Purchased on release. Decanted for 1 hour. Drank during the stay at home order.
Crimson in color. 13.5% ABV. Spellbinding nose of red fruits, cedar, leather and graphite. Full bodied, powerful and concentrated. Rich, youthful fruit in spades. Black cherry, currants, creme de cassis and mint on the palate. The finish is exceptionally long with silky, fine grained tannins. What a spectacular showing for a 26 year old bottle of Montelena. For my money, one of the top 3-4 wines ever from this Estate. I have one bottle left that I will open in 2030. Best over the next 7-10 years.
I drank the '97 about a month ago. It was awfully good, showing just as well as an '89 Lynch-Bages and a '98 L’Evangile. Haven’t had the '94, but in general I find 1994 Napa > 1997.
Napa Golden Run of 91, 92, 94-96 (97 too for old school producers like Montelena, Heitz, Dunn, Forman, etc…). 5 of the best years out of 6 in their history, 6 of 7 for some.
Great wine. We had a bottle earlier this year. The 1994 Montelena Estate was better than the 1997, IMO. It had a little more polish and complexity, although it is hard to go wrong with either vintage!
It’s tough to chose between 97 and 94. Both were great. 97, in general, was a ripe vintage, and a lot of the Cabs were flashier early-drinkers as compared to 94,95,96. But the Montelena 97 is somewhat restrained for the vintage. It’s slightly riper than the preceding versions, but not a lot, and it stays balanced in doing so. To me that’s the sweet spot of great cab ias an alternative to Bordeaux. Montelena is definitely is currently on of the few top 97s .
+1 re what John said…I remember the 94 Monty as being an absolute monster back in the day…Huuuge wine, the 97 was more restrained, I think I still have one bottle left,(none left re the 94 or any earlier Monties)
