CLONYC X - Some Cabs by Thomas Rivers Brown

The lineup: (all notes by Mike Pobega)

1) 2007 Barrel sample from fellow CLONYC member Steve Eisenhauer's new venture: Congruence.
2) Blind entry- 2004 Schrader Double D
3) 2004 Maybach Materium
4) 2005 Maybach Materium
5) 2004 Schrader Tokalon
6) 2004 Schrader CCS
7) 2004 Schrader RBS
8) 2005 Outpost True Vineyard
9) 2003 Rivers Marie
10) The Zoe field blend of Schraders 3

2007 Congruence-- 3 site Cabernet, Napa- Steve Eisenhauer's wine surely made a splash. Nice medium to dark color, very pretty floral nose. I sensed some Petit Verdot, but was assured none was in the mix. The palate has a nice pure mouth feel that exhibited deep dark cassis and black cherries. Nicely balanced and elegant. If there is something I would like to see in this is a bit more backbone, as they are being judicious with the French oak. Smartly so. This was my number 5 on the evening! Number 6 was the Schrader ToKalon! Throughout the night this really held its own. I kept it in my glass all night and made sure to take seconds early on.

The two stars of the evening: 2004 & 2005 Maybach Materium
2004 Maybach Materium- (double decanted 4.5 hours) Dark and intense. The nose showed a wall of fruit that raged from the glass. Wow. There was black berry, black cherry, dark currant, black plums, some tobacco, some sweet kirsch, Wow. The purity of this multi-fruited profiled wine is both mind blowing and mind-boggling. Elegant and precise, this is a Cab drinkers Cab. I sat with this all night and it kept changing places with its younger brother always fighting for first place. A long finish and wow. Anyone who thinks wow wines do not exist needs to taste this one treated with the correct decant and respect. One more time….. Wow 95/100
2005 Maybach Materium – (double decanted 1.5 hours) The family resemblance is uncanny, just the clothing is different. This had the dark brooding color with the slightly more subdued, but ever present wall of fruit. The red and black fruits created such a fruit medley of love. Slightly bigger in scale than the 04, this had more oak, and more tannic structure, but hey, it’s a year younger. Black cassis wrapped chocolate cherries with pure blackberry and licorice. The balance and purity is staggering. Long and intense, this wine kept vying for pole position with its older brother, taking the lead no less than 3 times. The photo-finish results proved it was nose behind, yet I will give it a 95/100

I am not alone in these findings. Read my lips: get on this list…today.I will update the other notes when I have some time.

2004 Schrader Double D- This was served blind on my request, so only Kevin and I knew what it was. it was fun watching the group guess, and I think Ben may have figured it out but changed his mind when he thought it was not a TRB wine, but the back label said different. This had good color with some easy going, but slightly subdued fruits of blackcherries and red plums. I got a bit of something like Petit Verdot? It had a bit of heat. A nicely balance wine surely made to please and I thought it a very good wine for its original price point. 88/100
2004 Schrader Tokalon- This was super concentrated and dark. A nice, but somewhat subdued nose of blackberry, camphor, vanilla and black plum. This may be in a slump, as the one we had late last year showed much better. Still no slouch. Nice firm body and class was evident, just not as showy tonight as I like. Great long finish, with just a touch more acidity than I remembered. 90/100
2004 Schrader CCS- A very similar profile to the Tokalon as Sherri said, but a bit creamier and fuller with just a bit more reddish fruits up front. A little heat on the tail end, but not all that detracting for me as it may be for some. 92/100
2004 Schrader RBS- Sherri hit the nail here, it had the boldness. It was slightly brighter than the other two in the fruit department. great mouthfeel and texture on the tongue, and for this reason I thought it closer to the Tokalon than the CCS. 92/100
These all had a certain something similar though, and we even wondered out loud about the need to have multiple bottlings. So we created our field blend.
2004 Schrader/Zoes Field Cabernet- 3 equal parts of all three above. Wow, I could never imagine how 3 similar wines could create something altogether different. disjointed and angular. Kevin mentioned it was best before the RBS added in, I was in the camp that thought the Tokalon waved a heavier hand. Fun and interesting, but we will leave the blending to the pros thank you very much!

It was a great night, maybe CLONYCs greatest. (And that is real tough to pull off).