By: Ryan Tedder
Last Saturday night was, without a doubt, one of the most epic nights of Cult Cali Cab drinking that the world has ever seen! Our dear friend Ivan joined us along with a group of 14 of the best wine people in DFW. We drank through the entire library of the Herb Lamb Cabernet Sauvignon from 1992 to 2007. From 1992 to 1998 Helen Turley crafted the wines and we did a dinner with those wines in the boardroom. Our good friend Sharon Hage crafted a superlative multicourse meal that everyone loved and made this unreal lineup taste even better if that is even possible?!? In 1999 Marc Aubert took over for his mentor, Helen, and made the wines from 1999 to 2005. His wines showed wonderful polish and a forward, gregarious style that was enjoyed by all. In 2006 & 2007 Allison Tauziet of Far Niente previously made the last 2 vintages and her wines exuded personality as well. The Helen Turley wines were other-worldly and the lineup of 1992 to 1997 was the single best Napa Cab lineup I have ever tasted! I paired the 90s vintages with Top 40 #1 Hits from the summer and harvest times in each year that proved to be a great time!
We started with the 2000 to 2007 vintages up front in a tasting format with a lively discussion about the best wines and surprises. During this time, we tasted through and decanted all of the older wines in the boardroom. Needless to say, they smelled amazing. They tasted even better!! Flowers, fruit, unreal sweet, lightly caressing tannins, head complexity – unreal!
The #1 Hits Line Up for the Night Included:
1992 – Baby Got Back, Sir Mix A Lot
1993 – I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), Meatloaf
1994 -I’ll Make Love to You, Boyz II Men
1995 – This is How We Do It, Montell Jordan
1996 – Macarena, Los Del Rio
1997 – Mo Money Mo Problems, Notorious BIG and Puff Daddy
1998 – I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, Aerosmith
1999 – Smooth, Santana
2007 – Extraordinary bouquet of crushed rocks, creme de cassis, bay leaf, dark chocolate and forest floor. It is an exuberant, full-bodied, pure Cabernet. Just a baby.
2006 – Exhibits classic notes of creme de cassis, charcoal/creosote, chocolate, and subtle toasty oak along with beautiful ripeness, sweet tannin, and a full-bodied mouthfeel. I preferred this to the 2005.
2005 – Hint of bay leaf intermixed with chocolate, creme de cassis, and a bit of espresso, this wine boasts outstanding density, purity, full body, and good acidity and freshness. Needs more time in the bottle to flesh out.
2004 – Shows lots of lavender, bay leaf, black currants and cedarwood. It is a relatively mature, medium to full-bodied, complex multi-layered, beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon. My #2 of the front line-up.
2003 – Displays notes of lavender, forest floor, red and black currants. Fleshy and round with good purity and a 30- to 35-second finish, This was open-knit, complex, and fully mature. Drinking soft, refined and hedonistically.
2002 – Bravo! Uber aromatic. Scents of unsmoked, high-class tobacco, underbrush, spice box, black currants, chocolate and espresso. It is seriously endowed, elegant, and fully mature. Loads of class in this wine.
2001 – Notes of black olive tapenade, bay leaf, creme de cassis, charcoal and hints of truffles as well as new saddle leather emerge from this opaque purple-hued 2001. The gorgeous perfume is followed by rich, concentrated, full-bodied flavors, sweet tannin and beautiful intensity, purity and balance. This was my hands down favorite of the front lineup!
2000 – This was the most unique of the front room offerings. Smelled like left bank Bordeaux from the early 90s. The wine had a vinous, mature quality with dried flowers and dry dark fruit, Soft, medium bodied and interesting for its sweet savory interplay.
1999 – The first year by Mark Aubert. Definitely a behemoth. I thought this wine was in need of another 5-7 years of the cellar. Dark, brooding with violets, tobacco, blackberry, and cassis on the nose. Closed and not expressive on the finish except for extract and oak. It will soften with time.
1998 – Helen Turley’s last year and her poorest effort of this string of 7 years she did. Medium bodied with nice red fruit, spices, roses, raspberries and a silky smooth texture. It just wasn’t “other-worldly” like the 92-97 lineup.
1997 – Wowza! This was my #2 for the back lineup. Loaded with raw dark power. Some other in the room placed it 3-5 for the 8 wines. Fudge, espresso, blackberry pie, cassis, dried herbs, lavender, violets, dark leather, black plums. Wonderful refined power in the style of great Latour with a darker profile than the other Turley wines save the 1993 – which retained a darkness to it.
1996 – Another spectacular bottle with over-the-top floral characteristics of raspberry compote, wild spring flowers, lavender, rosemary, cherries jubilee, sweet and exotic spices, a silky, lush texture that inspires reverence. Its 1994 vol. 3 after the 1995… Wow
1995 – This was the 1994 volume 2. Like most sequels it was not as good the original, but it was damn good! Much as in the nature of the “Back to the Future” movies, version #2 was surprisingly superlative. That over the top aromatic perfume of flowers, sweet red, exotic spices and flowers, raspberry and cherry compote-this wine rocks! It has smooth satin textural oo-la-la in spades that rivaled any Cali Cab I have drank.
1994 – Without a doubt the #1 wine of the night! This wine was like rolling through a field of flowers with all of your favorite sweet reds fruits you can imagine and an extremely alluring supple, caressing, love-making tannin that I have never experienced in such a wonderfully hedonistic way. If I was a single man I would marry this wine. A bucket list wine for any serious Napa Cab drinker.
1993 – This wine would not quit! A dark, brooding mysterious style of Herb Lamb that lacked the outright flamboyance of the 94-96 lineup. It had more nuance on the nose with a myriad of dry herbs, dried rose petals and lavender, graphite, a light smoky nose, mulled Bordeaux-like fruit. A delight to drink.
1992 – A wine drinking it its apex currently. Showed the promise of the 1994 but the wow factor was slightly lower if that is even possible? Showing more dried flowers and pronounced gravelling minerality. Maybe it is entering the third phase of Colgin Herb Lamb drinking with more savory notes coming through the the fruit moving to the background? It should be a delight to follow either way! What a shame these are so hard to come by…
All in all, this was one of the best wine drinking nights of mine and most other people’s lives. Bravo Graileys and our wonderful Members!