Del Dotto and Plumpjack. Delicious!

Congrats!
St. Francis is my favorite Cal. Cab.

2001 Lewis Reserve

I’m not a napa Cab guy, but at a recent tasting the Chappellet Pritchard Hill 05 blew me away. Had so much refinement for a baby, and was not over oaked or crazy fruited.

Gary,

The book arrived today here and for the person I bought a copy for. Leafing through now that I’ve finished watching this episode, and it looks great.

Show format gets big props; I love the blind tasting, and would recommend it from this point forward. Hell, you’re big on decanting; have the wines decanted and drink them from the decanters.

QOTD: Of late my personal favorite was the ’04 TURNBULL, which went down like honey sliding down soft butter. The balance was stunning, with a nice kid glove leather and scrumptous fruit. Can’t recommend it highly enough. Another great one of late was the 2002 PRIDE Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley; surely in the top 10 wines I’ve had.

Rob Csenar,

I’m also a fan of Jordan Cabs; I go back to the late ’70s with them, and have a few verticals in the cellar. The best was the ’81. Stunning.

QOTD: Sebastiani’s Cherryblock.

Great show. I’m not a big cab fan but still…I love Cahors and Madiran.
Maybe another show on either or both could be fun.

$40-$70 cabs? you are quickly outpacing my budget. Maybe I can find a Gary Va-ner-cheap – wine blog somewhere? Napa/Sonoma Cabs are best at $12-$16 – after that you are just liking to pay money. Robert Mondavi Cab Private Reserve is a great Cab at a price that is wow. That’s the QOTD answer.

Nice blind tasting concept – made me focus on your words rather than writing down the label. smile. I almost wanted to put a bag over my head and be the unknown lurker! haha.

GV,
First, I agree blind tasting can be humbling, revealing, and ultimately the most fun. I don’t feel I’ve tasted enough NV cabs to nail down my favorite. Unfortunately many of them are above my preferred price range!

QOTD: Can’t say I have a fav, since none have blown me away yet, but the 2002 Rutherford Hills was pretty good.

QOTD 2004 Bell Wine Cellars Napa Cabernet… love the complexity that the 10% P.V. in the Wine Adds. Very Well Extracted, with alot of Fruit, Floral and Spice…Very Bordeaux Like in it’s approach. Anthony Bell The Winemaker was the former Winemaker at B.V. Vineyards for 15 vintages!!

QOTD: 2000 Fife Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.

Wow.

Nice job on the book. We got our copies today.

QOTD: I seldom drink CA Cabs. I don’t have a favorite.

Jim

Sequoia Grove

Blind tasting makes it a much more valuable show to me. Maybe cut down on the number of wines so it doesn’t take more than 20 minutes or so. This way we know you are trusting YOUR PAL and not being influenced subconciously by the label.

Hubby has chided me into delurking. . .

QOTD: Hartwell 2002 Cab Sauv — bought a couple last year and just had one. Beautiful. Solid fruit, some tobacco and the tannins and oak are mellowing from when we bought it last year. Looking forward to trying the 1999 we bought to have next year for our anniversary!

BTW, the Rocca 2004 CS was one of our “wines of the day” on our last trip to Calif in March!

Just bout two bottles of Pretty Sally at WIne Library – one down one to go – I now have a fave cab – cab/shiraz actually – 2004 Pretty Sally Cabernet/Shiraz.

Gary you have to review this wine – just so i can track how our tastes are compared to one another – I have your book, but it will take forever to taste all those wines in order to find out – many are out of my price range.

Turnbull Cabernet Sauv 2005

Gary, Loved the blind tasting. Please do more!

QOTD: 2001 Frescobaldi Catelgiocondo & the 2001 Il Poggione BDM.

Not quite cabs but cab like.

Keep up the good work Gary.

Please do more blind tastings! They are a great deal of fun. No favorite Napa Cab. I’m a little afraid of Napa Cabs because I so frequently encounter the oak monster.

Thanks Gary – great show

QOTD: I’m an Australian living in HK; I have never had a good one and I’ve tried a few!

Cheers
Andrew

Awesome show!!! I absolutely adore the blind format! I am thinking about doing a blind tasting here at my home soon, so this was right up my alley.

QOTD: Robert Sinskey Vineyards Vandal Vineyard 2004.

Loved the blind tasting! I was sorry to see the Hobbs do so poorly since I have some. Hopefully I am a little less sensitive to the “Oak Monster” than Gary.I also wish that the prices for NV cabs were lower but unfortunately price inflation is a fact of life and we always have Gary to help us find bargains. I just wish I could drive to Wine Library to pick up my wine instead of having everything shipped.

QOTD: I have only started drinking wine seriously for about 5 years (everything before that was just grabbing a bottle on the fly) so most of the cabs I own are sitting in my wine cabinet or in my storage locker waiting for maturity. I have enjoyed Sol Rouge who got a hold of some Dr. Crane and To Kalon grapes and turned out a very nice cab. I also have enjoyed some of the Beringer Private Reserves and just tonight enjoyed a delicious cab from Meander.

QOTD: I haven’t had too many, but I think I’ll mention the 2001 O’Shaughnessy Cab. (Howell Mt.), the 2003 Schweiger (Spring Mt.), and the 2002 Richard Perry.