We happy that Bernard, who has sampled so many wines, has shared his notes with us. We do have, or have had for sale a few of the wines Bernard writes about, and we include a link to our stock page whenever it is a producer we carry (but since the stock page is kept up-to-date and the wines are sold, don't expect any but the newest of wines to show up in our stock!). Mostly though, since we specialize in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine, we don't carry a lot of the wines Bernard writes about. But we think it is important that you be able to have an idea what they're like in case you are planning to buy some somewhere, or have them in your own collection. Enjoy.

Here are Bernard's notes from July 14, 2002:

96 Araujo Cabernet has deep, dark plum color. Somewhat backward bouquet, with black berry, cassis, slight charcoal, Pittsburgh iron-smelter slag heap. Backward, without being tight. Black fruit, blackberry, huckleberry, dried black cherry, Italian prune, aged beef, ferric minerality, post-coital masculine sweat. Good balance, integrated chunky tannins, lowish acidity. Showing some of that cedary, cigar box character of Mouton, with sweet rich liqueur-like concentrated fruit. About as close as CA comes to Mouton, and reminiscent of 70’s style Napa cabs like Conn Creek and Mayacamas. Chunky, backward, dark and brooding. In need of time, but perfectly complementary to the rare tenderloin. About 93 now, a point or two better in 10 years. This is the first bottle I opened since I first tried it upon release not quite 3 years ago. It showed a lot of potential then, but needing time. It is kind of like a junior-league version of Phelp’s 78 Eisele, the same terroir, same black fruit/mineral mix, but taken down a couple of notches in intensity and tannins.