The cabernets of Dunn Vineyards are amongst the best in California.  They make a spectacular, albeit expensive, "Howell Mountain" cabernet, and a less expensive "Napa Valley" cabernet.  Although the Howell Mountain cab is touted to be the longer living, more ageworthy of the two, I have found the regular Napa cab to be extremely ageworthy as well.  Case in point, the 1989 Napa Valley Cab, which is almost 20 years old, and from a mediocre vintage, is a tremendous wine.

The 1989 Dunn Napa Valley cab is fully mature, but will last many more years.  It still boasts fairly dark coloring, and has a lovely bouquet of mocha, espresso beans, black currant, and a hint of mint.  Still plenty of fruit on the palate, and the tannins, which were powerful in this wines youth, have now mellowed to a soft background role.  A truly beautiful wine.  This is a perfect example of why well read consumers should not focus solely on vintage, as many very good wines come from mediocre years in the right winemaking hands.

If you choose to buy any of Dunn's more recent releases, I believe you should plan on cellaring them for at least a decade.

4 stars

 

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