1991 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve***

This is one of those great, classic, California Cabernet Sauvignon wines that really delivers the goods. Dark in color, full bodied, concentrated, and with a true depth of flavor and complexity, I can see drinking this in 20 years. It might be through a straw, but it is some serious juice! 97 Points

(13.4% alcohol; 70% To Kalon): Good dark red. Inviting aromas and flavors of currant, spices, tobacco and mocha complicated by nuances of meat and leather. Sweet, pliant, elegant Cabernet with lovely vinosity and cut. Subtly aromatic and fine-grained in the way of a seriously good Médoc wine. Finishes very long, with serious but suave tongue-dusting tannins. This very classy bottle seemed even younger than my sample of the 1994.

87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc. A long, cool, dry growing season with enough ripeness. 70% from To Kalon vineyard with some other western Napa and Oakville sites making up the remainder. Fermented in stainless steel at 86 °F (30ºC) with four weeks of skin contact. Malolactic and ageing done in French barrels for 18 months, 95% new. Aromatics of creamy baking spice and cedar with a pleasant accent of eucalyptus roll into a palate of red fruit with hints of cocoa. Ample acidity and fine, persistent tannins work together for a stimulating palate. The tannins here are more abundant than the surrounding vintages but it is coupled with an abundance of pleasing acidity creating good balance of the two. (ECB)