| Burgess Cellars & Cakebread Vertical Tasting |
| Burgess Cabs from 1993 to 2002 & Cakebread Cabs from 1995 to 1999 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
First of all, let me start by saying thank you to Jim & Sandy
for completely going all out on the food preparation and being
such great hosts for our event. You did a wonderful job and I
believe everyone really appreciated your hard work and
especially the NY Italian food spread! On top of the food, Jim
provided us with the vertical of Cakebread Cabernets as well.
The overall theme for this event was both fun and educational
at the same time. I had written out some questions ahead of
time for everyone to answer, some required them to put in
some thought and pay attention and then several that were
strictly pure luck if they guessed right. At the end, I took
everyone’s questions and determined who got the most
correct. In the end, there were two guests that answered
seven questions correctly and we had to have a sudden death
tiebreaker to determine the winner. It came down to Ronda
and Lad, and to break the tie, they had to guess which wine
was my second favorite in the tasting. It was Lad that
guessed it first and it was the 2002 Burgess Cab. As the
winner, he was given a magnum of the Burgess 2003 Cabernet
Sauvignon (Not included in the tasting).
As for the wines, here are the details that I perceived from the
guests. First of all, both wineries are from Napa Valley, but
the vineyard locations are quite different. Cakebread is
located on the valley floor in the Rutherford Appellation,
which sees less temperature variation than the mountain
vineyard sites and therefore has a more fruit forward style.
The Burgess Cabernet vineyards are on the side of Howell
Mountain and experience a greater range of temperature
variance from day to night. This produces wines with a
broader range of flavor complexity and introduces more
masculine flavors akin to Bordeaux style Cabs. For the most
part, it was a stylistic preference for the tasters. If you like
the fruit forward style, you’d prefer the Cakebread and it you
like the complexity and spice, you were a Burgess fan. As a
whole, I believe most people favored the Burgess wines
overall, with the exception of the 1995 Burgess Cab, which
apparently had some Brettomyocis in it causing it to taste
very barnyardy. The two most popular wines of the evening
were the 1999 Burgess Cabernet, followed by the 2000
Burgess Cabernet. On the Cakebread side, I believe the two
most popular were the 1995 & 1997 Cabs.
The Cakebread wines were the most consistent from one
vintage to the next, meaning the style did not change that
much, where as the Burgess cabs could be radically different
from one vintage to the next and in the poorer vintage years
like 1998 for example, you could really see the flaws the
vintage portrayed in greater detail. Having said that though,
they did a great job of taking the lemons that Mother Nature
provided and turning them into lemonade. I think the most
impressive wine of the tasting would have to be the Burgess
1993 Cab. At the ripe old age of fourteen and being the oldest
wine in our tasting, it was astonishing to note how well it has
evolved and it was clear that it showed no signs of slowing
down. I guess there is some magic in that mountain fruit after
all. Both the strong tannic backbone and high acidity traits
that are common in Burgess Cabs are what help them to age
so well.
All in all, I think this was one of our better events and
certainly something like this is a rare occasion indeed. It is
not everyday that you get to see how wine evolves on such a
grand scale as this. Here is a list of questions and answers
that were part of the tasting:
1. Which winery produced wine first? Even though they
both started roughly at the same time, Burgess got some wine
out the year they bought the property in 1972, one year before
Cakebread, because it already had grapes growing on site.
2. Which winery is located on the valley floor? That would
be Cakebread in the Rutherford Appellation.
3. Which winery has a wider temperature swing between
day and night temperatures in the vineyards? Burgess
because of their location on the side of Howell Mountain.
4. Which wine was in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 one
year? The Burgess 1999 Cabernet.
5. Which wine was the highest scoring wine? Actually it
was a tie; both the Burgess & Cakebread 1999 Cabs received
a 91 pt score.
6. Which wine was the lowest scoring wine? The Burgess
2002 only received 80 pts. I must respectfully disagree with
mister Laube on that score!
7. Which Burgess & Cakebread wines had tie scores?
The 1999 vintage wines.
8. Which wine was the most popular wine in the tasting?
The 1999 Burgess Cabernet.
9. Which wine was my (Shane’s) favorite wine in the
tasting? Consensus won out with me too, it was the 1999
Burgess Cabernet, followed by the 2002 and the 1997.
for completely going all out on the food preparation and being
such great hosts for our event. You did a wonderful job and I
believe everyone really appreciated your hard work and
especially the NY Italian food spread! On top of the food, Jim
provided us with the vertical of Cakebread Cabernets as well.
The overall theme for this event was both fun and educational
at the same time. I had written out some questions ahead of
time for everyone to answer, some required them to put in
some thought and pay attention and then several that were
strictly pure luck if they guessed right. At the end, I took
everyone’s questions and determined who got the most
correct. In the end, there were two guests that answered
seven questions correctly and we had to have a sudden death
tiebreaker to determine the winner. It came down to Ronda
and Lad, and to break the tie, they had to guess which wine
was my second favorite in the tasting. It was Lad that
guessed it first and it was the 2002 Burgess Cab. As the
winner, he was given a magnum of the Burgess 2003 Cabernet
Sauvignon (Not included in the tasting).
As for the wines, here are the details that I perceived from the
guests. First of all, both wineries are from Napa Valley, but
the vineyard locations are quite different. Cakebread is
located on the valley floor in the Rutherford Appellation,
which sees less temperature variation than the mountain
vineyard sites and therefore has a more fruit forward style.
The Burgess Cabernet vineyards are on the side of Howell
Mountain and experience a greater range of temperature
variance from day to night. This produces wines with a
broader range of flavor complexity and introduces more
masculine flavors akin to Bordeaux style Cabs. For the most
part, it was a stylistic preference for the tasters. If you like
the fruit forward style, you’d prefer the Cakebread and it you
like the complexity and spice, you were a Burgess fan. As a
whole, I believe most people favored the Burgess wines
overall, with the exception of the 1995 Burgess Cab, which
apparently had some Brettomyocis in it causing it to taste
very barnyardy. The two most popular wines of the evening
were the 1999 Burgess Cabernet, followed by the 2000
Burgess Cabernet. On the Cakebread side, I believe the two
most popular were the 1995 & 1997 Cabs.
The Cakebread wines were the most consistent from one
vintage to the next, meaning the style did not change that
much, where as the Burgess cabs could be radically different
from one vintage to the next and in the poorer vintage years
like 1998 for example, you could really see the flaws the
vintage portrayed in greater detail. Having said that though,
they did a great job of taking the lemons that Mother Nature
provided and turning them into lemonade. I think the most
impressive wine of the tasting would have to be the Burgess
1993 Cab. At the ripe old age of fourteen and being the oldest
wine in our tasting, it was astonishing to note how well it has
evolved and it was clear that it showed no signs of slowing
down. I guess there is some magic in that mountain fruit after
all. Both the strong tannic backbone and high acidity traits
that are common in Burgess Cabs are what help them to age
so well.
All in all, I think this was one of our better events and
certainly something like this is a rare occasion indeed. It is
not everyday that you get to see how wine evolves on such a
grand scale as this. Here is a list of questions and answers
that were part of the tasting:
1. Which winery produced wine first? Even though they
both started roughly at the same time, Burgess got some wine
out the year they bought the property in 1972, one year before
Cakebread, because it already had grapes growing on site.
2. Which winery is located on the valley floor? That would
be Cakebread in the Rutherford Appellation.
3. Which winery has a wider temperature swing between
day and night temperatures in the vineyards? Burgess
because of their location on the side of Howell Mountain.
4. Which wine was in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 one
year? The Burgess 1999 Cabernet.
5. Which wine was the highest scoring wine? Actually it
was a tie; both the Burgess & Cakebread 1999 Cabs received
a 91 pt score.
6. Which wine was the lowest scoring wine? The Burgess
2002 only received 80 pts. I must respectfully disagree with
mister Laube on that score!
7. Which Burgess & Cakebread wines had tie scores?
The 1999 vintage wines.
8. Which wine was the most popular wine in the tasting?
The 1999 Burgess Cabernet.
9. Which wine was my (Shane’s) favorite wine in the
tasting? Consensus won out with me too, it was the 1999
Burgess Cabernet, followed by the 2002 and the 1997.