Wow. This may be the best cab I've ever tasted. Cabs are sturdy grapes so grow almost anywhere and they don't mutate so they always taste the same. The opposite of a Pinot Noir, which mutate if you look at them funny. Cabernet is a go-to wine. You can screw them up if they get too much water or you ferment them too hot or too cold, but if you do your part and grow them right, you get a cab that tastes like every other competent cab. Most vintners sigh at this. What's the point of making a competent cab that can't get awards because a good one doesn't stand out? See the problem?
And then you get this one, which has gone above and beyond to be smooth, fragrant, fruity with blackberry and black cherry hints and a nice dark color. This would be good with expensive cheese, with lamb, with smoked salmon and gouda, with roast beef or prime rib, with filet mignon which I normally pair with Zinfandel for the pepper notes. Its so good I'm flitting it around in my mouth to taste it better. And it improves as it warms and breathes.
England used to have wines like this, during the Medieval Warm Period from the dark ages to the start of the little Ice Age in 1250, around the time of my many greats grandfather was bedding a lot of Welsh maids after winning jousting tournaments (no, that's not exaggeration or a joke. It happened) and fathering what is now over 150,000 named descendants. Probably quite a few more. Wales does inheritance based on the father, irrespective of marriage. All are considered legitimate under Welsh laws, the opposite of English law. If you think that's nothing to brag about, I remind you that Catherine Zeta Jones is welsh, and widely considered to be one of the more beautiful women alive. Imagine her multiplied by a few thousand times with slight variations, all pining for the same guy who is as popular in Jousting as Michael Jordan was to basketball. And just as rich. So yeah, lots of children.
Anyway, there used to be wineries in England, in Devon and the lowlands where it is warm enough. They had cabernet grapes so made lots of good wine. Then the weather changed after some big volcano erupted in Indonesia or South America and climate chilled for the next 600 years. The grapes died, the wineries went under, and English wine ceased to be good. They imported from France instead. Its a pity that climate is completely out of human control. If it warmed enough, they could replant the vineyards in England and Top Gear could complain about it, since they love to complain about farmers and fields and stuff on the road in front of them. Wine Tasting tourist would irritate Clarkson something fierce. I however, grew up around wine tasting tourist and I learned how to pass, a crucial skill for any proper driver. I do hope he learns that. If it gets warm enough to get vineyards again.
While I remember my sexy coworker, a woman with curls and dimples and a significant sex appeal back when I worked in the wine industry, whined about J. Lohr being an absolute stickler about appointment times for wine pickups (better be within 20 minutes of the appointment or they lock you out), this is a very good wine. Wine rewards finicky sticklers. It may annoy the buyer, but the wine maker is all about getting the details right. And this one has.
5 stars.
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