Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 Mini-Retrospective

I remember the 2000 vintage as a whirlwind of excitement. This was before the Tech Bubble Burst, Enron imploded, 9/11, and eight years of Bush Part Deux. At the time, bridges were literally for sale. But the Napa Valley 2000 vintage hit the market with a lame thud. There was very little excitement for it, with most professional wine writers comparing it to 1998. In other words, a loser. So I spent very little time and money on Napa 2000, which in retrospect was a mistake.

By comparison, Bordeaux 2000 was hailed as virtually the greatest vintage of the century, despite the fact that the century had just barely begun. Prices for both banks of Bordeaux soared in spite of the fact that NASDAQ lingered around the same figure as the vintage. I have never bought Bordeaux en primeur, and 2000 is the one vintage I regret not having done so. But I bought the wines with abandon as they appeared on shelves, and I drank them young, and that in a nutshell is how I taught myself about Bordeaux.

Nine years later, Napa's wines are coming into focus while Bordeaux is still closed, and I find that there is much to enjoy from both sides of the Atlantic, with Napa Valley cabernet proving to be the better value. The best wines from 2000 exhibit density, semi-sweet dark chocolate notes and mellow raspberry. And in comparison to Bordeaux prices and today's prices for California Cult wines, the 2000 Napa wines were (and in many cases still are) a bargain.

2000 Sloan Estate Napa Valley **** The first release from this small, family run estate, featuring a high percentage of cabernet made by Martha McClellan. Unctuous and opaque. Extremely concentrated dark fruits, most notably blueberry, with shaved graphite notes and thick sweet tannins. To my taste, a marvelous wine, but I think it's worth noting that Sloan is probably not to everyone's taste. It's been slammed by some CellarTracker users as, "bitter, astringent, over extracted, [and] so rustic and void of any real fruit that i am shocked." This is the only Sloan wine I have ever tasted, and it was one of the best wines I've ever had (Scarecrow and Schrader included).

2000 Corison Winery Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon *** I didn't figure this would (or could) be any better than the 1997 *** (previously reviewed). I was wrong. Almost iridescently dark, with sweet cream and briarpatch notes, strawberries and Burgundian Zzzzing! on the finish.

2000 Far Niente Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ** Always reminds me of St. Julien. Ink color, not a purple wine. Neither translucent nor opaque. Tight and searing at first under the gums, then very fluid with a couple hours decanting, soft dry tannins with notes of blackberry and currants on the finish.

Previously reviewed:
2005 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville **
2004 Far Niente Napa Valley Chardonnay **/***
2005 Nickel & Nickel Manzana Vineyard RRV Pinot Noir *
2005 Nickel & Nickel “Bonfire Vineyard” Zinfandel *
2004 Nickel & Nickel Copper Streak Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ***