1988 is one of the great early vintages of Dominus, following Christian Moueix's establishment of the estate with the 1983 vintage at the historic Napanook vineyard in Yountville. The 1988 was an unusually small production and is regarded as one of the top Cabernets of the vintage. Nearly forty years on, this is a piece of California wine history rather than a current wine, and bottles that have been properly cellared tend to show secondary notes of cassis, smoked herbs, leather, and cigar over a still-firm Cabernet frame. Provenance is everything at this age. For collectors and anyone who wants to taste the beginning of a Napa legend.