I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a 1984 vintage
wine for her birthday dinner. Being that 1984 was an awful vintage for
Bordeaux (Although $130 for an 84 Margaux was a bit tempting), I've
concentrated on California. I would be open to other regions, but the
availability of 84 wines is pretty limited. Some names caught my eye,
Dominus, Silver Oak, and Montelena. Any suggestions on these or others,
sub-$150? And how high is the risk of buying wines of this age from
well-known retailers?

Thanks,
Andrew

Andrew Greene wrote:
I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a 1984 vintage
wine for her birthday dinner. Being that 1984 was an awful vintage for
Bordeaux (Although $130 for an 84 Margaux was a bit tempting), I've
concentrated on California. I would be open to other regions, but the
availability of 84 wines is pretty limited. Some names caught my eye,
Dominus, Silver Oak, and Montelena. Any suggestions on these or others,
sub-$150? And how high is the risk of buying wines of this age from
well-known retailers?

In September 2000, I had the good fortune to drink from magnums of
both Ch. Montelena and Silver Oak from 1974. Montelena was the hands-down
winner.

Dana

On Wed, 9 Nov 2005 17:26:23 -0500
"Andrew Greene" wrote:

] I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a 1984 vintage
] wine for her birthday dinner. Being that 1984 was an awful vintage for
] Bordeaux (Although $130 for an 84 Margaux was a bit tempting), I've
] concentrated on California. I would be open to other regions, but the
] availability of 84 wines is pretty limited. Some names caught my eye,
] Dominus, Silver Oak, and Montelena. Any suggestions on these or others,
] sub-$150? And how high is the risk of buying wines of this age from
] well-known retailers?
]
] Thanks,
] Andrew
]

Hi Andrew,

I've had an '84 Burgess recently that was excellent. Should be
available for well less than US$150, if you can find it. As for
risk, well known and better retailers have temperature control,
and can trace the provenance of the wine. If your source can't
do that, it's a bit of a crap shoot.

-E

--
Emery Davis
You can reply to ecom
by removing the well known companies

"Dana H. Myers" wrote:

I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a
1984 vintage wine for her birthday dinner. [...]
^^
||

In September 2000, I had the good fortune to drink from magnums
of both Ch. Montelena and Silver Oak from 1974. Montelena was
the hands-down winner. ^^
||


???

M.

In article , says...

I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a 1984 vintage
wine for her birthday dinner. Being that 1984 was an awful vintage for
Bordeaux (Although $130 for an 84 Margaux was a bit tempting), I've
concentrated on California. I would be open to other regions, but the
availability of 84 wines is pretty limited. Some names caught my eye,
Dominus, Silver Oak, and Montelena. Any suggestions on these or others,
sub-$150? And how high is the risk of buying wines of this age from
well-known retailers?

Thanks,
Andrew

I've had the Dominus & Montelena '84, but probably not recently enough to help
much. Both were excellent. One producer, whose '84 was drinking well recently
was Diamond Creek. I had a horizontal of all but the Lake Vineyard (don't know
if one was produced in '84). Prices were in the US$150/btl range, which is
about what the DC's of the 90's were running at retail. Seems that K&L had
some DC '84 for ~US$125. Maybe a look at their Web site can yield some real
finds.

Hunt

The only 1984 I have tasted in the last year is the 1984 Ride Monte
Bello. One bottle was really outstanding
(http://mikeswinecellar.blogspot.com/...non-monte.html)
the other was simply very good
(http://mikeswinecellar.blogspot.com/...day-night.html).
If you could find this wine, I would expect it to me substantially more
than $150.
------------------------------------
Mike's Wine Blog
http://mikeswinecellar.blogspot.com

Andrew Greene wrote:
I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a 1984 vintage
wine for her birthday dinner. Being that 1984 was an awful vintage for
Bordeaux (Although $130 for an 84 Margaux was a bit tempting), I've
concentrated on California. I would be open to other regions, but the
availability of 84 wines is pretty limited. Some names caught my eye,
Dominus, Silver Oak, and Montelena. Any suggestions on these or others,
sub-$150? And how high is the risk of buying wines of this age from
well-known retailers?

'84 was a very ripe, fruit-forward year and its wines aged faster than
many expected. At this date, I'd stick with the known long-agers:
Montelena, Ridge Monte Bello and Dunn Howell Mountain. All of them can
be found for just under $150 if you look with
http://www.wine-searcher.com. As for storage, ask the retailer about
the provenance of the bottle in question. Any hesitation or
equivocation should be viewed as a warning sign.

Mark Lipton

Michael Pronay wrote:
"Dana H. Myers" wrote:


I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a
1984 vintage wine for her birthday dinner. [...]

^^
||


In September 2000, I had the good fortune to drink from magnums
of both Ch. Montelena and Silver Oak from 1974. Montelena was
the hands-down winner. ^^
||


I was just commenting on my (limited) experience with the relative
longevity of the Cabs from those two wineries. 1984 is different than
1974, sure, but the winemaking styles of the two wineries were probably
similar in 1984 to what they were in 1974.

Cheers,
Dana

"Dana H. Myers" wrote:

I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve
a 1984 vintage wine for her birthday dinner. [...]
^^
||

In September 2000, I had the good fortune to drink from
magnums of both Ch. Montelena and Silver Oak from 1974.
Montelena was the hands-down winner. ^^
||

I was just commenting on my (limited) experience with the
relative longevity of the Cabs from those two wineries.

Oh, I see, thank you.

M.

On Wed, 9 Nov 2005 17:26:23 -0500, "Andrew Greene"
wrote:

I have a friend who is turning 21 soon and I'd like to serve a 1984 vintage
wine for her birthday dinner. Being that 1984 was an awful vintage for
Bordeaux (Although $130 for an 84 Margaux was a bit tempting), I've
concentrated on California. I would be open to other regions, but the
availability of 84 wines is pretty limited. Some names caught my eye,
Dominus, Silver Oak, and Montelena. Any suggestions on these or others,
sub-$150? And how high is the risk of buying wines of this age from
well-known retailers?

Recently had the '84 Montelena - highly recommended !