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+--- Thread: 1995 Martin Ray Saratoga Cuvee California (/thread-4273.html)
- newsguy - 10-01-2001
($32) purplish black in color, nearly opaque with a hint of lightening at the rim. deep nose of currants, ripe plums and a little bubble gum, with a taste to match -- along with a whisper of oak at the end. a seamless, full bodied cab, with flavors shifting from one to the other as it dances down the tongue. a very long finish, and surprisingly the still fairly full tannins don't stomp on it much at all.
because i found this in a store in D.C. in january and it spent nine months at room temperature here in FLA, i didn't want to risk waiting any longer on opening this. if you are fortunate enough to have some of this wine, i wouldn't pop a bottle until 2005. it's got a ways to go and i'm sure will continue to improve.
admittedly, my wine exposure is very limited compared to many of you. but this is probably the second-best wine i've ever tasted. i'd give it a 93 now -- and REALLY wish i had more of it to see what it's like down the road. it definitely has potential.
and boy, did it ever go nicely last night with a rubbed, aged premium hereford N.Y. strip and olive oil-rubbed baked potato. what a meal!
- winoweenie - 10-01-2001
The guys who resurrected this great old name have turned out some super wines. Their Diamond Mtn 97 is spectacular. Was this the old vines Santa Cruz Mtn? I Have the 96 version of this beauty that is about what you described WW
- ddf68 - 10-02-2001
I've got a few of these lying around and also am very pleased with them.
ddf
- newsguy - 10-02-2001
WW,
bottle already has been recycled, but i don't remember anything about santa cruz mountains on the label. title was just as i wrote above. either way, d--- good juice to these taste buds ;-)
- EPICURUS - 10-06-2001
From the price mentioned it must be the Saratoga Cuvee (the Diamond Mt. etc go for close to $100).
The famous name was purchased from the Ray family by two very savvy Bakersfield raised brothers who used the name recognition in the first few years of its resurrection (10 years ago) to help hype what was a virtual winery (no equipment, grapes purchased on the open market, etc). The multi talented Greg Graziano was brought in from Mendocino to make the wine.
Then the brothers went to town on their other label, Blackstone, which eventually grew to 600.000 cases annually. They also purchased the Mark West label when the Associated Vintage Group went down in flames as well as AVG's custom crush facility in Graton (Sonoma County). Just last week Blackstone/Codera Wine Group (which they used to market negociant wines) was sold for a cool $140 million.
The sale did not include Martin Ray which from the resources now behind it will only get better and better.
- newsguy - 09-30-2002
in the spring i found 4 more bottles of this at a shop in gainesville that i stop by on some weekends. i took a bottle with me up to MD this weekend to share with my brother and his wife over dinner. my brother's cooking a fantastic meal (beef wellington, roasted garlic potatos and onions, and green beans with spaetzle) and i open the wine an hour before dinner to let it breath. and it's corked. BUMMER! good thing i also took along a bottle of 97 gallo barrelli creek cab. this was only the second corked bottle i've ever come across, and certainly most disappointing. the other was a 92 modavi cab that i ordered at bern's last year, and they gladly replaced it. but this one's gonna cost me $30-plus bucks. ouch.