MORE CALIFORNIA CABERNETS

 

DOMINUS ESTATE

With much fanfare, this property has enjoyed a phenomenal amount of praise from some wine writers.  It is managed by Christian Moueix, a fellow whose family owns the famous Chateau Petrus in Bordeaux's Pomerol region.  Dominus was owned, also, by the Lail family, who had ties to the old Inglenook winery.  Mrs. Robin Lail's father was John Daniel, a legendary figure in Napa Valley wine history.  I understand the Lail's no longer have a share of Dominus.

The vineyard, called "Napanook" is on the west side of the highway in Yountville.  The winery, a strange concrete edifice covered by a wire frame into which rocks have been placed, is in the middle of the vineyard.  For a view of the place CLICK HERE.

Founded in 1983, the first vintages met with high praise from journals such as The Wine Advocate and The Wine Dictator.  In tastings we've conducted, the wines have met with far less enthusiastic responses.  Have these other journals been tasting the same wines?  Have we been tasting the Dominus wines while the wines are in a "closed" state?  Or is this merely a case of the Emperor's new clothes?  

I have found, I will admit, the recent vintages have become better balanced examples of red wine.  These are not the lavishly-oaked sorts of reds which tend to attract the most attention. 
Though Mr. Moueix is well-versed in Merlot-based wines from his native Pomerol and St. Emilion regions, Dominus is a Cabernet Sauvignon-based red.

The current vintage sports the signature of Monsieur Moueix, while the early vintages had his mug on the label.

The 2001, in my opinion, marks a major turning point for this wine.  I was quite surprised when I tasted it.  Much finer than previous efforts and better balanced.  It seems they've made a major change in the blend.  Whereas previous vintages were Merlot-based reds with Cabernet tannins, this vintage is based on Cabernet Sauvignon.  World of difference, too!!!  Much finer.  Better balance and the wine shows far more complexity than any young Dominus wines I had tasted before.

The 2004 is a lovely vintage...deep, dark, nice now and it will repay cellaring for five to ten years...

 

Currently available:
2004 Dominus Sale Priced $129.99

DUCKHORN

This winery was originally established to make a name for itself as the leading producer of Merlot.  Over the years they've made good Cabernets, too!  Their first vintage was 100% Cabernet, while today they seem to like to blend other "Bordeaux varieties" into the wine.  Early vintages demonstrated a commitment to quality.  I felt they had a modest drop off in the late 1980s, but have tasted exceptional wines from this property in the past decade.  

When I first contacted the winery back in 1980, or so, I was curious as to how they selected the name "Duckhorn."  Other wineries had names such as "Freemark Abbey," combining the names "Freeman, Mark and Abbey" (if memory serves, "Cuvaison" (French for the period of keeping the juice in contact with the grape skins) or "Caymus" (after a Spanish land grant).  
"How'd you come up with such a goofy name for a brand of wine?" I asked the lady.

"Well," replied Mrs. Margaret Duckhorn, "that's our family's name!"

Open mouth---insert foot!

Anyway, the Duckhorns continue to make very good wines in a variety of areas.  Not only do they make top Cabernet and Merlot, but Sauvignon Blanc is frequently marvelous.  And they're on a small mission to conquer the realm of Pinot Noir with an ambitious project in Mendocino's Anderson Valley.  

As far as Cabernets go, we have Duckhorn's "Napa" bottling of 2009.  It's 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc this vintage!  This is quite typical of the Duckhorn style...lots of nice dark berry and a hint of plum, mixed with cassis and a touch of wood in the background.  It's certainly drinkable now and ought to last nicely over the next decade.

  They also make some single vineyard wines, priced at a "deluxe" level, but "deluxe" quality, too.  

 

Currently in stock: 
2009 Napa CABERNET SAUVIGNON $67.99

Decoy Red Sold Out

 

ELIZABETH SPENCER

This is a relatively new label from the Burtton Wine Company.  Spencer Graham and Elizabeth Pressler own this enterprise, he being a former wine distributor and she being a former winery sales manager who's now a marketing guru in Napa.

Early vintages were sourced from various vintners and the resulting blends were typically very good and rather refined. 

Now, we understand, they're actually vinify their own wines.  They've hired a winemaker, a fellow named Matthew Rorick.  He's been affiliated with numerous wineries around the planet.  In California, he's been with Peter Michael, Miura, Dashe Cellars and Chasseur.  

The 2007 Elizabeth Spencer Cabernet is magnificent, probably their best to date.  Perhaps this is due to their sourcing fruit, rather than solely purchasing bulk wine.  The fruit comes from a laundry list of top sites in the Napa Valley:  Yountville, Howell Mountain, Oakville, Rutherford, Mount Veeder and Saint Helena.  

The wine is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot. As with previous vintages of Elizabeth Spencer Cabernets, it's not a gobs o' fruit kind of wine.  Instead it's a more elegant rendition, but 2007 is deeper and slightly bigger than previous vintages.

It still remains attractively-priced and immediately drinkable.

Currently in stock:   2007 Napa Cabernet $34.99

EMILIO'S TERRACE

We had been fans of this little brand in its early vintages.

There have been some issues with the winemaking and there's been a change of enologists...they even skipped bottling the 2006.

The 2007 is a well-made wine, but significantly different in style from the earlier vintages.  We did not think our customers who'd greatly enjoyed the 2003 and 2004 would find the 2007 to be of interest.

We hope the 2008 will be a return to the style and complexity we'd come to appreciate from this little property.

FAR NIENTE WINERY
2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (list $110) SALE $99.99

We hadn't been particularly enthusiastic about paying the Far Niente price for Cabernet from this estate, but we will say their 1994 marks a change for the better in terms of what's in the glass, anyway.  Yes, these are expensive and they're priced for those with Platinum credit cards.  

But basically Far Niente is a wine for those looking to impress their friends.
A bottle on your dinner table says "Look, I spent a lot of money on this wine, so you know it has to be good."  

As noted above, recent vintages are a major improvement over the early efforts, but the wine is ambitiously priced strictly to cater to a particular segment of the market.

The 2006 is a medium-bodied, berryish Cabernet from the Oakville region of the Napa Valley.  A high percentage of new oak barrels is used to mature the wine, but it's only mildly oaky.  The Cabernet is robust enough to soak up the wood and keep it from being an oaky tasting wine.  

Their "sister" winery has a whole flock of Cabernets under their "Nickel & Nickel" label.  These are perfectly nice $25 Napa Cabernets.
Unfortunately they sell for $50-$100 a bottle.

 

Ric Forman has been in the Napa Valley since the 1960s where he was briefly affiliated with Stony Hill and then the new winery called Robert Mondavi.  After that, he signed on to help design and make wine at Sterling Vineyards where he helped make some stellar wines back in the early 1970s.  

At Sterling Ric made some wonderful Cabernets, Chardonnays, Chenin Blancs and some new variety called Merlot.  

The investors at Sterling sold the place in the mid-1970s and soon a Coca Cola bottler was in charge of Sterling Vineyards.  Ric departed not long after to team up again with one of the major backers of the Sterling enterprise.

The new winery was going to be called Forman and it was west of downtown St. Helena up in the hills.  They made a vintage or two of wine and shortly before the first wine was to be released, Peter Newton's wife insisted the brand have their name on the label, not that of the winemaker.  

At that sudden turn of events, Forman departed and began helping his friend Charles Shaw make "Beaujolais"-styled wine at a little facility over near Ehlers Lane.  Mr. Shaw was a nice fellow and he and his lovely wife produced good little wines from the Gamay grape.  In the meantime, Forman was able to use some of Shaw's cellar space to make his own wine and this, lo and behold, would be labeled with the Forman banner.

((Parenthetically, when Charles and Lucy Shaw got divorced, the winery was sold along with its label.  Today the brand is known as "Two Buck Chuck" and it's made by a character named Fred Franzia who sells it exclusively to Trader Joe's chain of stores.  That's a lesson in wine brands...a lofty brand one day can be cheap plonk the next.))

Forman purchased a property at the base of Howell Mountain and his brand was born with the 1983 vintage.  He has a parcel, as well, on the Rutherford Bench.  

Just below the winery is a parcel with gravel and sandy soils.  Above the winery the soils are of a dense volcanic rock (they needed to blast the soils to facilitate planting grape vines!), while another higher site has pink, gravelly soils with volcanic ash in the sub-strata.  Forman is a vineyard fanatic and makes no compromises in his viticultural practices.

His vineyard crew of three knows each vine intimately...they figure they handle each plant something like 20 times during the course of the year, lavish great attention on each vine.  

Having traveled to France with Dick Graff way back in the late 1960's, Forman became interested in "traditional" winemaking techniques.  He appreciated the modern conveniences he's had in Napa, of course, but at the heart of his cellar work, he's focused on viticulture, first and foremost.  

Forman typically has two red wines:  His main label of Cabernet is, essentially, a 'reserve' wine.  In the cellar he culls out various barrels and those go into his "declassified" wine, La Grande Roche (the winery is located on Big Rock Road).

We've long been fans of Ric's wines...in fact, we opened a 37 year old bottle of Sterling Merlot that Ric had made and the wine was still alive and kicking!

His Forman wines are routinely elegant and refined, though we've noted the alcohol level on the Cabernet has risen over the years.  Still, he makes a wine which is complex and balanced.  

The 2007 vintage is in the shop presently.  It's an absolute delight.  Dark fruits, hints of a minerality, cassis, lightly woodsy and very fine in its relative youth.  Having followed Forman's wines and still owning some 20 year old bottles, we can say this fellow has a great track record.

If you proclaim yourself to be a Napa Cabernet aficionado and don't know Ric's wine, you owe it to yourself to become acquainted.  

Currently in stock:  2007 FORMAN Napa CABERNET SAUVIGNON $84.99

FRANK FAMILY

You're probably wondering why I've placed a photo of the sparkling wines of the now-defunct Hanns Kornell winery under this Frank Family heading.

Rich Frank is a Hollywood entertain industry mogul and he enjoyed getting out of town from time to time and visiting the Napa Valley.  Tasting a wine made by the Rombauer winery, he hooked up with Koerner Rombauer who actually discouraged Frank from investing in the wine business.

A couple of years later, Rombauer called Frank with an investment opportunity and the two of them bought the old Hanns Kornell winery.  Located in Calistoga, the place is the site of the Larkmead winery building which was constructed in the late 1800s and 'spruced up' in the early 1900s.  

They have a fair bit of vineyard acreage, though I believe this wine is made of purchased fruit.  Future plans call for their Napa Cabernet to come from an estate vineyard in the Capell valley (South of Lake Berryessa and north of the city of Napa).  

We have their 2008 Napa Cabernet in the store. This is blended with a drop of Cabernet Franc and 4% of Petit Verdot.  Thirty percent new barrels, but it's only mildly woodsy. It's a medium-full bodied red wine.  

Currently in stock:  2008 Frank Family Napa Cabernet Sauvignon SALE $43.99

FRITZ

The Fritz winery has been flying below the radar for several decades.  

In the early 1980s they had some good wines, mostly Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc (the two grapes of the Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma)...they've dabbled in Pinot Noir and some blended 'table wines.'  

There was a change in generations at Fritz some years ago and it took them a while to get their bearings, but today the wines are well made, focused and typically of good value.

Cabernet from this producer has been a good expression of the varietal as well as showing nice "Dry Creek" character.  

The 2007 vintage shows dark fruit notes and a whiff of a cedary tone from the oak, but there's something particular about this wine which distinguishes it from Napa Cabernets (apart from not having a $50 price tag).
This is delightful now and it's balanced for immediate drinking.  Short-term cellaring would be fine, too.

Currently in stock:  2007 FRITZ Dry Creek CABERNET SAUVIGNON  $25.99

FROG'S LEAP

Winemaker John Williams is now a gray bearded Napa Valley winemaker, not the young kid from New York he was 25 or 30 years ago.  

John took a job as winemaker for Spring Mountain when he moved out here from Riesling country in New York's Finger Lakes.  What with two Stag's Leap wineries battling each other for the rights to that brand name, Williams and an emergency room doc from a local hospital formed a partnership and started a humorous little brand at the site of an old frog-raising facility.  And they played off the Stag's Leap name, using the name Frog's Leap.

Years later, the doc wanted to have his own winery, so John had to get some investors and buy out his partner.  

Today the doc's wines are much sought-after.  Turley.  They make huge, fruit-bomb wines which are high octane brain-busters.  

John continues to make "old fashioned" wines and he strives to keep the alcohol levels below 14%.  And since it's more fashionable today to make 15% alcohol fruit bombs, Frog's Leap is a label not often cited as a top Napa Cabernet wine.

Too bad, because the wines remain classically styled and they're a delight when they're young and these seem to age handsomely, too.

The current vintage is 2008.  It has 8% Cabernet Franc and 7% Merlot in the blend.  Very nice now and yet you can probably hold on to this for a decade and watch it grow and evolve.  Oak is in the background...

Currently in stock:  2008 FROG'S LEAP Napa CABERNET SAUVIGNON  $39.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRIAS

The Frias family has its roots in Mexico, but they left their own country in a hurry.  Manny Frias' father was mayor of their little town, but feared for his safety when other's political views became more popular.  Dad worked for Schlage lock company, a far different life than he had back in Mexico.
Manny visited the Napa Valley periodically, visiting wineries such as Beringer, BV and Heitz.  He was enchanted by the landscape of Napa Valley and hoped to, one day, buy some land and live there.  

Manny and his father purchased 100 acres of land on Spring Mountain back in 1977.  They paid the grand sum of $1,000 an acre to an 83 year old woman who stipulated that she be able to live the rest of her days on the property.  She moved in with her sister some 5 years later and the Frias family took possession of the property.   Five acres were planted in 1985 and today they're up to a whopping 13!!!  

As you might suspect, their wine is not made in large quantities.  Twenty-five barrels is a lot of wine.  More than the Frias family can drink, so they actually sell a few cases, here and there.  

We tasted a few vintages and selected the newly-released 1999 and the "library" wine of 1992.  

The 1999 is rather deep in color and shows lots of black fruit aromas and flavors.  Think of black currants, ripe plums and black cherry.  Combined with a hint of cedar from some new oak and you have a rather showy Napa Cabernet.

The 1992 has developed a lovely bottle bouquet.  There are some cedary notes up front and a bit of a dusty note of older Cabernet.  The wine is still quite vigorous and a bit tannic.  Frias' Cabernets are, to this point, 100% varietal.  This runs counter to many of the current fashion of blending other "Bordeaux varietals" into Cabernet Sauvignon.  Medium-full bodied, this has an elegance and "mountain character" that we find quite appealing. Especially with prime rib or a rack of lamb.

 

Currently in stock:  1992 Napa Cabernet $59.99
1999 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon $59.99

GRGICH HILLS CELLAR
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Sold Out

Mr. Mike Grgich worked at BV back in the Dark Ages, learning from famed Napa Valley legend Andre Tchelistcheff.   He later went on to be the first winemaker at Calistoga's Chateau Montelena, making its first wines.  The winery was highly acclaimed for its Chardonnays, though I recall (vividly) a superb 1973 vintage Zinfandel.  Cabernets were good, of course, but Grgich didn't really excel at that variety when Grgich Hills got rolling.  


The 1995 vintage seemed to bring about a major change, that wine having lots of sweet, woodsy notes to it. They've maintained this style since then (happily, in my view).  

 

Here is the "old" Grgich Hills Cabernet label.  If you look closely, you will notice the distinctive grape design is the same as on their Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc labels.  Someone once explained that Grgich is a frugal fellow and merely photocopied the Chardonnay design...he didn't want to commission the artist to draw labels for each and every varietal made by the winery.  They finally had a "color" version designed for their Cabernet Sauvignon.  Finally.  But sharp eyes will notice the same colorful design of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes also adorns Grgich Zinfandel and Merlot bottles!  

 

 

Apparently they ramped up production and are making more wine than their normal channels can sell at the lofty price levels Grgich wines have commanded.  
We've noticed our customers no longer seem interested in the Grgich wines and this is, perhaps, partly due to some curious marketing.  

GROTH

The Groth family has been in Napa since the early-1980s when former Atari company executive Dennis Groth traded the world of Pong video games for the world of Cabernet Sauvignon.

The name "Atari" actually is a Japanese term for when someone hits the bulls-eye or wins the lottery.  In this case, the Groth family cashed out of Atari at a fortuitous moment and cashed in on Napa Valley vineyard land at an equally opportune time.

The Groth family purchased prime Oakville Cabernet vineyards which had been planted by the Silver Oak crew.  They've since replanted and the reputation of the winery is based on Cabernet Sauvignon.

Their Oakville estate vineyards provide the fruit for Groth's Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

Groth's first vintages were made by Nils Venge, a fellow who was quite familiar with Oakville grapes as he'd been at the helm of Villa Mount Eden winery in its early days.

The winemaker since 1984 has been Michael Weis, a fellow who'd been at the Robert Mondavi winery and later at the Vichon property.

The 2007 "Oakville" Cabernet is magnificent and deep, with loads of dark berry notes and lots of sweet, French oak.  The wine displays black fruits and, as it was matured in new French oak (50% was new, anyway), there's a wonderful woodsy element.  The wine is deep, black and intense.  It's sure to attract attention from those who believe they can numerically quantify a wine.  We're sure it'll get a million point rating from someone as it's dark in color and soft in terms of tannin.  Even the winery press materials describe this 2007 as having "gobs of fruit."

The winery folks claim the 2007 can be cellared for ten to 15 years, or so and they may be right.  But we'd suggest erring on drinking this younger, rather than later.

 

 

Currently in stock:  2007 GROTH Napa/Oakville CABERNET SAUVIGNON  (List $50) Sold Out
2006 GROTH "Reserve"  SALE $99.99

HARRISON VINEYARDS
1997 Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon  $99.99

Located near the (now famous) Bryant Family vineyard and Chappellet, the Harrison's offer a medium-full-bodied Cabernet with some of the wild herb elements of some mountain Cabernets.  This is nice now, but probably will really develop with another 3-5 years in bottle.  Only 150 cases were produced, so this is an endangered species.  The aromas are reminiscent of dark cherry along with some cedary notes.  

HART'S DESIRE
2006 Alexander Valley "Claret" $19.99
2007 Cabernet Sauvignon $24.99

This is a small wine enterprise in Sonoma and we find, periodically, some wine in the portfolio we like well enough to recommend to our customers.

Winemaker John Hart is married to a woman named "Desire," so he pretty much had no choice in naming his winemaking enterprise.  It had to be Hart's Desire!

A 2006 vintage Claret features the usual Bordelaise suspects, with Cabernet Sauvignon accounting for 30% of the blend along with 60% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc...Nice wine, well-balanced and drinkable now.  This is one of the best Claret/Meritage/Bordeaux Blends to be had in California and it's a mere $19.99.  Don't miss it.

John's Cabernet Sauvignons are typically balanced, supple and well-priced.  
The 2007 is wonderfully aromatic with fragrances we identify with some wines from Australia:  minty, cassis, violets...a touch of eucalyptus.  
Well, it turns out, according to John, the vineyard has a couple of massive eucalyptus trees in the vicinity and these probably account for the particular character of the wine.
The tannins are soft and so the wine is beautifully drinkable at this stage.  And it's well-priced, too.

 

HEITZ CELLAR

2006 Napa Valley  Cabernet Sauvignon  (List $45)  SALE $39.99
1999 Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon SALE $124.99
2002 Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon SALE $129.99

They started small.  In 1961 Joe Heitz purchased a small cellar and vineyard on the St. Helena Highway.  The man he purchased the place from made one wine from a grape thought to be Italy's Grignolino.  The wine was called "Brendel's Only One". 

Heitz continues to make this excellent "little" wine from this variety.  My contention is this "Grignolino" is probably another Piemontese grape called "Brachetto".  

In any case, Heitz is one of the old-timers, making a style of Cabernet that's a bit of a throwback to a different era.  Their wines do not taste like Bordeaux-wannabes and they steadfastly stick to the notion of giving the wine a certain amount of aging in wood (not new French oak, either) and then in bottle, releasing the wines when they're 5 years of age.  

The 2006 Napa bottling is a medium-full bodied Cabernet.   It's a shade dusty and typically "Heitz-ian" in spice.  The wine is 100% Napa and 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.  A year in American oak tanks and two years in French oak make for a fairly supple, dry red.  It's lovely with steaks, a prime rib roast or some well-seasoned lamb.  We like this now, though it will last another 5-10 years, well-stored.  I included it in a blind-tasting of $75 Napa Cabernets in June of 2011...it was my first place wine of the 8 we tasted!

Trailside is a vineyard which was owned by a guy named Shown and it's just south of Conn Creek Winery along the Silverado Trail.  It has been a very fine Napa Cabernet, not at all like the regular bottling from Heitz, since it's matured exclusively in French oak. I find much more red and black fruit and cedary, sweet oak to this wine.  We'd had the 1999 vintage, but it's recently sold out...Lovely, silky, smooth red...

Highly prized in the crown is a vineyard designated wine called Martha's Vineyard.  This comes from the Oakville-Rutherford border and is named after Martha of owners Mr. & Mrs. Tom May.   It is often a remarkable wine, minty and with a pungent note reminiscent of eucalyptus.  Not to everyone's taste, Martha's Vineyard Cabernets have been a Napa Valley "grand cru" for many years.  The vineyard was replanted and the first vintage in several years is the 1996.  Does it taste like the Martha's Vineyard wines of old?  Happily, the character of the 1996 IS reminiscent of those minty affairs Heitz made years ago.  Perhaps not as intensely minty, but you sense a touch of that character in the 1996.  |

The 1999 vintage is in stock and a really fine example of Heitz' Cabernet and Martha's Vineyard.  It is lovely now and will continue to grow over the next 5-10 years.  Very fine.

The 2002 Martha's Vineyard is superb.  It's not only a great example of "Martha's," it's a demonstration of "grand cru" quality Napa Cabernet.  The wine is deep and complex.  The bouquet is already beautiful and it will only grow more interesting with time.  Kudos to the Heitz family for this!

HEWITT

2004 Hewitt Napa (Rutherford) Cabernet Sauvignon $74.99

The Hewitt label is brand new, but the property the vineyard sits on is an old, historic estate on the Rutherford bench right near the BV winery.

The history of the place is fascinating, weaving together many famous and historic names in Napa Valley enological history.  

Brun & Chaix was a prominent Howell Mountain estate in the late 1800s and Brun was the maternal grand-pappy of William Hewitt.  

In 1962 Hewitt purchased a piece of property, aided by the hubby of the grand-daughter of Georges de Latour, founder of Beaulieu Vineyards.   BV's winemaker, the legendary Andre Tchelistcheff, is reported to have helped Hewitt plant the vineyard.  Hewitt's father-in-law is Charles Deere Wiman, head of the firm which makes John Deere tractors and other farming equipment.  Mr. Hewitt, in the 1980s, became Ambassador Hewitt, mon.  Yes!  He was the U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, don't you know?

Well, old Ambassador Hewitt died in 1998 and the property was purchased by The Chalone Group.  Tom Selfridge, who heads Chalone, used to work for BV years ago and so he knew this vineyard produced dynamite Cabernet fruit.  

The Chalone Group hired Tom Rinaldi away from Duckhorn and Tom makes some "okay" wines under a label called Provenance.  Every time I've been shown these Provenance wines, I have always been reminded they're "made by Tom Rinaldi, former winemaker at Duckhorn."

I have nearly had the idea that Tom has changed his name, the family name now being "Rinaldi-Former-Winemaker-At-Duckhorn," since he's never referred to by these people simply as "Tom Rinaldi."

The Provenance wines, frankly, have yet to capture my attention.  Okay...one wine has been really good...the 2003 To-Kalon Cabernet.  But the rest have been a bit weak or but of standard quality/  For $25-$35, I want a more interesting, compelling wine.

So I have been curious to know if Rinaldi-Former-Winemaker-At-Duckhorn will ever have something of note during this gig with Chalone.

Well, now he has something worth putting his name on.  Or Hewitt's name on.  

The wine is 100% Cabernet, much like the old BV Private Reserve wines.  But Rinaldi-F-W-A-D is still keen on blending, finding it a challenge to craft this wine from various vineyard parcels on the property (which comprises 57 acres).   He says there are several clones, rootstocks and soil variations which provide numerous components for the final "blend."  The grapes from this estate had been, we're led to believe, incorporated into BV's famed Private Reserve Cabernets.

Rinaldi-F-W-A-D claims it's an "intellectual's wine" more than an "in-your-face Cabernet."  We find it to be really good, but there's plenty of power and stuffing to the wine which ought to get some favorable prose from point-scoring critics.

The wine was matured in French oak, 100% of the cooperage being brand new.  The fruit is dark, rich, plummy and ripe.  A note of cedar and tobacco, with just a touch of a sweet tone are in play on the nose and palate.  Mouth-drying at this stage, we suspect a few years in the cellar with soften up the wine on the palate.  

Very showy.  Very nice.  Now I don't think the Duckhorns will mind the constant association...

 

PAUL HOBBS

2007 Napa Valley CABERNET SAUVIGNON (List $82) SALE $72.99

Mr. Hobbs is a globe-trotting wine consultant who's produced some very fine wines over the past few years.  He's been instrumental in helping some wineries in Argentina to elevate their quality to that of "world class" stature.  

We've periodically found some of his own California Cabernets to be pretty good.  Some are not to our taste.  All are expensive.  In fact, a New York Times article examined the costs of producing a bottle of wine and Mr. Hobbs' ideas about pricing the wines.

We included a bottle of Mr. Hobbs' 2004 "Stagecoach" Cabernet in a blind-tasting of Napa wines.  It was the resounding last place wine, costing three times what our first place winner cost.  The $180 price tag has little to do with the quality of the wine and its cost of production.
The wine, though, garnered  high numerical scores from various critics who, apparently, find the need to reward such a pricey wine with a 90 point (or more) evaluation.

Well, in April of 2010 we had a look at the current line-up and we found the basic Napa Cabernet to be a nice glass of wine.  It's not prune-like as some of the Hobbs wines have been...a blend of Cabernet from various vineyards in Napa--Beckstoffer's To Kalon, Hyde, Stagecoach and Beckstoffer's Dr. Crane.  It wouldn't surprise me if they used some alcohol removal tricks to produce this wine.  

The 2007 Napa Cabernet has 2% Cabernet Franc and was matured for about 20 months in French oak, something close to 2/3s of the barrels being brand new.  There's a woodsy note here and lots of dark fruits.  It's certainly drinkable now and will probably cellar well for 5-10 more years.  

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