Cellar Discoveries

I’m sleuthing around my cellar regularly these days, in search of wines I’ve forgotten I had and figure are probably over the hill if not totally gone. But they’re often amazing! Cabernets from the mid-eighties—in particular 1985, 1986, 1987—have stunned me. See more about my sleuthing here.

A case in point:  Sterling Vineyards 1986 Three Palms Red Wine, a blend of 66 percent cabernet sauvignon, 34 percent merlot. The storied Three Palms Vineyard, a landmark in Napa Valley just south of  Calistoga, has consistently produced fine Merlots and Cabernets, notably from Duckhorn, which now owns it.

Photo courtesy of Nat and Cody Photography

In the 1980s, however, the grapes were sold to a few other wineries. The 1986 Sterling Three Palms was made by winemaker Bill Dyer, who produced a superbly balanced red I thought was surely past its peak.  No way; I opened and decanted this wine in late October and was thrilled. Despite the ullage—an inch or so in the neck of the bottle—the aromas and flavors were at their absolute peak! Ripe berry aromas billowed from the glass, with hints of tar, licorice and lightly charred oak. Mouth-filling flavors of black fruits—currant, blackberry, ripe plum mingled with oak, softened tannins that were smooth, round and beautifully integrated, with a long fruit-dominant finish. An utter pleasure to drink, a perfect companion to grilled strip steak. Thirty-seven years old! I just had to marvel.

Time alone can do this…allow a wine to develop and evolve to become something so sublime.  How does something as simple as the juice of freshly crushed grapes undergo such transformation? It remains a remarkable mystery.

Age your reds!