Tom Garland

9.3

1 hour decant(decent chunky/fine sediment). A striking still dark purplish magenta with some bricking. On the nose: beautiful perfumed notes of dark fruit, spearment, stewed meat, worn leather, smokey earth. Taste: smooth, creamy, balanced, silky wine with some black raspberry, earth, mocha, metallic, and a long licorice black tea finish. YUM! Past it's peak for any fruit fans, but still some time with the tertiary/secondary flavors. — 7 months ago

with Brenda

GaryWEdwards

9.5

Has finally entered a the period to enjoy with patience rewarded. A nice nose of earth, dark berries, and florals. Nice long finish with a bit of plum coming through. An hour decant to the benefit of the wine. — 9 months ago

Tom Garland

9.4

+1 hour decant(some fine/chunky sediment). A splendid crimson red color. On the nose: wonderful bouquet with plum, stewed meat, cassis, sweet tobacco, funky earth, leather. Taste: silky, finessed, balanced wine with red berries/plum, coffee grounds, cedar, tobacco, and a nice peppery pencil lead long finish. YUM! Pure class in a glass. — 10 months ago

with Brenda

Tom Garland

9.4

1 hour decant (lots of chunky/fine sediment). A stunning still dark ruby red with some purple hues. On the nose: blackberry, rich potting soil, slight menthol, little green veggie and black olives, floral. Taste: smooth wine, silky tannins coat the mouth with some dark cherries, bitter chocolate, soy sauce, pepper, and a metallic cedar dry finish. Seems like it should be drunk sooner than later, but holding its own at 20 years. — 3 years ago

with Brenda

D Scher

9.2

1984 vintage. Cork difficult to extract, ended up in several pieces. Beautiful deep color, little to no bricking even at this age. Seductive at one hour+ of air with black cherry, raspberry, some vanilla, green pepper, graphite. 12% ABV. From the FIL’s collection. — 5 years ago

Martin G Rivard

9.5

I truly am not a silver oak Fan but their old stuff has some Kung pow to it. It actually evolved after being opened in the glass for an hour. I prefer it to a new vintage hands down, no questions asked. This actually surprised me and is definitely the WOTN between these two. Truly, truly surprised me. Can’t go wrong for this price point! I found this one for sale for 80 bucks. Winner, winner chicken dinner in my book! — 7 years ago

with Christine

Tom Hamilton

9.0

Half bottle. Only breathed for a half hour and it hadn’t opened up. — 8 years ago

Howard Greenfield

9.3

3-4 hour decant. Opened up nicely — 9 years ago

Scott Samlan

9.6

Fantastic. Let it breathe for an hour. Drank w our two friends who own Manousakis Vineyard in Chania. Very special wine that is full bodied with soft tannins. Full of soft cherries and forest floor. It's the bomb — 10 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.3

1990 vintage. Excellent fill and halfway saturated cork. Used a Durand but surmise a regular waiter's friend, wielded carefully, could have done the trick with the cork. Decanted and tasted after 30 mins, one hour and two hours. Some obvious sed but not troublesome or overtly noticeable. Original owner-château direct on original release. Super cold cellar because this was lagging noticeably behind other '90's and LB's. Bigger tannic structure (for a generally feminine-styled house) than anything save a Latour, Mouton, Ducru Left Bank property. Even more guts than Lynch-Bages or Pichon-Baron '90's currently stored above 55 or so degrees. Surprising but made sense. Light-medium body. Appropriate color. 3-4 years left in this stage unless larger format in play. Slight, fleeting burst of richness in the frontal palate and a tad brickish and then it just flowed on, without speed bumps. A little cocoa powder and cedar/tobacco. Suspect 750ml specimens not stored as cold/religiously will be showing more in the 9.0-9.1 range and farther down the backside of the bell curve. 10.26.24. — 8 months ago

carl thornblade

9.5

No problems noted despite the age. Very good, but not outstanding. The nose was great at about 30 minutes-1 hour in the glass. The nose seemed to fade over the evening, but still very nice. Acidity is notable. Earthy flavors, tobacco, dried fruit. Great experience trying a 41 year old vintage! — 10 months ago

Alan Hyde

9.2

Needed at least an hour to open up. Wasn’t good until then. Great combination of savory flavors. — 3 years ago

Dawn E.

9.3

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to all!
Exceptional bottle...a bit more complex than the 2015! Delicious Mike Smith magic! I cannot say enough about this wine! QPR is outstanding!
One hour decant on this! — 5 years ago

Tom Garland

9.3

1 hour decant(some fine and chunky sediment). A stunning dark ruby red with hints of brown. On the nose: dark fruit, minerals, some of that aged cab sweet notes, creme brulee. Taste: black cherry, minerals, earth, floral, and a strawberry currant finish with a silky texture that coats the mouth. Medium acidity keeping it fresh..yum — 6 years ago

leon egozi

9.6

One hour decant and it was good to go — 7 years ago

B

9.0

3L 1995 Shafer Hillside Select CS. Group dinner at Nmd. Probably should have decanted it longer than the hour we did. It was going through a really funky stage. Just very one-note and dull. — 7 years ago

Bret Barker

9.3

Off vintage but who cares? Tignanello is a personal favorite. Took a good hour to open up, this wine tastes surprisingly young. cherry, earthiness some mineral and a little smoke flavor as well. Very good — 8 years ago

Pinotman /// Andreas

9.5

Stinky at first. Cinnamon, clove, olives, cedar. Tasting this with Walter who is 89 at the Meritage it's from his cellar. Very good. Was decanted and held up for at least 1 hour impressive! — 9 years ago

Hannes Huefken

9.2

I recommend a three-hour decant. — 10 years ago

Baltar666

8.9

Zippy, savory funny undertones. Very good! Had at Emily with pizza in NYC. — 8 months ago

Victor Hsu

9.0

A good, solid California Cab but what’s all the fuss about? I’m seeing ratings of 98, 99, even 100 from JS. Really? No way. This is a clear case of praise crossing over into hype. Granted, still a bit young and not at its peak but after five years in the bottle and an hour of decanting it needs to be more than just fine if it wants to justify stratospheric scores. This wine compares unfavorably to Ridge Monte Bello, Stags Leap Cask 23 and other peers. It lacked sophistication and poise—where’s the promised minerality, graphite, cedar shavings, oak, leather, blackcurrant, cherry, and complex balance of fine grained tannins, fruit, acid and alcohol? Where? We chose this wine for a birthday dinner at Lawry’s Prime Rib in Beverly Hills. Not a disaster but a disappointment given our high expectations (and the high price).
— 9 months ago

Joe DAscoli

9.5

Did not make it to 3rd hour of decant. Everyone drank it up quickly. Wine got better with each minute. — a year ago

Robert Rothfield

9.6

From Magnum......4 hour decant......just spectacular! — 5 years ago

with Warren

Jose

9.5

Decanted for about one hour. — 5 years ago

Aaron Hamrock

9.7

Young but couldn’t wait to try it. After an hour or so decant it started to open up. This is going to be an amazing wine in years to come. — 7 years ago

with Tim

Curtis Osborn

9.4

Curtis had this 7 years ago

Lori K

9.4

Great dark fruit with pepper. Nice blend. Low acid, great overall dark red. — 8 years ago

Manny Abascal

9.5

After 1 hour harsh and rough, but after 2 - 3 hours it came around brilliantly. Complex, balanced, silky texture. A special wine. — 9 years ago

Mahek Shah

10

Strong berry rich cabernet sav. Aromatics of plum, vanilla, blackberry. Soft to tongue with long finish with just the amounts of spice and oaky. Pairs well with grilled steak. Tannins enhanced after letting it breathe for 30 min - 1 hour. Depth in flavor, great with hearty meal to compliment. — 9 years ago

Mark Juckeland

9.5

Raison on the nose. Well balanced. Could probably breath more than an hour or so — 10 years ago