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Bob Bressler
Napa Valley
Wine Lover
Posts:4864
 | | 10/29/2007 7:27 PM |
| We recently got together with our winemaker, Mia Klein, to taste the 2004 and come up with some notes for the offer letter in January. Here is where we are:
Aromatically we find raspberry, blueberry, sweet cherry, vanilla and caramel.ÂThe flavors are seamless and very well integrated.ÂThe wine has very good impact in the mouth showing hints of cognac, molasses, raspberry, cherries and vanilla. Length of flavor is excellent and the texture is rich with just enough backbone to lend structure. ÂThere is a long, smooth finish with mocha and café au lait flavors.  The wine is remarkably well integrated at this stage, but can really benefit from some bottle aging to intensify the flavors.ÂIf opened during the first year or two, you will find the flavors much more pronounced after an hour or so – it may even be better the next day. | | | |
| Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts:10803
| | 10/29/2007 8:31 PM |
| Bob,
Can you please compare it to previous vintages? Maybe the 2004 is similar to the 2000 per your description? TIA. | | | |
| GreenDrazi
Atlanta, GA
Grape Puncher
Posts:938
| | 10/29/2007 8:49 PM |
| | Great note Bob! | | | |
| Bob Bressler
Napa Valley
Wine Lover
Posts:4864
| | 10/30/2007 2:49 PM |
| Posted By Winetex on 10/29/2007 8:31 PM
Can you please compare it to previous vintages?
This is a bit like comparing your children.
There is a little bit of a common thread between the 2000, 2002 and 2004 having to do with extraction. In 2000 we had to severely prune way back in order to get any decent level of concentration. (A heck of a vintage to start with   ) That yielded a very small harvest, less than 1 ton per acre. 2002 was naturally good. The grapes never got too plump and the wines were approachable very early. 2004 was back to being a challenge. We had a big heat spell in early September. The trick was to water before it all started, but still you were faced with the choice of pick early and get a normal sized crop with less than perfect flavors or sit there and watch the grapes shrivel up while they developed. Obviously the better wineries all took the later path and as a result have produced intense wines - but much smaller harvests. So the long answer to your short question is that there is a lot in common with 00 and 02, but because the wines are so big, they will need time to develop.
There are also similarities between the 01 and 03, but that's another thread. | | | |
| Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts:10803
| | 10/30/2007 3:16 PM |
| This is a bit like comparing your children.
You have some pretty nice children so no worries.
Thank you for the information. It might help people get a handle on the wine who won't have the chance to taste it before ordering. |
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| saut
Grape Fermenter
Posts:523
| | 11/02/2007 1:00 AM |
| Bob...I agree with Winetex...for me, your wines are all delicious and reasonably priced. We will end up buying our whole allocation anyway, regardless of what others say, but I for one always like to hear comparisons with other vintages. More tannic? Darker? More red fruit profile, black fruit? Early maturing? Etc. This is to my mind much better and more personal information than a Parker score...I can place my expectations in line with what I know...i.e., your other wines.
Funny, I heard the "children" comment from the winemaker at Peter Michael a few years back...it's quite a romantic vision. Hope to get there one day with my own vineyard.... | | | |
| Bob Bressler
Napa Valley
Wine Lover
Posts:4864
| | 11/03/2007 1:57 PM |
| | It's funny - I am LA for a Bordeaux tasting and several people have come up to me asking to please get on my list. I'm thinking to myself, if I drank mostly European wines and wanted to try drinking some Napa Cabs, 2004 is probably the worst vintage to start with! That heat spell in Sept just upped the extraction level for everyone. | | | |
| Elkiholic
New Hampshire
Grape Fermenter
Posts:467
| | 11/05/2007 3:24 PM |
| 2004 is probably the worst vintage to start with! That heat spell in Sept just upped the extraction level for everyone.
Perfect, can't wait!!! | |
Mike Coutu
Addicted to Wine | |
| jaimetown
DC area
Wine Labeler
Posts:3504
| | 04/13/2008 5:22 PM |
| - 2004 Bressler Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena (4/13/2008)
Dark fruits, currants and cassis on the nose - textbook Napa Cabernet aromas. First night it showed too much oak for my tastes, I had 1 1/2 glasses and saved it for the next night. Oak has subdued showing more of the elegant frame and rich fruit with inflections of olive-like notes. Not a massive wine, but could use time for the oak to integrate - should age into a graceful wine.
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