With a couple of perfectly grilled filet's (medium rare), roasted garlic
potatoes and a spring mix salad, my wife and I partook last night of
Beringer's Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 and 1991.

The 1990 was a medium brick color, especially around the edges. It didn't
show very much fruit when the bottle was first opened, but appeared rather
astringic (sp?) and thin. After a couple of minutes of swirling, it began
to open up with hints of fruit which appeared to have seen better days.
Sadly, I believe that this particular bottle had seen much better days.

The 1991 on the other hand was still inky red/black even along the edges.
While initially very tight, showing a lot of tannin, it opened up in the
glass over the next 10-15 minutes quite nicely and exhibited a nice bouqet
of black cherry and a hint of something which we best could call green
pepper, although that's not quite it either. The tannin turned velvety
after just a couple of minutes and revealed that while there may be time
left in the bottle, these are probably at, or perhaps even just beyond,
their prime. If you have 'em, I'd say drink 'em!

Cheers,
Gary

WOW,
yu also should be a food and wine writer. My brain turned inkey black after
reading your drivel.
"CabFan" > wrote in message
...
> With a couple of perfectly grilled filet's (medium rare), roasted garlic
> potatoes and a spring mix salad, my wife and I partook last night of
> Beringer's Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 and 1991.
>
> The 1990 was a medium brick color, especially around the edges. It didn't
> show very much fruit when the bottle was first opened, but appeared rather
> astringic (sp?) and thin. After a couple of minutes of swirling, it began
> to open up with hints of fruit which appeared to have seen better days.
> Sadly, I believe that this particular bottle had seen much better days.
>
> The 1991 on the other hand was still inky red/black even along the edges.
> While initially very tight, showing a lot of tannin, it opened up in the
> glass over the next 10-15 minutes quite nicely and exhibited a nice bouqet
> of black cherry and a hint of something which we best could call green
> pepper, although that's not quite it either. The tannin turned velvety
> after just a couple of minutes and revealed that while there may be time
> left in the bottle, these are probably at, or perhaps even just beyond,
> their prime. If you have 'em, I'd say drink 'em!
>
> Cheers,
> Gary

WOW,
yu also should be a food and wine writer. My brain turned inkey black after
reading your drivel.
"CabFan" > wrote in message
...
> With a couple of perfectly grilled filet's (medium rare), roasted garlic
> potatoes and a spring mix salad, my wife and I partook last night of
> Beringer's Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1990 and 1991.
>
> The 1990 was a medium brick color, especially around the edges. It didn't
> show very much fruit when the bottle was first opened, but appeared rather
> astringic (sp?) and thin. After a couple of minutes of swirling, it began
> to open up with hints of fruit which appeared to have seen better days.
> Sadly, I believe that this particular bottle had seen much better days.
>
> The 1991 on the other hand was still inky red/black even along the edges.
> While initially very tight, showing a lot of tannin, it opened up in the
> glass over the next 10-15 minutes quite nicely and exhibited a nice bouqet
> of black cherry and a hint of something which we best could call green
> pepper, although that's not quite it either. The tannin turned velvety
> after just a couple of minutes and revealed that while there may be time
> left in the bottle, these are probably at, or perhaps even just beyond,
> their prime. If you have 'em, I'd say drink 'em!
>
> Cheers,
> Gary