intended changes sound great. My second is that it ain’t broke right now. I’ve never had a Dunn that lacked fruit, but I don’t think I’ve had one older than 18-20 years, nor earlier than 1990.

The vast majority of my Dunn experiences have been 1997-2001, and my only complaint would be a distinct funk, more in HM, but present in both. I’ve heard later vintages don’t have this, and maybe that’s due to Mike’s increasing involvement. I’ve had some of Randy’s Long Shadows – Feather cabernets from ’04 and ’06, and noticed nothing of the sort.

If the funk you’re referring to is brettanomyces related, and I think it probably is, then I can say it seems to have decreased in recent vintages but is still there.

I believe the 85 HM was barrel aged for 3 years. Maybe not the best thing for Randy’s wine and I don’t think it was ever repeated.

Pat the 85 HM is an outlier. I heard it received a different oak treatment that year to the wines detriment. That might explain the dryness.

Oops T Schaffler beat me to it re the 85.

The funk is reduction not brett. Harmless.

Just had a 2007 HM. Great wine. For my palate 2004 started a more accessible style.

George, there may be some reduction in these wines, and less than perceptible brett to some people, but I understand the difference, and I definitely get brett on the majority of bottles I’ve had. It’s been very strong in bottles from the '80s and early '90s. It’s still there, although less so, in recent bottlings that I’ve tried.

I visited there in June…got the feeling Mike is very anal about keeping the winery and caves clean…maybe not the case in the past

That’s good to know. The thing is, though, once this yeast is in the winery, it’s extremely difficult to get rid of. It’s likely in the barrels and parts of the building itself. It can be minimized, but unless they’ve cleared out all of their equipment and done a ridiculously thorough cleaning, it’s still there. I don’t know how long Mike has been doing the winemaking, but I definitely noted brett on the new releases last year.

That was a very fine piece indeed.

From the article

Robert Parker was a longtime fan of Dunn’s wines, often visiting the winery to taste with Randy. In 2000 he called the 1997 Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet “a candidate for 50-plus years of aging … extremely full bodied and super-extracted, it is built to age like a glacier.”

Does anybody have an opinion of this assessment?

I have never tried a Dunn wine. However, I do have one in my inventory–1997 Howell Mountain. I will be long dead before this bottle is “Parker ready.”

I am a Dunn fan and have been drinking to the earlier 80’s this past year, back to '81, and none seemed over the hill.

We killed the '89 HM and Napa at a party recently and both were in happy places but will easily keep the party going for the foreseeable future.

So, at 25-30+ years (gads, I feel old,) the wines are looking good.

I found the article rather sad. I posted that over on eBob, and was immediately asked why I felt this way. To me, it was highlighting discord between parent and child. As a mother, that saddens me. Maybe some other “moms” will come out here and add their feelings.

I thought that the closing line was over-the-top journalistic junk.