Score: |
98 JG. "As was the case with the 1974 Mayacamas cabernet, I had not tasted a bottle of the 1970 vintage from Bob Travers in a long, long time, and was absolutely thrilled to find it paired up with the 1974 at this particular dinner. The 1970 vintage has long been my absolute favorite from Mayacamas in the first decade of the Travers’ era here (which hit the ground running with the outstanding 1968!), though perhaps one day the 1978 will be able to catch up with this celestial wine. Today, the 1970 Mayacamas cabernet is at its absolute zenith and drinking with stunning complexity, offering up a pure and precise bouquet of black cherries, cassis, petroleum jelly, Cuban cigar wrapper, a touch of eucalyptus, complex soil tones and a topnote of chipotle peppers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and perfectly balanced, with great depth of fruit at the core, superb soil signature, lovely acids and grip and just a whisper of remaining tannin on the very, very long, suave and à point finish. While this wine is at its apogee today, it is still perfectly balanced and structured and has many decades still ahead of it. This is a legend at the peak of its powers; drinking it now is kind of like watching Babe Ruth hit his sixtieth homerun from the front row." John Gilman, View From the Cellar #79, Feb 2019 |