LAST TASTED 6/94 My ratings have sadly revealed a decline in quality with each tasting of the 1974 Burgess Cellars Vintage Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. I was impressed with this wine when young, but I have since found it to be increasingly tannic. In short, the richness of fruit has never blossomed and balanced out the wine's hardness. The deep garnet color reveals some orange/rust at the edge. There is a tight, vague, unfocused bouquet of damp wood, tar, and a whiff of cedar. Dominated by its tannin, huge body, and noticeable alcohol, the wine tastes hot, awkward, and muscular, but intact. Lamentably, this wine has never lived up to my initial expectations.