1985 Dominus Estate- USA, California, Napa Valley (8/13/2020)
Double decanted at about 6:00 PM and then brought to Frankie and Johnnie’s in Rye for dinner at their outdoor tables in the middle of the street. Started drinking it is about 7:00 PM and followed it for about an hour. Excellent wine with fully resolved tanins, no bricking, and excellent development of the flavors of age. Not fruit driven. I would have guessed it to be a mid-1980s Bordeaux because it did not have the fruit of a California Cabernet-based wine, but it certainly had the power. Smooth leather, a bit of dark cherry, earthiness and spice, with some forest floor herbal components… I bought this at auction last year. Fill was bottom neck. Color was perfect. Enough sediment to justify the double decant.
This was smooth and went down fast. One of the notes from 2019 mentions grippy tanins. Not in my bottle. It turned out that they had the 1987 and the wine list for $400. (93 pts.)
This TN brought back old memories. I had a couple of verticals of Dominus back that went up thru maybe 1997 vintage or so. Their tannin management changed a lot from theri very early days in Calif and there was a big change in quality of the tannics around 1990/1991. They continued to get more polished and recall the first few vintages were pretty four square. I toured there once (super cool structure) and they noted how it took them quite a few years to learn how to make Calif wine as opposed to Bordeaux. This was mainly about tannins but also crop loads and other things I completely forget.
Nice note. Old Dominus is one of my most-desired tastes; I was gifted a bottle of 2015, but it will be a good long while before I get the opportunity to open it. The only one I’ve actually tried is 2016 and it was already so clearly a world-class wine, even as a baby.
I had this 1-2 years ago, really elegant stuff. Posted a note here somewhere. My recollection was that it was past apogee but still drinking very well. Nice note, Jay!
PS - I do not know when they changed their tannin management, but we had a bottle of the 1991 when Ebbe came to NY for his 60th Birthday and the sommelier at Uncle Jacks was so impressed by the wine that the rest of us brought (and allowed him to taste) that he opened a bottle of that for our table. It was grossly under-rated at 99 pts. I bid on a bottle of it at the same auction where I got the 1985 but someone who wisely keeps his name hidden for fear of immediate death outbid me.