1989 Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

My sister graduated from college on Saturday (congrats Jen!) so I flew back to St. Louis for the ceremony and the party. While I was there I had to stop by Meshuggah Coffee to get the best cup in town. Besides the incredible coffee, the most interesting people in town hang out there too. I ran into Blake Ashby. He was on his way to Riddles wine bar for dinner. I decided to tag along and inspect the wine list. I grew up in St. Louis, but I had never been to Riddles since I was not 21. And I would not have appreciated it anyway.



The great thing about wandering into a Wine Bar in the Midwest is you never know what you are going to find. The wine list here was impeccable. Not a bad wine on the list. No cheapies, but a really good spread in the price. The '89 Jordan Cab was $85. I am pretty sure on release these days it's around $50, so we are already doing pretty good on the price. Standard restaurant markup on a wine like this is 100% on the West Coast, $20 in Missouri. But this one was 18 years old. Old enough to vote and lovingly cared for. A quick search on-line and I could not find an '89 for less than $100. I would expect it to be about $200 in San Francisco. But it is, as my friend Clif said, all about what the market can bear.

I ordered the wine and a second waiter came to verify that I was actually serious. He brought the bottle out. He looked a bit nervous opening it, and for good reason--he broke the cork. But he decanted and filtered it and the wine came out tasting great. I have not had any other Jordan cabs so I do not have anything to compare it to, but this was a very well integrated wine. The tannins were soft--perfect for a medium bodied, understated wine like this. Flavors of light berry, a hint of some various spices. Baking spices, not pepper. This was a well made wine.

I enjoyed it completely, then had to wander around the loop for a few hours until I could be sure I was okay to drive home.