Great old Mondavi Cabs

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Do not ignore fine California Cabernet from the 1960s and 1970s!

By a strange coincidence, the evening of the day on which I tasted all those 1999 red bordeaux, I had the chance to taste a vertical of Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet all the way back to 1966, the very first vintage of this once-iconic Napa Valley winery, and couldn't help seeing strong similarities between some of these venerable Californians and the best of the 1999s I had tasted earlier. The structure was really very similar – moderate alcohol, fine tannins, refreshing acidity and mild Cabernet expression – very unlike...