1995 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley The Montelena Estate

Tasted at an offline so brief comments only

Opened and served immediately in restaurant stems without decanting. Clear but solid purple color in the glass. Cedar, herbs and plums on the nose. Slightly backward fruits flavors of plum, black cherries with an hard to place earthiness on the finish. Let this one sit at least 2 more years before retasting to see if it rounds itself out somehow. No hurry on drinking this one.

Great tasting note!

I had a bottle of this two months ago. Your notes are consistent to what I can recall about the wine. We decanted the wine and found that it showed best after about two to three hours in the decanter. A solid wine with plenty of life ahead of it.

Incidentally, we had it side by a 1994 Caymus SS. Early in the tasting, the Caymus showed better but after a couple of hours of being opened, either the Caymus faded or the Montelena blossomed (I tend to think the latter), By the end of the evening, there was no doubt in my mind that the Montelena was the superor wine with many more years ahead of it (I would recommend drinking the Caymus now, btw).

A beauty of a bottle. But, I am yet to have a Montelena that did not make a statement.

Agree with wineismylife to hold. If drinking it is a must, decant...

Had a bottle of 95 Monte last night. It was muted upon opening but after decanting and waiting for 2 hrs., It really started to open up and taste wondeful. This wine has a long life ahead of it. I still havn't had an Estate Montelena Cab that I didn't like. Especially with 10 years of age or more.

Drank two bottles of this over the last 2 weeks. First bottle did not show well--the wine was flat and didn't inspire--tasted like a tired bottle of wine--perhaps slightly corked.

Opened another this past Sunday night and it was a different story--much better bottle, an excellent wine with a lots of life left in it. And like LCC said, decanting is a must.

had this awhile back with bud and thought it was a very solid wine with a long future ahead of it.

thanks for the notes.
just bought my futures of the 03 today.