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2002 OAKVILLE APPELLATION CABERNET SAUVIGNON: A “TRY AND BUY” VINTAGE, WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS If you’re unfamiliar with the red wines of the Oakville Appellation of Napa Valley, you should be. It consistently produces the finest red wines of Napa Valley. Those wineries with well deserved reputations for consistently producing outstanding wines include Dalla Valle, Far Niente, Groth, Harlan Estate, Joseph Phelps, Martha’s Vineyard, Oakville Ranch, Opus One, Paradigm, and Screaming Eagle. The 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon vintage, is a good, early drinking vintage with some excellent exceptions. Try, and then buy what you like; drink these wines early in their life, as their structural characteristics belie age worthiness. Many are too tannic to ever come into balance with the modest fruit concentration present. Said another way, their tannin to fruit ratio is too high to balance during the wine’s lifetime. As time goes on, the fruit dries up leaving behind a wine composed of water, alcohol and tannins, a characteristic of many Red Bordeaux from bad vintages. The following 2002 Oakville Appellation Cabernet Sauvignon wines were tasted in April 2005: Detert Family, Far Niente, Flora Springs, Franciscan Oaville Estate, Gargiulo Vineyards, Groth, Miner Family, Nickel & Nickel, Pine Ridge, PlumpJack, Rudd, Screaming Eagle, Stanton, Tamber Bey, and Vine Cliff. If a wine is not listed, the 2002 vintage was not made available for tasting. (For example, Harlan Estate did not provide their 2002.) The best of those tasted are listed below with “exellent “or “good” potential. There were no wines deemed to have “outstanding” potential at this time. All this said, it's imperative that you, the consumer, taste the wines to reach your own conclusions. Excellent Potential Far Niente Winery Nickel & Nickel (Stelling) Screaming Eagle
Good Potential Detert Family Vineyards Groth Vineyards & Winery Nickel & Nickel (Sullenger) Stanton Vineyards Tamber Bey Vineyards Vine Cliff Winery
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The Alchemist's Wine Perspective™ |