Sipping Fine Wine

9.3

Blend of 68% Cab Sauv, 27% Merlot, 3% Cab Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, deep Ruby with aromas of dark fruits, floral and spice. On the palate flavors of black cherry, currant and blueberry fruit with cigar box and cinnamon spice. Lively acidity, elegant fine tannins, well balanced just starting to wake up, long finish ending with slight earthy notes, plenty of depth, will continue to develop. Nice, enjoy now and over next decade. — 4 years ago

Brian Gustafson

9.1

Pulled this from the cellar for an international guest. Still holding up well; much better than the 1983. — 7 years ago

Martin Chang

8.9

2016 Costco $19. Full body, doesn’t take much time to open up. Ok value. — 8 years ago

Robert Donald

9.0

This claret worked for me opened up nicely after decanting — 8 years ago

Ryan Johnson

9.4

Such a lovely balance of vibrant red fruit and searing acidity, wound up in a herbal and lipsticky funky nose. — 9 years ago

Pierre Arneaux

9.2

Wow. More flavor, much better than their regular cab. Silky, velvet, smooth. Chocolate. Rich fruit. Big, full flavor, lots of flavor. Not old world style for sure, not subtle. It's a big bomb. We would pay up to $75 for this so a bit overpriced to us.
— 10 years ago

Ryan Mitrovich

9.5

Opens up incredibly — 10 years ago

Matt

9.5

Velvet texture and finish and really integrated structure. Lots of American oak and tobacco cedar notes. Fruit has faded a bit but opened up with time. Cool experience — 11 years ago

N M

9.2

Needed about 2.5 hours in decanter to open up. Could use more time in bottle. A classic big, bold, chewy California Cab. — 11 years ago

Doug Thomson

9.4

Takes half-an-hour to open up, but it's amazing after that. Creamy, bready goodness. 2002. — 11 years ago

Bertus van Zyl

Assistant Winemaker Regusci Winery

9.1

Loved the brambles and berries from the Zin, great acidity. Took some time to really open up, this should hold up for quite a while. — 13 years ago

Mike R

9.7

Number 1,500 - I had dig out of the trash as wife thought I had a pic already

Loved every single drop - amazing and full of smiles - a great 2001 vintage is holding up very well as this was the best Ornellaia I've ever had. Explosively bold and delicious yet extremely balanced all the way through. Perfect tannins and very long finish. I believe this bottle is entering the early stages of it's drinking window but still has 10 plus years - omg good

— 6 years ago

Keith Lite

9.5

A big bold plumy purple bomb As dense and luscious as a wine can get in a glass. Decanted for 2 hrs and its still a baby with blackberry, dark chocolate licorice and pepper on the nose and on the palate. A long long finish and loads of tannins to sum it all up — 7 years ago

with Bruce

Hugh O'Riordan

9.5

This 1997 wine is great. Sweet tannins very reserved. Layers of dark fruit. Really complex with long finish. Vanilla showed up after an hour. My only bottle but I’m buying a case for aging. I was really surprised how great this wine was. — 8 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.0

1982 vintage. Color still fairly youthful. Meniscus not too wide/watery. Brickish, minty nose with big cedar & baking chocolate flavors. Holding up better than expected for a fruity vintage. — 9 years ago

Zack Sweeney

8.9

Gamey on the nose, tart fruit, earthy, would have benefited from decanting. opened up nicely in the glass when slowly sipped over the course of several hours. Smooth and complex. — 10 years ago

Flavio Menezes

9.0

Very powerful, extracted. Will still improve, as it took over an hour to open up. Good with food, but I clearly see why I drink less and less Bordeaux. — 10 years ago

Scott MacDonnell

9.4

Nice wine. Opened up after an hour. Nice birthday vintage. — 10 years ago

with Michele

Sarah Stierch

Food & Wine Editor Sonoma Valley Sun

9.4

Happy birthday to me...from dad's cellar. Held up well! Thankfully not a dark moody Cab. Just what you would expect of an Opus of this age. We lost only 1 ounce to sediment. Didn't decant. — 11 years ago

Robert McCall

9.4

Pours clean dark purple into the glass showing no age. I'll be damned if one couldn't enjoy the dark fruit aroma from 5 feet away. Wow. Dark fruit, leather and pleasant oak quality supplemented with a silky tannic structure that gave a 60 sec finish. Not the most complex Latour I've enjoyed at this point but this bottle actually tightened up over an hour after opening indicating much life ahead. Sheeeit! — 11 years ago

HFly

9.5

Drinking great. Wide open after an hour decant. Typical currant fruit profile and picking up leather & other secondary notes since last tasting this a few years back. I have always been bullish on 96 Medocs but feel like they are really hitting their stride as of late. — 6 years ago

Andrew Shaheen

9.1

Always fantastic. Took 30 min mutes to really open up. Classic and delicious — 7 years ago

Bret Barker

9.7

We ended the night with Insignia and this Napa more than held up to the Bordeaux bottles. Deep purple with black cherry, chocolate and hint of cedar. Awesome, awesome wine. — 7 years ago

Ned Gray Creed

9.2

Hep! Step up to the value plate and come back for seconds. — 9 years ago

with Mark

Liz O'Neal

9.1

Just opened in 2017 - was tight the first evening and definitely needed time to open up. Earthy, mushroom/forest floor notes on the palate, despite bright acidic nose. Crowd pleaser - happy I saved this.

Purchased w/ dad in 2014 - industry price $55 — 9 years ago

with Hannah

Matthew Davison

9.5

Aromas of sweet oak right off the bat. Opening up well with a subtle, but nice fruit carried across the palate by the same sweet oak. Long, smooth, velvety finish... — 10 years ago

Ed Chang

9.4

After a couple hours began to open up. Chateauneuf-du-pape is becoming a fav in this house 2012 vintage. — 10 years ago

Mick

10

This wine suited my tastes perfectly - a bold fruity nose, a medium sweetness up front, a smooth full body of cherry, blueberry, leather and blackberry to finish. Mild tannins. — 11 years ago

Mike Shinn

10

Everything it's cracked up to be. What an amazing red blend. Delicious. — 11 years ago

James Hart

9.5

Spicy, liquorice plums, wrapped up in cedar wood. Very long finish. Top notch. — 11 years ago