Vintage Point

Better-bred reds

EXCELLENT wines are in abundant supply in the ten-to-fifteendollar range, and recently I assembled a group of enologically knowledgeable friends to taste generally available reds at those prices. We sampled thirteen bottles of California cabernet sauvignon over the course of four hours, repeatedly checking to see how each wine evolved as it lay in the glass.

It was not difficult to choose the winners. The first choice— for both drinking now and laying down—was the 1980 Conn Creek. (Note that all the wines we tasted were Napa Valley cabernet sauvignons.) Our selection did not surprise me, since Conn Creek has never failed— in any year since it began producing cabernet sauvignons in 1974—to make one of the best wines of every vintage. Its 1974 is legendary, its 1976 and 1977 were—and are—superior wines in what are for the most part lackluster vintages, and its 1978 Lot 2 is already a classic, having doubled in price since it first came on the market three years ago.

The 1980 Conn Creek is rich and fruity, its cassis and blackcurrant flavors perfectly balanced with just the right amount of mint, and its texture is harmonized with ample tannins. It is extremely unusual for a wine with concentrated flavors and textures to be silky as well, but the 1980 Conn Creek is just that. Its dark-ruby color is lovely to behold, its fragrance a joy. This is an elegant wine perfect for drinking now, and likely to improve over the next four to five years.

For buyers interested in wine that should be put away for several years and is not right for drinking now, the consensus winnerwasthe 1981 Steltzner,a bigger, more intense cabernet sauvignon than the Conn Creek. Reddish purple in color and with the smell of black currants generously infused with those of cedar and eucalyptus, it has a rich, chewy texture and a taste that mirrors the bouquet.

More widely available than either of these two recommendations are our third and fourth choices. In second place for current drinking and third place for laying down was the 1979 Rutherford Hill. Because Rutherford Hill releases its reds at a deliberately slower pace than most wineries, one usually finds its cabernet sauvignons and merlots on the shelf with comparable wines two years younger from other vintners. Like Conn Creek, Rutherford Hill has an enviable record of producing a reliably delicious cabernet sauvignon, something impossible to say for any other wine generally available, and its 1979 is a joy. While its bouquet is restrained and backward, one can detect a hint of mint. There's nothing restrained about the flavor, however; it is a big, sturdy, full-bodied wine dominated by black currants accented with raspberries, richly textured, beautifully balanced, and classically structured.

Our fourth-place winner was the 1981 Robert Mondavi. While not of the same quality as the other cabernet sauvignons, it is nonetheless very pleasant. Its color is light ruby, and its bouquet is peppery, with an aroma of cherries. Its fruit—enlivened by mint—is delicate and small, but fully rounded, nicely balanced, and perceptibly structured. After it had been in the glass for thirty minutes it began to thin out and acquire a slightly bitter finish. It is a more than acceptable wine to be drunk soon after opening.

Joel L. Fleishman