Redwinger wrote:Jim,
Those Laurel Glens from the late 1980's early to mid 1990s were excellent wines for the most part and I'm still kicking myself for not loading up on them. I have not tried any recent vintages and am wondering if they are still made in the same style or has LG succumbed to the high alcohol/high extraction model of wine making??
Wondering William
I don't think they've changed, and I think Patrick Campbell (maybe along with Steve Edmunds) would be one of the last wine makers in America to go over to the Dark Side.
They're not for early enjoyment, though. Save your bucks and buy Laurel Glen's second label Counterpoint (which is excellent) for that. These babies need a decade to come into their own (with the possible exception of the 1989, which was very bretty indeed.
Here's my July 2004 report on the 1999. Somewhere around here I've got a single bottle of the 2002, but it would be a real waste to open it any time soon.
<b>Laurel Glen 1999 Sonoma Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon</b> ($42.99)
Very dark purple, almost black, the wine pours with a rich, grapey bluish color that signals youth. Because of its immaturity, I opened it 90 minutes before dinner, decanting it into a clean container to allow aeration. First tasted immediately after opening, it's intriguing but very young, offering deep, brooding plum and currant aromas with grace notes of spice; pleasant and fairly forward for a young wine but requiring swirling to bring out. On the palate it shows black fruit, tart acidity and smooth but drying tannins that become quite astringent in the finish. After an hour and a half, it opens up somewhat, displaying good blackberry and tart cherry aromas and fresh, clean black-fruit flavors over good lemony acidity; tannins are still quite evident but have become secondary to the fruit, and rare steak on the dinner table further ameliorates the tannins and brings up the wine's fruit. Over the course of the evening, the wine's tannic astringency continues to soften with exposure to air, and four hours after opening it has developed considerable complexity, adding subtle notes of roses, menthol, sweet leather and herbal thyme. A tannic backbone remains - this is, after all, a wine meant for aging - but with the combination of extended "breathing" and an appropriate food match, it's quite drinkable now. (July 24, 2004)