The wines are Saintsbury Reserve Carneros Chardonnay 1990 & Burgess
Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 1978. Both were bought soon after release, had
a sound cork, a fill still in the neck, and were stored properly.

This was the last bottle of the Burgess CS, and I have had it before.
It has always been decent, but not quite at the top. It is still
holding well, but perhaps is beginning to lose a bit of fruit. It is
not in the class of the Ridge MB 1990 I reported recently, but few
other California CSs are. It is a bit simple compared with the best
examples.

I had several bottles of the regular Saintsbury 1990 Chardonnay at one
time, but they were all consumed many years ago. I only had one bottle
of the mentioned Reserve that I somehow neglected to open for many
years. I even had a backup bottle of another wine waiting. A
California Chardonnay that is still on top form at nearly 18 years is
very much the exception rather than the rule. This Chardonnay turned
out to be in top form, and it was one of the most individual
Chardonnays I have ever tasted. It was well balanced and now smoothed.
There was no hint of excessive oxidation or other fault. Many very old
California Chardonnays, if they have not oxidized, have lost most
fruit and some are more like oak tea than wine. This wine had very
intense fruit with mixed citrus and light stone fruit. It had one of
the most intense bouquets I have ever smelled in a Chardonnay. It is
nearly as if one had extracted some of the floral components from
Viognier and Riesling and added these to the usual Chardonnay bouquet.
The floral character, although very intense, was very pure and light.
Honeysuckle and jasmine come to mind, but neither is exactly right. I
refer to the bouquet of the blooming flowers, not perfumes made from
them that often have musk, civet, or ambergris added to give the
perfume some animal as well as floral notes.