Took a magnum of the 2001 Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon to a Halloween party last night. Great choice: it's absolutely at peak (though it should hold here for years) and drinking perfectly right now. Color is the perfect maroon of middle age. Flavors are generous blackcurrant and blackberry fruit accented by cedar notes and leathery secondary development. Not the most complex banana in the bunch but so well-endowed and easy to be with that it's pure California pleasure. And each person interested could have a nice full glass! A perfect party wine--it had all the various wino's present asking themselves why they don't buy magnums.
There were a lot of other wines about, most of which were unfamiliar to me and whose names I didn't catch. One I have no problem remembering, however, was a 1993 Arrowood Cabernet. A few years past peak, methinks (though the Beringer by comparison could have made any other wine seem so), and lacking any excitement, but still holding up with mild blue-black cab flavors and resolved tannins.