I have seen this wine come up in searches of other Alexander Valley Cab's along with good reviews, but the price point has usually deterred me from buying it. It's $70.00 from the winery, and the lowest price at a few other websites is $65.00....
So when I saw it at one of the NH Liquor outlets for $36.00 I decided to give it a try. This is a big wine, made like California Cab's used to be. Power with elegance, it has the tannins and backbone to age for at least 10 to 15 years past the vintage date. It's 5 years old now, and just starting to reveal itself nicely.
When first opened it was a bit closed on both the nose and palate, so I decanted about 2/3 of the bottle for an hour. First day brought notes of cherry, plum, cassis, a bit of tobacco leaf, and spice in the nose. Similar notes on the palate along with some blackberry, blueberry added in, and tannins that weren't overbearing.
Day two I noticed the black and blueberry notes in the nose, which really filled the glass...very nice.
Deeper flavors all around that lingered for 25 to 30 seconds, still a bit tannic on the finish but not overly so for me. These tannins would be easily offset by a nice Angus Porterhouse from the grill, topped with a pat of garlic herb butter. Steak tips, a Delmonico or a juicy bacon cheese burger would also be quite good with this wine.
I know most of us don't spend this much on a bottle of wine, but for me I believe this wine will continue to improve over the next 5 years. And it's a chance to buy an upper echelon wine for a great price versus it's normal retail... a special occasion wine for sure.
If you buy a bottle and open it now, decant the wine for 2 to 3 hours while you let those kosher salt seasoned steaks come up to room temperature, then fire up the grill and enjoy!
Let me know what you think....
Cheers,
Ed
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