The Wine Club Saturday Tasting (with Mike Kwok, Stanley, Vincent, Claire): 2003 Cal Cabs 2005/12/18

Year	Wine	Price	Rating
2003	Simi Cabernet, Alexander Valley Plummy, juicy, big. Not well balanced, toasty, tea leaves, strong alcoholic finish. Simi used to be consistent. Has been downhill since 2000. - so - ws	18.99	**
2003	Buehler Estate Cabernet, Napa Valley Upcoming star winery, has streaks of good vintages. toffee, plum, very full body, strawberry jam, silky, slightly off dry finish. - so - ws	27.99	****
2003	Mondavi Cabernet, Napa Valley A most different Mondavi Napa Cab: cranberry, blueberry, green, med body, pleasant but has no structure. No unlike Welch grape juice. - so - ws	17.99	***
2003	Hess Estate Cabernet, Napa Valley black currants, vanilla oak, cassis liqueur, hint of coffee, has depth. Looked at the price... 16.99? Awesome value. Good representation of Napa appellation. - so - ws	16.99	****
2003	Turnbull Cabernet, Napa black cherry, black currants, very strong aroma, complex herbs, vanilla. - so - ws	32.99	****
2003	Chimney Rock Cabernet, Stags Leap District black cherry, herbs, blackberry, full body, violets, somewhat lacking dimensions. I had expected more depth and complexity. - so - ws	44.99	***½
2003	Whitehall Lane Cabernet, Napa Valley Roasted oak, coffee, blackberry, pomagrenate, boysenberry, not as good as the previous two vintages. - so - ws	36.99	***
2003	Whispering Dove, Stags Leap District floral, astringent, chalky, a hint of "thinner", raspberry, soil. I like the previous version better and the 2001 best. Going downhill? And who are they anyway?? Need to research when time permits. - so - ws	29.99	***
2003	Caymus Cabernet, Napa Valley jammy plum, complex, chocolate, tropical red fruit, vanilla, long long finish. Classic Napa style cab. - so - ws	64.99	*****
2003	Chappellet Signature Cabernet, Napa Valley coffee, plum, currants, jammy, grapy, consistently good. Should drink much better in a year. - so - ws	36.99	****
2003	Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Artemis, Napa Valley a bit barnyardy, better than the previous vintages, but still not close to the old SLWC Napa Cab. mid-full body, coffee, berry, vanilla, one-dimension. - so - ws	39.99	***
2003	Ramey Diamond Mountain Cabernet, Diamond Mountain astringent, very complex, very dark fruits, stone, concentrated long finish. Port like. A youthful style of Napa red that I like very much. Reminded me of two wines: the old 2000 Rudd Oakville Red when Ramey was the winemaker, 2001 Caymus Special Selection Cabernet. This particular bottle has a weird cheesy nose. I checked my previous notes which says "pungent fermenting-grape nose". Perhaps there is a flaw. But the nose now is definitely less pungent. So it is evolving rapidly. Hope they'll have it for tasting in a few months. Not buying at the moment. - so - ws	69.99	*****