Last night, the Oxford Liquor Shoppe family got together to celebrate the birthday of Dave’s nephew and resident webmaster. We broke out a few great wines for the special occasion and all wines came from Oxford Liquor Shoppe. Two older Cabernets and a great Semillion.
The first wine was the 1997 Hess Collection Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown Mount Veeder. We decanted right before drinking and it gave off a rather large amount of sediment which is not unusual for a wine this age. The nose gave off nice cigar box and dried cherry aromas. Wine was immediately accessible since the tannins had evened out from years of bottle age. Wine was deliciously smooth with tastes of black currant, mocha and tar. We hit this at the perfect drinking age!
Wine number two was from The Colonial Estate and is currently featured on our discounts page. This Colonial Estate is the Expatrie Semillon. I find that Robert Parker is more in line with how I would rate The Colonial Estate’s wine than Wine Spectator. Spectator really underrated these wines! This one tasted as good as when I had it a few weeks ago. Nice mineral touch throughout to go with some citrus fruits. I firmly believe this will be even better in 3-5 years.
The last wine was bought by the guest of honor himself. I have to admit I am not that familiar with this wine and have only seen it in the store but never tasted it. I was a bit bummed out when I saw the year because 1998 isn’t suppose to be the greatest year for California Cabernets. Luckily, it was from Washington and drinking great! We again decanted and drank right after. The Col Solare also threw a good amount a sediment. More fruit was present than in the Hess Collection, with licorice, black cherry and a hint of coffee. A very nice wine and oldest I have ever had from Washington, proving their wine can age quite nicely.