Far Niente, Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

WS 92 RP 93

2021 vintage

Totally surprised that it still has so much life!

1996 vintage

Dark fruit on the nose with some pepper. Silky on the tongue with a medium finish. Should get better.

2021 vintage

Excellent rich and bold fruit and background richness!

2021 vintage

WS

2021 vintage

Still beautiful color and depth Tasted and enjoyed with a pinwheel flank steak after brief filtered decant. These mature California Cabernets are showing up exceptionally for my family currently. So glad that we have a nice collection gathered since the late sixties.

1996 vintage

No detailed notes, but drinking fabulously. Full integrated and well-balanced. For frame of reference, this has been stored in a unit that has probably been running way to cool (temperature, e.g. 48-50 F) for awhile. Not sure what impact that had on its very nice showing on this outing.

1996 vintage

Plum, some cherry. Dry but, not too dry. No big jam— much more mellow. Scrumptious.

2021 vintage

A great Cabernet Sauvignon. But it doesn't fill up your mouth with fruity smells as much as its 2019 does. Still a great wine. Not much nuance to it but just the right style of California wine.

2021 vintage

Everything there is to love about old California cabs! Yes Yes Yes! Another glass please!!

1992 vintage

Great quality, great balance, full body, fruit forward. Minimal oak influence. Blue fruit primary, minerals, cedar. Great Napa cab!

2021 vintage

Vey good Full flavor, medium body, silky Fruit on the back, chocolate

2021 vintage

A wonderful wine. Never disappoints. Dark fruit. Keeps going. Will age very well. A pleasure to drink now, but will improve in years to come.

2021 vintage

strong for me, needs cellaring and decant for few hrs

2021 vintage

Mastro's Far Niente Wine Dinner (Mastro's Ocean Club, Las Vegas, NV) : This opaque crimson wine is a blend of 90.7% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.5% Malbec, 3.5% Merlot and 1.3% Petit Verdot, aged for 17 months in French oak barriques (70% new, 30% once-used). Aromatically effusive of dark bramble fruits, Bing cherries, baking spices, tobacco, black olives, graphite and lavender, it delivers comparable flavors on the full-bodied palate. Buttressed with lively acids, proportionate oak, well-integrated alcohol (14.5%) and plentiful fine-grained tannins, …

2021 vintage

This bottle wine was a shocker since it was stored in a cabinet in a living room in a Manhattan apartment for decades......we expected something lackluster at best or maybe vinegar. The cork crumbled, and the wine was decanted through a fine screen throwing a fair amount of sediment. The aroma and color of the wine were surprisingly youthful and the tannins were overpowering at first taste so we let it breath for 90 minutes. The first glass started to …

1999 vintage

Absolutely incredible. Everything an oakville cab should be without being manipulated or overripe oversweet. Just bold and silky and balanced yet firm. Perfect.

2021 vintage

Incorrectly recorded

2021 vintage

bit past its prime

1992 vintage

Plum Market wine tasting. I was looking forward to tasting this vintage in consideration of the 96 to 97 rating from Suckling and 94 to 96 rating from Dunnuck. However, this wine isn’t in the best place right now - fairly closed and not overly expressive. I’ll refrain from rating this bottle because it clearly needs time which isn’t a surprise in light of its youth and style. 88% cab sauvignon, 6.5% merlot, 2.5% malbec, 2.5% petit verdot, and 0.5% …

2021 vintage

Black fruit, pepper, leather, tobacco, hints of coffee, jammy cherries, oak. A- (92)

2021 vintage

1 hour decant. Gorgeous dark ruby with the slightest bricking. Soft, elegant and inviting. A lovely bottle from one of Napa's best. Delicate and restrained but still offering layers of ripe fruit and pillowy tannin. Scrummy!

1993 vintage

Probably 5years past prime lost most of the fruit

1992 vintage

This was very nice. Opened with notes of blackberry and plum, Fruit was restrained and the secondary and tertiary notes were singling, expressing cedar, leather, earth, and a little chocolate. Very nice. Expect this will be heading more towards tertiary flavors as the primary fruit forward flavors fade. YMMV.

1993 vintage

Whites by more famous Red makers.....& vice versa. (Grill Room, Hong Kong Country Club, Shouson Hill, Hong Kong) : Briefly decanted. Almost totally opaque deep ruby red. Nose is really lovely classic Cab Sav blackberry but with the green leaves. Palate is tart, tannic but perfectly fruited blackberry fruit. It is just so primary and so young… but gorgeous. Nice length . Come back in 5-10 years. 91-92 for now but should improve. Thanks as always, Daniel!

1992 vintage

More consistent with the first bottle, though not as bricked or stewed. Did develop in the glass, but not much in teh way of freshness. Drink up.

1999 vintage

Deep, complex bouquet of cherries, smoke, scorched earth, and licorice. Full bodied and clearly tertiary but with so much intensity and persistence of flavors. Cool stones give it ferrous complexity on the long finish. Excellent now but still retains the stuffing to maintain its beautiful drinking window for years to come.

1993 vintage

Whoa, brilliant wine right now after 25 years! Red cherry and strawberry fruit, however, this has mainly given way to the tertiary flavors of tobacco, earth, red licorice, leather, spice, and some cedar notes. Very elegant right now with mild acidity, smooth tannins left and delicious finish. Great spot right now.

1996 vintage

Happily this bottle (2nd of case) is more true to expectations. Deep crimson. Plenty of sediment. Cork in great shape. Decanted for 30 minutes -- needed an hour -- continued to open in the glass for 3 hours. Beautiful wine: Nose of red fruits and rose petals. Moves to cigar box, camphor, moist earth. The mouthfeel is luxurious and velvety. Camphor is the first impression, along with cedar and tobacco. Then raspberries and currants. A blockbuster that is drinking beautifully.

1999 vintage

Older looking than I expected. Cork in great shape.. Decanted for 30 minutes. Nurse a bit stewed. A bit browning on the edges. Loads of sediment. Needed time in the glad to open. Very tight to start. Started off a bit stewed and reduced:. Sweet cheeks and plums, with some notes of cedar and tobacco. Curiously, it freshened with air and time in the glass. Not terrible, but not as it should have been.

1999 vintage

Still with lots of fruit. And mineral and power.

1992 vintage

Decanted for an hour prior to drinking. Very little sediment, this wine was definitely past its prime with very little fruit.

1996 vintage

Browning to the eye. Muted nose of cinnamon. Well balanced, still a little tannic. Flavors of dark red fruits and cinnamon. Medium finish with energy. Overall I would not call old world, not much evolution. Still a nice and pleasant bottle. A Fader if you follow my comments vs an evolved Bordeaux style.

1999 vintage

Still drinking well. The cork was quite dry and didnt come out perfectly. But the wine was pretty good. Very mature old world style wine from Napa.

1999 vintage

From a bottle purchased upon release and cellared in pristine fashion, this wine was double-decanted, allowing approximately two hours in decanter prior to funneling back into the cleaned bottle. It was then taken to a walk-around wine and food party, where it was serially sampled over an additional two hours. Medium garnet in color, this 27-year-old Napa Cab still has a beautiful core of red cherry fruit that is garnished with complex notes of leather, allspice, cocoa, earth and cigar …

1992 vintage

Opened 3 hours prior to drinking. No decant. Blood red with no sign of bricking. I seem to have gotten a great case, because we saw no sign of the age and frailty that others have seen. This was a rich luxurious wine. Silky mouthfeel, a rich, almost baroque nose, that was fully supported by the red and blue fruits, hints of milk chocolate, currants and finishes with smoke and tobacco, cedar, forest floor. a long finish. This is not …

1996 vintage

Nice ruby color. The nose was amazing. Bright, complex and relatively young. it was hard to get my nose out of the glass. A real beauty. However, the palate does not live up to the expectation. Round and delicate tannins but a bit short. Very nice wine though.

1992 vintage

Wow, what a surprise... decanted and tried a bit right out of the bottle, it was a killer! Smooth, of course, with no evident tannin after all this time, yet the fruit was still there as good as ever. Sweet cherries and chocolate, a big mouthful of fully mature CA Cab. Kudos to my cellar for keeping it perfectly for almost 30 years :) Wish I had more. Faded a little after two hours, but still 94-95. Best with no …

1990 vintage

Still very purple. Popped and poured. Was great after 10 min. Started to flatten out after 2hours. Great bouquet.. spice, cherry and leather on the nose. Very earthy with cedar and spices. complex and well integrated.

1996 vintage

Drank with Munro Lou Grant Laura and Rick in New Orleans

1993 vintage

Inky purple. Not a hint of bricking. As with past bottles, no sediment. Complex, beautiful nose - started with some cherry and plum, with a hint of cedar and moist earth. As it evolved, baking spices, esp. cinnamon, nutmeg. Glycerine and some sea air. Spice cake, brioche, currants and tobacco. This wine has been a pleasure throughout the case. Looking forward to the last one.

1996 vintage

Definitely past its prime. No fruit left but drinkable.

1996 vintage

Moderate amount of sediment. Cork broke but was easily extracted.Brief decant (more for the sediment, because the initial sniff and taste were so good) Surprised by how much flavor this wine still possessed. Rich and smooth with berry, casis, and just a bit of tobacco at the end. Moderately long finish

1999 vintage

very nicely balanced still lots if fruit and decent structure

1999 vintage

Very nice. Tannins burned off quickly. Nice fruit. Medium weight

1999 vintage

Decanted for around 3 hours. Dark crimson color. Brooding nose of mulberries, shoe polish, dried herbs, seasoning salt, and ink. The perfectly mature palate had luscious black fruits with a faint sweetness, and a wisp of remaining tannin on the lingering finish. This is probably 2-4 years past peak drinking but is on a very delicious plateau. No reason to wait any longer.

1993 vintage

Still drinkable. Tasted like an ordinary but solid cab. Didn't wow me though

1996 vintage

Turned

1999 vintage

Very dark. No hint of age. Mild aroma. Cherry, wet leaves and pomergranet on the palate. Slight amount of tannins.

1999 vintage

Did not decant. Inky dark. Nose is light with dark fruit, light tobacco, anise. The wine began soft but opened up over the hour we drank it, me with porcini bolognese. The tannins are almost entirely resolved, but there was still a structured acidity to it that gave the whole wine a noteworthy body to it. By no means was it flat - take a sip, inhale a bit, swish it around and this wine will open up beautifully. The …

1999 vintage

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Far Niente, Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

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