© Linden Wilkie, 29^th October 2019

Last week in Hong Kong a small table of fine wine enthusiasts gathered with me for The Fine Wine Experience’s look at some of the best of Napa Valley’s Cabernet Sauvignons from 1994. The choice of vintage fitted neatly into the ’25 Years On’ sort of excuse for a retrospective, but I was particularly interested to revisit for a couple other reasons. 

During the 2000s, ‘94 became a favourite Napa vintage of mine. I suppose because it was high quality and a little more reserved than some others. The vintage was mostly textbook moderate, nothing excessive, though two very warm weeks in August thickened the skins a little – fine structure and good colours are a common feature in 1994s. An ideal autumn meant no pressure to pick, as Napa authority Kelli White described it, the long picking window meant a range of ripeness levels were delivered to the vats according to taste. Style aside, it seemed that for the most part 1994 would be the type of year worthy of a quarter-ton-later sort of look.

But I was intrigued for another reason too. In retrospect, 1994 marks something of a juncture. Perhaps, more broadly, the period from around 1991 through 1995 or 1996 does. In various verticals of great Cabernet producers The Fine Wine Experience has hosted over the years, I have tended to loosely group the wines made up until 1990 as ‘classic’ in style – Napa fruit, made in a highly structured way, with a cooler expression than we see today. No one seemed too afraid of tannin.

Some years ago Alex Hunt MW pointed out to me that 1997 was a turning point. That vintage gave naturally more opulent wines, the critics loved them, gave high scores, and after that a number of estates chased more ripeness. Global warming has certainly given this style a fair wind. The late-hang maximalist approach seems to have prevailed taste-wise until recently. Now there seems to be a trend back toward freshness as a virtue, ironically in climatic conditions in which that is more challenging. 

The 1990s also brought in another wave of small-scale, money-no-object, quality-obsessed producers, and 1994 marks an early chapter in their story. This was Harlan’s 5th vintage, and only Screaming Eagle’s 3rd. By contrast it was Robert Mondavi Winery’s 29th.

So 1994 sits as a pivot point between the earlier Médocain classics, and the burlesque Las Vegas style that was about to rise.

The 11 wines we selected and served left me with a reaffirmed sense of admiration for the quality and consistency of these wines – compared to the 1989 Bordeaux dinner we hosted recently, much more consistent, which is saying quite something when you consider the relative time scales of these two regions. It’s reflected in the voting. As always I asked everyone to pick their two favourite wines. With 28 total votes registered, no wine got more than 5 votes, and only 3 wines were nobody’s favourite. 

Stylistically too, I really enjoyed, to some degree or other, all but one wine. Quite rare for me in a ‘horizontal’ survey tasting. For me then, 1994 is a vintage in Napa that I will continue to seek out. At 25 years on it is in its full glory. None seemed too young, none seemed too old, none seemed too austere, and only one seemed too opulent. As a result it’s a vintage with broad appeal, and if you have not yet tried one, but like the very best of Bordeaux, here is a vintage in which to dip your toes.

Bravo too to Reeze Choi, and the team at PIIN for such a wonderful evening of exemplary food, ambience and service. 

My notes and the votes from participants are below. If you are kicking yourself for having missed this, you still have a chance… we will be repeating this dinner in Singapore on 6th November so why not join us?

1994 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve    94

Open, fragrant and leafy, with lovely sweet fruit and elegant evolution, some cedar, quite Médocain, with just a little extra ripeness than the Médoc; sweet, plush, round in texture with very fine tannins, just enough acidity, a touch of dark chocolate, this is fine ‘transparent’ wine, flowing right through the palate. A very digestible and enjoyable food companion.

Two votes for wine of the night.

1994 Dominus    97

A super nose that contains plenty of fruit, but also ginger, spices, a touch of cherry scent and some florals; fleshy on the palate, this has more concentration and power compared to the Mondavi, but it is delivered in a really well-defined and fine way. Well-balanced, with a long finish delivering ginger-scented fruit, and the thick, layered yet melting feeling that comes from natural concentration without over-extraction. The extract is amazing. A great wine just hitting its stride.

Four votes for wine of the night including one of mine.

1994 Opus One    93

Fine and more reserved and more Médocain on the nose coming after the Dominus, with fine complexity; fine, melting and seductive on the palate, an elegant weight – this is clearly a pair with the Mondavi Reserve, and compared to it, it is a touch cooler in expression, very slightly more clipped on the finish. An opulent and clean Opus One nonetheless. 

Two votes for wine of the night.

1994 Araujo Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon    92

A sweet nose of dark fruit and vanilla; sweet, plump, but well-shaped, seductive with lots of ripe fruit and a touch of dark chocolate, svelte and well-defined, with powdery-fine tannins. This is clearly a bolder wine in fruit – you can feel a touch of the alcohol in the finish. It is very well made, immaculate. Not as complex or nuanced as some of the others.

No votes for wine of the night.

1994 Joseph Phelps ‘Insignia’    94

Full colour; a lovely nose, complex, fruity, very Napa in expression; fleshy, opulent and soft with lovely brightness to the fruit and a touch of tobacco leaf complexity on the finish. Super delicious. This is fleshy and open and sits more in the ‘old school’ first flight. Very nice.

Five votes for wine of the night (1st equal place).

1994 Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon    90

Sweet and cedary on the nose; sweet but fine on the palate, with a nice ginger note. A touch ‘dusty’ – the oak comes through. Good wine, a bit upstaged tonight in my view.

Two votes for wine of the night.

1994 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon    91

Full colour; fine, though reserved and a little oaky on the nose; full, bold, fruity on the palate, finely made, immaculate fruit with a direct taste, a touch of pencil, a touch solid but good.

No votes.

1994 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon    96

Fine and sweet and very fine on the nose; sweet, opulent, seamless and very fine on the palate, definitely Napa in expression, but does this with finesse, with a liquorious feel, yet somehow without any obvious heat from alcohol, just opulence. This has very fine flow on the palate with natural concentration. Brilliant wine.

Four votes for wine of the night, including one of mine.

1994 Harlan    95

Fine deep colour; a sweet nose, ripe with well-defined fruit expression; lush on the palate, immaculate definition, lots of fine fruit, layered in feel, fairly lavish oak, well-integrated. This is superb, clearly Napa, opulent, but so well balanced and well made.

Four votes for wine of the night.

1994 Dalla Valle ‘Maya’    88

Very sweet and porty sort of nose, raisined fruit – heady; very sweet on the attack, unctuous in texture, plenty of concentration, alcohol, raisined-sweet fruit, this outdoes Amarone, and feels like a lower alcohol version of it, dark chocolate, raisined dark berry fruit on the finish. An idiosyncratic wine.

No votes.

1994 Screaming Eagle    96

Fine colour; low key nose, fragrant, subtle, detailed, ripe, but more discrete in expression than, say, the Harlan; fine, sweet, fleshy with well-defined structure, the oak a noticeable but not obtrusive element, the fruit is naturally concentrated, seductive appeal matched by a fine acidity and freshness, that makes this more a halfway house between Médoc elegance and Napa opulence, and would appeal to fans of either style. 

Four votes for wine of the night.