1977 Clos du Val Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

As I mentioned in the introduction, the 1977 Clos du Vall is one of those lower octane middleweights that one can find in the vintage, but it is perfectly successful in its style and a lovely wine with plenty of life still ahead of it. This is always one of the most Médoc-like wines stylistically to be found in Napa in this era, and this is certainly the case with this very good 1977. The wine delivers an aromatic constellation of cassis, dark berries, cigar ash, a good base of soil tones, a hint of dried eucalyptus, tobacco leaf and a dollop of upper register paraffin. On the palate the wine is medium-full and only moderately ripe, but poised and balanced, with good intensity of flavor, fine complexity, melted tannins and a long, focused and classy finish. A few of the younger tasters in our group were underwhelmed with this wine at the tasting, as they felt it lacked a little amplitude, but I found it an eminently satisfying middleweight in all respects.