1986 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Good medium red with an amber edge. 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 flavors 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 favorable reviews and had sold well. A second, better bottle, tasted chez moi : Bright ruby-red to the rim. Very dark nose leads with primary cassis, black cherry and violet. Not particularly fleshy but boasts terrific flavor intensity and energy, not to mention a distinct high pitch to its black fruit and floral flavors. This looks and tastes like a 15-year-old wine, giving the impression that it's in a state of suspended animation. Finishes with substantial building tannins and excellent length and grip. This would be a perfect ringer in a blind flight of 1986 Médoc wines--a vintage in which the Cabernet Sauvignon was particularly favored. 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. Clearly, my projected peak drinking plane is for the better bottle of the '86. (13.5% alcohol)

What a remarkable performance! I must admit that I purchased more of the 1985 and 1987, somehow neglecting to secure much of the 1986. Do I feel stupid? As I have written so many times in the past, every time I do a vertical tasting of Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignons, they taste better than my initial laudatory notes suggested. This great wine exhibits a black/purple color, a fabulous, sweet, pure, cassis-scented nose, massive body and richness, and total harmony among its components - fruit, wood, alcohol, acidity, and tannin. Still exceptionally youthful and vigorous, with no signs of age in either its color or taste, this 1986 could easily pass for a 3-4 year old California Cabernet. It is an extraordinary effort that appears to be a legitimate candidate for the "wine of the vintage." So what's new? Owners of this beauty should try a bottle for its pure, glorious richness, but this wine has 15-20 more years of delicious drinking. A bodacious Cabernet! The tasting notes for this section are from two single blind tastings, one conducted in May, 1996, in California, and the other in June, 1996, in Baltimore.