Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1986

Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1986 is a mature, full-bodied red wine produced from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in the X region of California. Chateau Montelena is a renowned Napa wine estate producing long-aged estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines. This Calistoga-based estate traces its history back to 1882, when California State Senator Alfred Tubbs planted his first vineyards intent on making wines to rival the best of the Old World. "Much more evolved on the nose than the `85, offering scents of plum, berries, prune, tobacco, leather and earth. Sweet on entry, then a bit simple in the middle, conveying a slightly jammy quality but good breadth and a touch of sweetness to its flavours of red fruits, warm rocks and ginger. Fully evolved but still shows a surprising spine of dusty tannins. Turned a bit drier and more angular in the glass with air, suggesting that this wine should be drunk soon. Barrett told me that he was feeling more confident by the time he made the `86, as the `82 had garnered favourable reviews and had sold well...This would be a perfect ringer in a blind flight of 1986 Médoc wines--a vintage in which the Cabernet Sauvignon was particularly favoured. Really cruising along at age 32. Barrett has maintained from the start that he preferred his `86 to his `85 and `87, but clearly there is bottle variation with this vintage. (In fact, Barrett says 1986 was his worst year for corks, which he attributes to "the socialist Portuguese.") At the winery, I preferred the `87 to the `86 but on the last day at March, in my own dining room, I gave this wine the edge, and its fruit maintained verve for days in the recorked bottle." Vinous, 2019