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+--- Thread: Cabernet clinic at Fayetteville Wine Society (/thread-4114.html)
- wondersofwine - 03-23-2010
My week for the king of grapes. Five vintages of Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve on Saturday and 11 Cabernet-based wines at Luigi's in Fayetteville on Monday. We were in Luigi's new party room. During the evening the servers brought out crackers with three robust cheeses, a sausage in tomato and onion sauce, iceberg lettuce in bleu cheese dressing, and breaded pork and sage with creamy/cheesy risotto and snap peas and strips of sweet red pepper. (I gave up cheese for Lent so passed up the cheeses, ate the lettuce with dressing but avoided the chunks of bleu cheese and went ahead with the risotto where the cheese was rather incidental to the dish and couldn't be separated from the rice. I was sorely tempted by the Rosenberg bleu cheese and the cheddar etc. on the appetizer tray. Can hardly wait for Easter to get here.)
This was to be something of a survey of Cabernet Sauvignon around the world so it was important to include one from Bordeaux. We had a 2005 CHATEAU PIBRAN, from Pauillac region. The blend is 50% or more Merlot with a substantial proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon also and some Petit Verdot. At its young age it was fairly tannic and acidic with some cedar, leather, red currants on nose and possibly boysenberries?
Our Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon representation was the 2006 SCHUG CABERNET SAUVIGNON. Walter Schug was a winemaker at Joseph Phelps. The wine is from 85% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes along with other Bordeaux varieties and a small percentage of Syrah. This was a pretty color. It had a slight chewiness and a long finish. Sweet cherry notes and ripe flavors.
We were fortunate to have a winery owner with us. Hank McCrorie, owner of Burly Wines, is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina and his wife is from Sonoma. He presented three vintages of his BURLY CABERNET SAUVIGNON, NAPA VALLEY. The vineyard is in Coombsville area which may soon have its own AVA. Massimo and Mario Monticelli (brothers) are the winemakers. Mario worked under Philippe Melka and Massimo worked at Silver Oak. We were able to compare the 2004, 2005, and 2006 vintages. The vines are very young but already the wines are worthy of notice. They are in some Del Frisco and Ruth's Chris steakhouses and several cases will be available for the Masters golf tournament in Augusta. Production is only around 2000 cases a year, but due to a severe frost in 2008, Burly produced only about 700 cases in that vintage. The percentage of new French oak used at the winery has increased each year, reaching 85% in 2005 and 100% in 2006. I believe Mr. McCrorie said they use 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.
The 2004 BURLY C.S. was my favorite of the three vintages. I was very impressed. The winemaker's notes mention blueberry and cassis but I was having a difficult time identifying the grape and thought possibly dark cherries. Another long finish with some soft, fuzzy tannins on the tail end. Really a nice nose and pleasing on the palate. All three Burly wines were available at @$66 and I ordered one bottle of the 2004.
The 2005 BURLY had deeper, darker fruit and received 92 points from "Wine Spectator." While I prefered the 2004, this was still very nice.
The 2006 BURLY was a bigger, tighter wine and at present is not drinking as well as the 2004 or 2005 but has structure to carry it forward. I'm not sure that I agree with their going to 100% new oak barrels, as I liked the vintages which had a smaller percentage of new oak. If you haven't yet had a chance to try Burly wines, you may want to look for them on restaurant lists.
The entree of breaded pork came out with the Australian flight.
2006 PENLEY ESTATE "CONDOR" CABERNET-SHIRAZ, COONAWARRA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Owner, Kym Tolley,is from the Penfold and Tolley families. Fairly smooth drinking, I liked this enough (at a price in the low $20's) to order two bottles. It received 90 points from Stephen Tanzer and 89 points from Robert Parker and has received high 80's or low 90's in other vintages. In appearance it was dense and opaque. Scarlet rim to the glass. I failed to take notes on the nose or palate but I really enjoyed this. I imagine I will consume my two bottles within a year but I may reorder some to lay down for a few years.
The other Australian entry was 2004 D'ARENBERG "COPPERMINE ROAD" CABERNET SAUVIGNON, McCLAREN VALLEY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Another dense and opaque Aussie. With dark fruits, mint and coffee grounds. Quite young but somewhat approachable. I prefered the Penley wine which is good because the D'Arenberg costs about twice as much.
Moving on to South America we had a wine from Argentina and one from Chile.
2007 CATENA CABERNET SAUVIGNON, MENDOZA, ARGENTINA. 100% C.S. grapes. Sketchy notes but I prefered this to the next wine from Chile and ordered one bottle at about $18 to $19 (it can be located for even less.)
2006 MONTES "ALPHA" CABERNET SAUVIGNON, COLCHAGUA VALLEY, CHILE. 90% C.S. grapes and 10% Merlot. Aged for 12 months in French oak. Didn't excite me. Quite viscous.
Now for South Africa.
2005 WARWICK "THREE CAPE LADIES", STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA, a blend of C.S., Pinotage, Shiraz. Warwick was started by an officer from the Anglo-Boer War who named it after his Warwickshire Regiment. Maybe it was the Pinotage in the blend that turned me off with this wine.
Final entry was from Washington State.
2007 SEVEN HILLS CIEL DU CHEVAL VINEYARD, RED MOUNTAIN AVA, WASHINGTON. (Those of you at the Prosser offline will recognize "Horse Heaven." I was looking forward to trying this one because I think I like the Red Mountain wines, but it was probably just too young. Slight disappointment. 43% C.S., 34% Merlot, 14% Petit Verdot and 9% Cabernet Franc. The mineral signature of the AVA within the larger Columbia Valley region.
My favorites: the 2004 Burly, the 2006 Penley "Condor" C.S.-Shiraz blend, and the Catena Caberbet Sauvignon. For once some of my favorites were not the most expensive wines of the evening (with the exception of the Burly.)
$50 for the evening.
[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 03-23-2010).]