If I could have any job in the wine industry, it would be hard to beat the job of Mondavi wine-maker.  While it is certainly true that the Mondavi brand has been diluted by the production of a lot of mediocre bulk wine produced from mediocre wine regions, it is equally true that Mondavi still owns some of the best vineyard land in all of Napa.  To fully appreciate the Mondavi position, one must recognize that when Robert Mondavi started his winery in the 1960's, he really had his pick of almost the entire Napa Valley.  The majority of Napa was not yet developed, and land was relatively cheap.  Therefore, it is no surprise that most of the best land was gobbled up by the early wine making pioneers.  Robert Mondavi went on to purchase some of the best land in Oakville, which I believe is perhaps the best place on the valley floor to grow Cabernet.  Although Mondavi tended to blend all his vineyards together, he did start to appreciate the value of keeping certain vineyards distinct and producing vineyard designated wines from those vineyards.

The historic To-Kalon vineyard in Oakville is perhaps Napa Valley's most famous and highly regarded vineyard.  Robert Mondavi now owns a huge portion of this vineyard (Andy Beckstoffer owns much of it as well).  Mondavi had typically used the grapes from the To-Kalon Vineyard for his reserve Caberent, as well as for the "To-Kalon Reserve" cabernet.  In 1999, he produced an "experimental" wine called Marjorie's Twilight.  Marjorie's Twilight is the name given to the oldest section of Mondavi's To-Kalon Vineyard, made up of vines planted between 1964 and 1967.  In essence, he produced a wine from the oldest vines in one of the oldest vineyards in the best region of Napa.  Only 200 cases were produced, and I believe the project was scrapped the following year.  He also produced a wine that same year called "Marjories Sunrise" which came from the youngest vines in the vineyard.

It is too bad that the Marjorie's Twilight project only lasted one year.  I beleive this is one of the best Napa cabs I have ever had.  Because the wine was produced in such small quantities, and only distributed to a few "insiders", the wine was never really scored by the major wine press.  Therefore, without a big score from the magazines, the wine has not appreciated much on the secondary auction market.  Bottles frequently pop up on WineBid for about $50.  The wine drinks like a $125-$150 bottle of wine.  There is plenty of blackberry and crushed plum on the nose, with hints of campfire and barbeque spice in the back-ground.  Fine tannin and a long finish back up this outstanding wine.

4.5 stars, if you can find it.

 

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