TN: 1984 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain

• 1984 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain (10/10/2015)
  Purchased from a retailer that’s had the wine stored in perfect conditions since release. Decanted 15 minutes before service. Medium translucent red color. The wine is definitely on the downhill slide but still a very pleasant drink. The tannins are pretty much gone, but there’s plenty of red fruit, eucalyptus (as others have mentioned) and some acidity remaining. A light wine that’s a good pairing with lighter meat dishes or pasta. (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Wow. I honestly thought the wine would be solid, even after all these years. Sorry it was a bit of a let-down.

Surprised

Never had one from the 80’s that was everything anything short of awesome.

Guys, I thought the wine was good, but it sounds like from your experience it should have been better. Perhaps this was a weak bottle. As I mentioned, this retailer has owned it from the beginning, so storage conditions were excellent and the cork looked great coming out.

I have two bottles remaining. How would you recommend I handle these for service. I hadn’t given it much time at all in the decanter, being afraid it would “go over” on me. Should I give it more decant time? Any recommendations you can provide would be great. Thanks much!

Personally I would not decant it. It doesn’t need to be roughed up.

I would pull the cork and slow ox for an hour or two and then let it rip.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Laurel Glen, but I always thought they would be tough to identify in a panel of Bordeaux

Good to know. I prefer the slow ox method myself most of the time, but didn’t have the time in this case.

I did notice that there’s a lot of fine sediment in this wine, so pouring slowly would be key as well.

I had 3 bottles of the '95 over the past two years. I think I paid $29 for them a few years back. Just a really enjoyable wine with more of an old Bordeaux quality to it than modern CA cab. At that price, just pure enjoyment.

That seems right. Old school Medoc.

I would set bottle upright 48 hours before drinking if possible.

Realize that all seems like a lot of work but I think it will help the wine shine. Serve around 62 degrees

Good advice, also applies to all older bottles of Togni.

Recently I’ve had an 86 (killer) and an 83 (similar to yours, on the downslope but decent). My first was an 85 that was being poured btg at Cyrus a few years ago…got me on the train.

87 probably my favorite vintage from that decade. I purchased a few bottles of the 95 last year. All were terrific and showed no signs of fading. I would buy more without hesitation at a good price.