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Chateau Montelena The Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1997
HED80841
75 cl
14%
£275.00
Taxes included.
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Founded in 1882, the illustrious Chateau Montelena is an iconic Napa estate and undoubtedly helped place California on the fine wine map when it took out one of the top prizes at the 1976 ‘Judgement of Paris’. The 1997 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the finest ever iterations of this cuvée. It is bold, complex and deep, with abundant sweet fruit, subtle savoury accents and superbly ripe tannic structure. A beautiful wine now really hitting its stride.
93
Vinous
Good medium-dark red with a healthy rim. Sexy red berry aromas are lifted by exotic spices and complicated by notes of smoke and leather (Barrett noted that this vintage showed a brett element early on but today the leathery nuance is just another note of complexity in the wine, as it was in a sample I tried two years ago as part of my 1997 horizontal tasting.) The palate delivers a lovely combination of sweetness and silky, fine-grained texture, with tactile raspberry and redcurrant fruit delivering surprising freshness and energy. Not hugely concentrated or thick but finishes broad and deep, with a firm tannic spine to support continued graceful evolution. Barrett noted that he was back to moderate maceration--just two weeks in 1997, and that this was the first year that he hand-harvested his fruit at night. (14% alcohol)Stephen Tanzer1st May 2019
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