Napa Vintners tasting of 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Wine Bloggers Conference

I normally miss the cool stuff. By the time the outrageous happens, I’ve already left the party. Or if I manage to be in the loop I end up talking myself out of going. Often the stars just aren’t aligned.

The Wine Bloggers Conference last week in Portland was the opposite. Whether a late night meetup and tasting with an old wine friend as in my last post, or the excursions that I wrote about prior, it was a magical few days in my passion for wine. For those few days the highlights aligned right along with the stars.

Friday morning of the conference I tasted several wines at the Napa Vintners table during a trade tasting. The following day they were to host a private tasting of 2002 Napa Cabernet Sauvignons. 2002 is regarded as a very good to excellent vintage in Napa Valley, yielding wines of good concentration and structure. All this without leaving the hotel… So I etched the time in stone and looked forward to Saturday!

After three unusually hot days in Portland and the Willamette Valley, Saturday turned out to be one of those damp and cool days that you associate with cities like Portland. The cloudy view from the Napa Vintners suite overlooked the Willamette River, downtown, and some residential areas up in the hillsides. The suite quickly filled with people, and seriously tasting these wines among this crowd became more of a mission than leisure.

 There were 11 wines- Spottswoode, Opus One, Heitz Martha’sVineyard, Pride Reserve, Dyer, BV GDL, Far Niente, Chateau Montelena Estate, SpringMountain Elivette, Robert Mondavi Oakville, and Corison. I tasted 10 of the 11 -- by the time I got to the Corison it was gone. Click here to read all tasting notes.

Of the 10 wines that I tasted, there were certainly many highlights. The Chateau Montelena Estate stood out for its earthiness, balance and elegance. Spottswoode and Opus One were so seamless, intricate and complex that one could state just about any descriptor coming to mind and be accurately describing them. Both had supreme elegance and deceptively firm structures. The sleeper for me was Dyer Diamond Mountain. This wine had a beautiful blend of savory brawny mountain notes along with an airy floral quality and expressive fruit.

The wine of the flight for me however was the Heitz Martha’s Vineyard. I was blown away by its exotic aromas and the yin/yang effect of the palate- dark & brooding vs. pretty & expressive. This was a powerful wine with a finish that went on forever.

There were a couple of disappointments. The Pride Reserve promised nice savory complexity, but ultimately carried too much sweet oak and licorice notes with less grip than the others. Similarly, the Far Niente was showing a little too much sweet cherry and spice notes for what I was looking for.

Ultimately it was quite a showcase for 2002 in Napa Valley. I appreciated the opportunity to be there.