WTN: 2000 Mondavi Cab - Stag's Leap District - Unfiltered

With grilled NY Strips last night. I decanted about an hour before dinner with very little sediment. I had chilled the empty decanter for 20 minutes or so since the cellar is a little less cool than I like. The wine had a strawberry color with some fading to light orange on the rim, balanced wine aromas of ripe, red fruit, faint cooking spices with eucalyptus and a slight licorice flavor coming through once in a while on the medium finish. Not a big overpowering wine but an elegant Cabernet that I wish I'd decanted earlier as it really began to open up near the end on the meal. I bought this at a wine shop-sponsored dinner several years ago with a Mondavi employee giving a brief talk about their wines.

[James Roscoe]

Jon,
I just toured Mondavi's winery in Oakville and was pleased by the wines. I tried this particular bottle and felt it needed quite a few years so a nice decanting would be the way to go. It definitely requires a nice steak or prime rib. It is old school Napa cab.