2005 Anderson's Conn Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Although the Right Bank from this winery in 2005 was a bit disappointing, immediately on opening the cab performed better. It also has some age on the rim but not as much as the Right Bank. The nose is flowery, a certain iron filings nuance, blackberry vanilla jam or perhaps blueberry and cassis. To me it tastes and smells like a classic ripe but balanced California cab--on the model of Beaulieu Private Reserve from the Rutherford Bench. I suppose Conn Valley is not far from the Bench, the former on the eastern edge of Napa Valley, off Silverado Trail. It doesn't taste like a bordeaux, it does taste New World. But it does have the slightest touch of what I call the St. Julien nose (St. J. being about at the middle of the Medoc and halfway between the "masculine" St Estephe and Pauillac to the north, and the more "feminine" Margaux, Graves/Pessac/Leognan and Pomerol/St Emilion to south/southeast). Could the St J. nose be something to do with mushroom + smokey forest floor aromas? I've never quite identified it.  I see Parker says it's a classic Pauillac nose, so maybe that's it not St. Julien. He says it's cedar and tobacco and smoke. I do get the smoke and maybe I call forest what he calls here cedar/tobacco.

The finish is very long and nicely balanced; it's warm but not overly hot with alcohol. The tannins have certainly softened. With time in glass, the aromas are developing very nicely indeed, justifying the positive reviews the Anderson's Conn Valley wines usually get. I'll give it 94 points. The balance between acid and ripe fruit makes me think this one will go a decade. There are tannins in there but they're soft enough to be almost unnoticeable.

I really like this one. I think this is only the 2nd Cal. cab I've had since returning from spending 2012 in Europe (the other being the great O'Shaughnessy '07). In EU CA cabs are virtually impossible to find, though of course there were plenty of other great alternatives (esp. from Spain and France). It's good to have an excellent one.

About 4 nights later, I opened the wine, preserved only with the vacuum pump from Ramon Bilbao. It was damn fine. Makes me think the 2nd day might have been better than the first. And let me say, another 3-4 nights further on, again after only using the vacuum pump, I had a delightful glass that was a dead ringer for a fully mature St Julien or Pauillac, round, elegant, spicy, persistent. It makes me think that some controlled experimentation on exposing wines to oxygen, then pumping air out, re-opening xx hours later, etc. might, along with data about the properties of the specific wine, enable us to sort of speed up aging by deliberately opening a bottle of great young wine, then reopening after pumping out the air xx days later. I've been doing this of course but without controls or careful observation. Anyhow, 3 cheers for the Anderson's Conn Valley Cab '06.

Wine Advocate (Parker) says 96 points as of 2008, and says drink till 2033: The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is showing even better than it did last year, which is not unusual when tasting the wines of Todd Anderson and Mac Sawyer. Dense ruby/purple to the rim, with the classic Pauillac-like nose of creme de cassis, cedar wood, a hint of tobacco leaf, and very subtle smoke, the wine displays charcoal and roasted herbs, full-bodied power, wonderfully sweet tannins, and a long, long finish. This is a 20- to 25-year wine that should just get better and better as it ages, but it is accessible enough to drink now.