Wine

Cabernet Sauvignon is the world’s dominant red varietal. Napa Valley cult Cabs sell out overnight for well over $100 per bottle. Left bank Bordeaux (Cabernet Sauvignon based blends) has taken advantage of a string of stellar vintages to blast their prices out of the stratosphere. First growths are selling for over $500 a bottle. In 2000, CNN reported that the world’s most expensive bottle of wine ($200,000) was a 1924 Rothschild. Cabernet Sauvignon has become a luxury item.

The majority of wine drinkers (myself included) cannot afford wines like Caymus, Silver Oak, Opus One, Paul Hobbs, Latour, Rothschild and Haut-Brion. We take advantage of opportunities to try them, but we generally pass on opportunities to buy them. It is difficult to justify spending a week’s pay on 25 ounces of wine. We compromise. Wineries also compromise. Like the automotive world, wineries consider the qualities of the best wines fetching the highest prices, and emulate their style in following vintages.

As Cab drinkers, we choose to spend less money with a loss of quality. There are lots of Cabs available for 15 bucks, and they share some of the qualities of the premium Cabs, but not all of them.

If you are willing to sacrifice intensity and concentration…

Cartlidge & Browne Cabernet Sauvignon, California 2004 $14

Medium bodied, with a soft nose of menthol-lined blackberry, this wine offers pure expressions of lightly oaked plum and blackberry, with enough tannin and acidity to complement the fruit.

If you are willing to sacrifice length…

Humanitas Cabernet Sauvignon, Monterey 2003 $16

This medium/dark garnet-hued wine offers a nose of earthy blackberry, followed by a fat mouthful of fruit that disappears quicker then it arrived.

If you are willing to sacrifice flavor…

Le Bon Vin de La Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003 $16

Gives the impression that a mixture of ripe fruit and unripe fruit were used. Medium bodied and disjointed, with ripe sweet fruit, unripe tannin, and overly acidic.

Like Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon doesn’t shine unless it gets some special treatment. I like wine too much to settle for one that isn’t great. I prefer to pay a little bit more so that I don’t have to sacrifice anything!

Trinchero Mainstreet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena 2002 $34

Dark, opaque purple/crimson, powerful tannin, very ripe fruit, excellent length and power. Cassis dominates the wine with hints of eucalyptus. Excellent!

Trinchero Lewelling Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena 2002 $34

Powerful nose of graphite, brambly blackberry and underbrush, this is an eager to please, powerful wine with loads of fruit.

Trinchero Stagecoach Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2004 $34

My favorite of the Trinchero wines, this dark garnet colored Cab offers a stylish nose of polished fruit with great delineation. The mouth-feel is wondrous; numerous veined flavor packets strewn throughout the mouth fire the taste synopses for a very long time. Amazing!

Mitolo Jester Cabernet Sauvignon, Mclaren Vale 2005 $23

Comparable in weight and intensity to a Ripassa, this full bodied, opaque purple wine has an intense nose of scorched earth and dark fruit. Exhibits a huge entry and rich flavors. Finishes with espresso and dry tannin. Very good!

Contact Matt Devan at wineguy@lagniappemobile.com.

Archives