Karl Lawrence turned me into a wine fanatic
In the 1990s, I would have wine with friends when we had nice dinners and enjoyed it, but I wasn't seeking wine out on my own.
Things changed in 2001 when a good friend who was into wine went into his cellar and opened the 1998 Karl Lawrence Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It had that WOW effect, just flat out delicious and it kept getting better over the course of the evening.
After the 1998 Karl Lawrence experience, I decided that I needed to learn more about wine and have spent the last five years doing lots of research and more importantly trying and buying different wines.
So, the friend who got me into wine had a very special tasting on Friday night to celebrate Koko. We tasted every Karl Lawrence vintage to date: 1991-2003 and I brought along the 2000-2003 Aldin Red Table Wines, which is the second label of Karl Lawrence.
Special thanks to Mike and Rick from Karl Lawrence, who made available the 1991-1996 wines. It was a pleasure to see how these wines have developed.
The early 90's wines had developed great secondary flavors with leather notes and dried red fruit. They went well with a steak sandwich, very good food wines.
While I didn't take detailed tasting notes after the first couple of wines, the wines that stood out for me were the 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2003.
The 1998 is still drinking beautifully. A great reminder of why I like wine so much and Craig for turning me onto wine!
It was great to see that the Aldin Red Table Wines held their own against the main Karl Lawrence wines. In fact, I think that the 2000 Aldin was much better than the 2000 Karl Lawrence.
This tasting reinforced for me that Karl Lawrence makes some of the best cabernet in California and that their wines are one of the best values starting with the $32 Aldin Red Table Wine and then the $50 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon.
Thanks to Craig for his generosity in opening his home and cellar for us on Friday and for turning me onto wine to begin with.
We will remember Koko forever!
Things changed in 2001 when a good friend who was into wine went into his cellar and opened the 1998 Karl Lawrence Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It had that WOW effect, just flat out delicious and it kept getting better over the course of the evening.
After the 1998 Karl Lawrence experience, I decided that I needed to learn more about wine and have spent the last five years doing lots of research and more importantly trying and buying different wines.
So, the friend who got me into wine had a very special tasting on Friday night to celebrate Koko. We tasted every Karl Lawrence vintage to date: 1991-2003 and I brought along the 2000-2003 Aldin Red Table Wines, which is the second label of Karl Lawrence.
Special thanks to Mike and Rick from Karl Lawrence, who made available the 1991-1996 wines. It was a pleasure to see how these wines have developed.
The early 90's wines had developed great secondary flavors with leather notes and dried red fruit. They went well with a steak sandwich, very good food wines.
While I didn't take detailed tasting notes after the first couple of wines, the wines that stood out for me were the 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2003.
The 1998 is still drinking beautifully. A great reminder of why I like wine so much and Craig for turning me onto wine!
It was great to see that the Aldin Red Table Wines held their own against the main Karl Lawrence wines. In fact, I think that the 2000 Aldin was much better than the 2000 Karl Lawrence.
This tasting reinforced for me that Karl Lawrence makes some of the best cabernet in California and that their wines are one of the best values starting with the $32 Aldin Red Table Wine and then the $50 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon.
Thanks to Craig for his generosity in opening his home and cellar for us on Friday and for turning me onto wine to begin with.
We will remember Koko forever!
posted by Pat Lee at 12:54 PM
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