1999 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley)

Tim Mondavi has drawn criticism, some of it surprisingly harsh, for his campaign to craft wines that can more easily be consumed with a meal, as opposed to the increasingly common high-alcohol, heavily oaked blunderbusses that he feels lack restraint and elegance. While I find it difficult to fault Mondavi's objectives, I am not yet convinced that the Napa Valley can consistently achieve thoroughly ripe skin components at moderate grape sugars. I also wonder whether the market will be willing to pay today's steep California wine prices for bottles that don't whack them upside the head just to get their attention. While Mondavi's 1999 and 2000 cabernet-based wines are undeniably stylish and well-made, there is an endless supply of food-friendly red wine made around the world and available in the retail market for $20 or less. Mondavi described the 2000 vintage, especially in the winery's outstanding To-Kalon Vineyard, as riper, rounder and softer, with a larger crop that needed thinning. 1999, he said, has more acidity but boasts very good density.