Cabernet

TASTY CABERNET BUY HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

One of the important things a wine merchant can do is show the way. A number of folks are constantly looking for delicious deals on Cabernet. But where do they have to look? At some chain operation that’s going to tell you that whatever they have is the best deal anywhere? At the wine media where by the time you get by all of the 92-point $200 boutique Cabernets your eyes are tired? It’s tough, we know. So it’s our due diligence to mention things that should be on every Cab drinkers radar so you can’t say we didn’t tell you. The Katherine Goldschmidt Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Stonemason Hill 2021, while a little long, is definitely a must.

Kiwi Nick Golgschmidt has been around for a long time and we have sent out a few email offers on some of his exceptional value bottlings. Starting back in 1991 as the assistant winemaker at then ‘big deal’ Simi winery, he has been and still is involved in projects all over the place (California, New Zealand, Argentina, Australia, and Spain). His own family brand is also a priority.

As the winery explains about this site, “Made in tandem by Nick and his middle daughter, Katherine, this very popular Cabernet Sauvignon has become a close family tradition over the years. The 2018 vintage marked a transition to an incredible new vineyard called Stonemason Hill. Located in Alexander Valley, this aptly-named site has large rocks leading up to a stone-walled terrace… This vineyard’s beautiful gravel loam soil with mature vines—many over thirty years old (rather rare in California thanks to phylloxera)—is ideally suited for the discerning tasters looking for an elegant drop with loads of personality and style.”

This has all of that personality with a pleasing core of black cherry, other dark fruits, and notes of spice, toffee, and a little underlying, balancing savory. It’s a straight forward, delicious mouthful of Cab with round, broad, honest fruit and pure Cabernet flavors. This is the wine all Cabernet fans should be looking for as it is everything you could ask and $21.98. How much delicious, honest Cabernet is out there for that kind of fare? Not much.

The Katherine Goldschmidt Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Stonemason Hill 202 is the answer to a lot of Cabernet questions. Yet if we don’t mention stuff like this, who will? Most of the high profile writers aren’t going to even bother with a wine like this, even though it is a personality filled, single-vineyard bottling. It’s not a ‘hot’ producer (though it’s an accomplished one), and Alexander Valley isn’t a glamor locale (except for maybe Silver Oak). If they do review it, it is upper 80s or low 90s at best because you have to save the big scores for the big boys. Now if you spend your time with a bunch of folks that have oil wells or tech companies, this might not have the cache for you. But if you like a really good bottle of Cabernet that doesn’t cost a fortune, this is that!

Here are a couple of reviews that tell the story. From James Suckling, “Coffee candies, black cherries, olives and blackberries. Quite rich and obvious, with a degree of sweetness in the full-bodied palate. Chewy, fine-grained structure. Flattering and easy to understand. Drink in 2023…90 points.”

And from Wne Enthusaist, “Tasty cocoa, blueberry and maple flavors ride a velvety texture of smooth tannins in this full-bodied, rich and lavishly oaked wine. Cedar, vanilla, clove and slight wood-char accents give it a spicy, soft allure…91 points.”

You don’t drink ‘cache’ or ‘numbers’ and this very likeable Cab, from an excellent vintage, hits all the notes for not a lot of money. That is the point.

A PLAYFUL VALUE NAPA CAB FROM A MULTI-100 PT. WINEMAKER

Our intent here is to talk about an excellent value with respect to Napa Cabernet. Bear in mind that, given the typical price of Napa Cab, you can make a pretty good case for the $60-70 range as a legitimate value given that most Cabernets of this quality start above $90 and go up from there. The Teeter Totter label has behind it winemaker/owner Benoit Touquette who worked alongside Andy Erickson on iconic labels like Arietta, Favia, Hartwell, Ovid, and Screaming Eagle, as well as Chateau La Louviere and Chateau Couhins-Lurton in his native Bordeaux, and is currently the winemaker for Napa super-boutique Realm. The guy knows what good wine is supposed to taste like (he has made, thus far, 28 wines that have received 100 point scores) and that is an important perspective with any project. His name gives Teeter Totter gravitas and credibility, even though the label is quite playful.

Teeter-Totter is Benoit’s affordable Cabernet (again, by Napa standards…most of what Benoit makes has three-digit prices) but clearly the grape sourcing and winemaking speak of a higher plane. The blend for the Teeter Totter Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2021 is a little quirky, in this case 85% Cabernet Sauvignon blended with 5% Zinfandel, 5% Charbono and 5% Petite Sirah. You get the power and elegance of classic Napa Cab but with a somewhat boisterous fruit note courtesy of the ‘other’ varietals in this blend.

Suave, chocolaty, with abundant creamy cassis and plum fruit with notes of tobacco and cedar, this has been a 92-and-up consistently itself (94 for the 2019) through the 2019 vintage from Jeb Dunnuck, The 2021 (like many Napa producers, they didn’t make a 2020 version) reflects another excellent vintage in Napa that is more elegant but still with abundant sleek fruit. Put this in your ‘white tablecloth’ scenario and no one would guess you paid a mere $64.98.

‘THE BUNNY’ IS BACK PLUS OTHER VALUE CAB NOTES…

First, we’ll reiterate our broad massage. Thanks to the wildfires in Napa in 2020, there will be a lot less Cabernet on the market thanks to the residual smoke taint that affected the later-ripening Cabernet grapes. A lot of wineries simply did not produces Cabernet from the vintage, and were sure the juice is out there somewhere cleaned up in someone’s blend. That said, we suggest people be more attuned to the wines that are currently available, from prior, non-tainted (and actually quite good) vintages,

First up is the Coniglio Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, affectionately called ‘the Bunny’ around here (coniglio is the Italian word for ‘rabbit’). This winery has been a repeated feature over the years as they wind down what we presume are suspended operations. This family winery has favored a rich, well oaked style Cabernet for as long as we have dealt with them … a rich, savory, full-throttle mouthful that begs for some grilled beef.

The Coniglio Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2015 is all could you could ask of a Napa Cab. The nose speaks of spicy oak and a fruit component that centers on cassis and mulberry spice and a direct, full throttle approach. We’ve sold many manifestations over the years that are usually district focused. This one, from a respected and historic district, off the Silverado Trail has the structure one expects from mountain vineyards, yet it is approachable and enjoyable now. It bears that family resemblance to all of the Coniglio Cabs we have sold in the past…full flavored, well seasoned with French oak and with loads of character. It carries a $70 list price on their website but, because of our long term relationship, we can sell you this delicious Napa Cabernet, with bottle age, for a lot less ($32.98). The timing couldn’t be better.

The wines of Rowland Cellars in the Napa Valley (Ramspeck, Cenay, Rowland) aren’t widely known, but they have been on our radar for a long time and we have tasted a number of offerings over the years. They are always solid with the occasional ‘hit’. The Ramspeck Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2019 really hit the spot, a particularly timely effort given the current outlook for Napa Cabernet. WInemaker/owner Gerry Rowland is Australian born and got his degree at the prestigious Roseworthy College in Adelaide. Plump, honest, pure varietal black fruits laced with some spice and flacks of minerality, this is a pleasing, round, user-friendly Napa Cab at a great price ($26.98).

Just a reminder, we got in the last bits of the Thread Feather Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District 2019. The Thread Feather lineup, from the obvious well-connected negociant firm Flight Wine Company. To quote ourselves from an earlier email, “Simply put, this wine blew us away, and you know we don’t say that kind of thing all that often. We’ve had plenty of top-end, ‘reserve’ bottlings from Stag’s Leap wineries at three to five times the price that don’t deliver this much character and joy. A gorgeous, hedonistic Cabernet even in its impetuous youth, at $39.98, you’ll feel like you got away with something that was mismarked.”

Finally, as an early warning, you’re likely to see an email pretty soon on the Marietta Cabernet Sauvignon Arme 2019. The ‘Brothers Balbro’ are in quite the groove right now, churning out one jaw dropping value after another. You might recall their highly reviewed 2018 Cabernet Arte from last year and their 95-point Old Vine Red from very recently. Well their 2019 Cabernet Sauvingnon Arte finished in the money again. From Wine Advocate, ” The 2019 Armé Cabernet Sauvignon has a medium ruby-purple color and layered aromas of red and black currants, violet, iron, underbrush and mushrooms. The medium-bodied palate is pleasantly rustic and a touch chewy, with bright acidity, pretty floral perfume and an earth-laced finish…94 Points.” From Sonoma, only $24.98.

SERIOUSLY GOOD CABERNET

We taste a lot of Cabernets always with the intent of finding the best and the brightest as well as striking values when the opportunity presents itself. It is rare for us to get ‘wowed’. But in the case of The Setting Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 2019, we were impressed in a way that rarely happens around here.

We’ll give you the winery spiel first, “Known for his ability to extract the deepest expression of each vineyard into his wines, Jesse uses extended barrel time in new and neutral oak, as well as minimal intervention to produce unfined, unfiltered wines that delicately balance purity of fruit with the distinct characters of each site.”

While that sounds like a pretty lofty profile for winemaker/partner Jesse Katz, son of famous photographer Andy Katz, in our experience nothing is overstated. Having spent time a Petrus, Screaming Eagle, Robert Foley, and Vina Cobos, he had the opportunity to work with top of the heap talent and clearly learned his craft well. He was the founding winemaker at Lancaster, and has been getting accolades for his current work at Aperture, and this project is his own. The expectations were high and they have been met if not exceeded.

The 2018 version of this wine were pretty spectacular and collected a number of impressive scores including a 97 from Wine Advocate. There have been no reviews we have seen on this wine yet, but we suspect it will get its due. What is interesting here is that the review on the 2018 from Jeb Dunnuck is pretty much interchangeable with our impressions of The Setting Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 2019:

“The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley is stunning stuff, offering up a dense purple color as well as both black and blue fruits, notes of lead pencil, crushed stone, graphite, and tobacco, full-bodied richness, ripe, velvety tannins, and a great finish. This powerful, sexy, seamless Cabernet will keep for two decades or more. “

Like the winery press release says, this wine really does deeply express the dark red fruits and spice, layered with chocolate and coffee tones, that is the Alexander Valley at its best. The depth of fruit, power, poise and balance are at a level that few producers achieve at any price. It is one of the most impressive Cabs we have tasted in a very long time and actually represents a value at a price under $100. As you know, we don’t spend a lot of time trying to sell California wines in this kind of price range. But this one is well worth the experience.

ANOTHER EXCEPTIONAL NAPA CAB VALUE FROM KRUTZ

Not to sound like a broken record but we are starting to see at our end of the distribution spectrum the beginning of what we shall call ‘the great nothing’. We’re referring to the anticipated shortage of Cabernet Sauvignon over the next couple of years. If you’ll recall, late wildfires in the fall of 2020, besides destroying a lot of property, created smoke taint on many of the grapes that were still hanging in the vineyards which, at that time of fall, was mainly Cabernet.

A lot of premium wineries are not producing 2020 vintage Cabs. We’ll leave the rest of it to your imagination except for saying that Cab drinkers need to prepare for ‘the gap’. For our part, we are going double-time through Cabernet options, and still finding some pretty cool stuff from the 2018 and 2019 vintages. But as you can imagine, the number of options are shrinking while our standards are unchanged.

In light of that, let us introduce a label that is new to us. Krutz is a family winery that started in 2003 in Monterey with a 60 case production and eventually migrated to Sonoma. Actually first they migrated to California from Mississippi where the brothers Krutz were born. The bottle bears a magnolia on the label (the state flower of Mississippi) to represent their southern roots.

Thought they are located in Sonoma, they make wine from all over the place. For example there is a Pinot Noir from Soberanes Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and under their value Magnolia label a Sonoma Cabernet. But it was this Krutz Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2019 that presented us something that was really timely. The fact we could sell this dark, ample, tasty Cabernet for under $40 that made it an even more important find.

The Krutz Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2019 is 100% Cabernet from multiple vineyard sites in the Valley. For the geeks out there, the notes say the soils are ‘mountain rock’ and the vines were Clone 4 and Clone 7. Of more specific interest to us is that the wine saw 22 months in French oak, 50% new. Only 300 cases were produced.

This has classic deep Cabernet color and aromas of chocolate, cassis, and cedar. It has the size and volume in the mouth to please Cabernet fans, a plush palate feel and fine balance. The finish brings back the chocolate plus tobacco and the telltale signs of premium oak in support of the fruit.

With only 300 cases, not a lot of pundits have run across it. But Jeb Dunnuck’s take echoes our own, “The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is outstanding. All varietal aged in 50% new oak, it has some pure cassis fruit as well as textbook herbal and tobacco notes. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it’s elegant and has supple tannins, wonderful balance, and a great finish. It could be two to three times the price and still be a good value…93 Points.”

Forty bucks for good Napa Cabernet is a sensational deal in today’s market, particularly given the Cabernet outlook for the next couple of years. But it is also part of our Blue Chip Wine Club, so members can save even more!

ANOTHER VALUE CAB FIND (LIKE UNDER $20!)

It’s always good to find a well-performing California Cabernet Sauvignon at a great price. It has been a prime directive of ours almost since ‘day one’. But it should be stressed that, over the next couple of years as the market deals with the aftermath of the 2020 wildfires, this particular crusade is only going to get harder. Finding an ample, tasty Cab for under $25 is a greater achievement than it has ever been. For that reason, we are digging harder than ever, our task even more difficult because of our own unwavering standards.

That said, there are still things in the broad market from the very good 2018 and 2019 vintages out there at present that one should consider stockpiling to get through the ‘dark times’. Our latest find is Valravn Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 2109, the California wine project that has been building over the last decade as an adjunct for an importing company. Over that time they have developed sourcing relationships that are clearly paying off if this wine is any indication.

This is an ample, ripe Cabernet is composed of 92% Cab and the remaining 8% a mix of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. The grapes hail from a variety of Sonoma County vineyards including the sub-appellations of Dry Creek Valley, Moon Mountain, Sonoma Valley, and the cooler Knights Valley.
Combining elevations, aspects, climates, and soil types allowed the producers to blend the components for a seamless composition.

In the cellar, it is handled like an expensive wine. Hand-sorted grapes undergo an extended cold-soak followed by primary fermentation in stainless steel. The wine is then racked to French oak barrels (new, second use, and neutral) for 18 months of aging. After aging, the wine was gravity settled and bottled unfined and unfiltered.

There are a few stumbling blocks on the marketing end. For example, as you’ll note, the juice came from Sonoma. They do grow some fine Cabernet there however. Just think back to the delicious Sinegal Details bottling we offered a while back. But Napa has done a better job of promotion.

Also, the name looks like someone forgot to buy a vowel. But the name is in fact a reference to Danish folklore where ‘regular’ ravens who ate the hearts of kings felled in battle became supernatural. Sounds more like an episode of ‘Vikings’ than a name for a wine but we aren’t ‘judging’. Besides, the value here supersedes all of that.

The happy outcome of all of this is a big, juicy, fruit driven display of black fruits laced with flecks of clove, spice, espresso and dark chocolate. Deep color, honest fruit, sleek texture, this delivers far beyond its remarkably modest price point ($19.98).

NOTABLE UNDER-$10 REDS

When we started back in 1982, the world was a different place. The internet didn’t exist, nor did emails or social media and shipping to consumers beyond the local neighborhood was out of the ordinary. Most everything was sold by someone coming to an establishment and physically picking up the bottle. A lot has changed over the years, but a handy, go-to, well-made, and well priced offering still has value in the marketplace.

We keep tabs on all price ranges here, but admittedly have little tolerance for clearly manipulated wines in any price range. Unfortunately, in the lower price rungs, the majority of offerings seem to fall into that category. We are looking for wines that are honest and varietal at every level.

We became aware of Shannon Ridge wines many years ago but, in truth, the wines weren’t particularly memorable. A lot has changed since then. It is unique in a few ways. This family-owned winery is in Lake County, which has seen a lot of development in recent years. Also the vineyards from which the Shannon Ridge wines come are situated at 2200 foot elevation and the winery is committed to sustainable farming. If you start with good fruit, odds are you can do something exciting with it. Wines like this, with honest, unfettered fruit and a sub-$10 price are exciting to a lot of people.

The winery is working on offerings in a variety of styles and price points, but it was this pair of reds under the ‘High Elevation’ banner at the value end of the spectrum that presented the most potential. Such wines are not abundant in the marketplace. Good color, good weight, varietal character and this kind of pricing may not ‘shock the world’, but they will make a lot of friends.

The Shannon Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Lake County 2019 , all from mountain fruit, is a direct presentation of ripe blackberry and dark cherry, some spice and woodsy notes, and honest flavors. It got a 92 point nod from Wine Enthusiast with comments, “Bold and nicely spicy, this full-bodied wine wraps delicious black-cherry and blackberry flavors in moderate tannins, while hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla weave in and out of the fruit.”

The Shannon Ridge Petite Sirah Lake County 2019 is definitely something of a throwback style and has the punchy, full throttle black fruit one expects from the varietal. Pretty much a fast ball down the middle for fans of Petite Sirah, with flecks of pepper and spice woven into the aromatics and flavors. Wine Enthusaist said of this, “Quite ripe and jammy, this deeply colored wine also sports nicely integrated tannins that balance the intense blueberry and blackberry flavors. Being relatively smooth and polished for the varietal, it’s ready to drink through 2026…90 points.”

Will these wines change your life? Probably not. But do they show the potential of Lake County ‘done right’ and deliver exceptional value? Absolutely. Stuff like this never goes out of style.

ANOTHER GREAT ‘UNDER-THE-RADAR” NAPA CAB

We’re always looking for another sneaky good Napa Cabernet at a great price no matter what. The upcoming shortage of Napa Cabernet (and a few other things) thanks to the 2020 wildfires has made the search even more urgent. A lot of folks haven’t really taken our message that seriously but, as an example of what we are talking about, our supplier just informed us that there will be no Cakebread Chardonnay available for retail until September! Armagedden? Maybe not quite, but certainly worth noting.

This one is a bit unique in a “French connection” sort of way. Winemaker Christine Barbe was born and raised in Bordeaux France. She studied biochemistry and received her doctorate degree in Enology and Viticulture from the Bordeaux Institute of Enology. Her knowledge of Sauvignon Blanc is extensive as she made wine at Chateau Carbonnieux and La Louviere in Pessac-Leognan as well as the renowned Denis Dubourdieu.

WHile the winery seems to be best known for Sauvignon Blanc, which has a style that mimics a white Bordeaux, clearly she picked up a few nuggets on Cabernet while she was at it. The style of the Terroir Coquerel Cabernet Sauvignon Walnut Wash 2019 definitely shows a Bordeaux sensibility and elegance, but still has the richness and body of something New World.

Plush and tender for its age and definitely in that value price range for Napa Cabernet, there’s a seamless presentation of blue fruits with notes of of savory spice, cocoa, and toast that delivers a nicely proportioned mouthful that will deliver substance alongside grilled red meats while not being s0 ‘big’ that it will overpower food. Nicely defined, lovely Cabernet, there aren’t any current reviews on this bottling but, in the upcoming Cabernet crisis, this is a fantastic option to have on hand from both a performance and price perspective.

SURPRISE CAB DEAL FROM A FAMILIAR ‘FACE’

Corporate types never seem to tire of creating new SKUs. Beringer already has a few different Cabernet bottlings. We went to their website and started counting, quitting when we got to 30. So why not one more? We had not seen the Cabernet Sauvignon Distinction Series before this 2016, nor could we find a review on a vintage before this (though there was a 2014 on the Beringer site). So we’ll say this is not the first, just the first for us. It is packaged in a black label that is a different design than their Knight’s Valley.

So what is it? Good question. From the winery, “Beringer’s Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is an enticing expression of this varietal and the depth and complexity of flavor it can exhibit when grown in the right place. Select vineyards and blocks from AVAs up and down the valley are used to craft a wine that is the quintessential expression of Napa Valley terroir.” That doesn’t really tell us a lot but it wasn’t the marketing that caused us get interested in this, it was the juice itself. Whatever they called it, they clearly had bigger intensions for this one, as evidenced by the $65 price on the website.

Deep, saturated color leaning toward black, a big nose of cocoa, vanilla and toasty oak along with cassis and dark cherry, it prepares you for what’s coming. With air, insistent spice notes started to emerge and the well ‘seasoned’ fruit making a big impression across the palate. This is big, dark, expressive Cab from a vaunted vintage. Yes this winery makes a lot of wine, but they have wherewithal to make some rocking Cab when they have a mind, too. To be clear, no one is going to confuse this with something European. This is unabashedly Californian and we were taken with its power and balance and thought we’d pass the message along.

It got some love from Wine Advocate’s Lisa Perotti-Brown who wrote, “The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Distinctions is blended of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petite Sirah, aged in 35% new French oak for 20 months. Deep garnet-purple colored, it bursts from the glass with crème de cassis, blueberry pie and preserved plums over nuances of Chinese five spice, hoisin, chocolate box and dusty soil. Full-bodied, rich and decadent, it has loads of spicy layers and a firm, grainy backbone, finishing on an earthy note… 93 points.”

Even though the name doesn’t really tell you much of a story, at just a notch over $40 ($41.98) the Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Distinction Series 2016 qualifies as a notable value in Napa Cabernet,

‘LITTLE’ CAB FROM A TOP GUN, CALIFORNIA STYLE

Long time followers of Napa Cabernet will recognize the Chateau Le Grande Roche as the working, quite competent value bottling/second wine of Napa icon Ric Forman. What brings up the conversation this time around is that this particular bottling hits heights we don’t recall experiencing with past efforts. Yeah, they have been quite good on a consistent basis, but not this good. The label was created way back in 1984 as a second wine and, as is common in the Napa Valley, is not acknowledged on the Forman website so there is no visible association with the ‘premier’ label.

That being said, since Ric has been making wine, and this wine for a long time, we have to attribute this wine’s plush, outgoing, layered personality to 2018. The supple cassis and black cherry fruit that rolls across the palate like a wave, leaving flecks of toast and minerality as a calling card. Such a profile has been a recurrent theme with the 2018 and 2019 Cabs we have tasted thus far from Napa. Delicous, well-infused acidity, melty tannins, the Chateau Grande Roche Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 definitely made us pay attention. This isn’t a wine that is on everybody’s mind and it isn’t aggressively marketed. That said, our message is simple…don’t miss it. This is a sleeper hiding in plain sight.

From Antonio Galloni, “The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Chateau La Grande Roche is such a delicious wine. A burst of sweet red cherry, red plum, mocha, spice, licorice and leather race out of the glass. Exuberant and juicy, yet very much medium in body, the 2018 is a wine of pure and total pleasure. All the elements come together in a mid-weight Cabernet Sauvignon that hits all the right notes. The Grand Roche is the second selection from the Forman Cabernet, and a great value to boot…93 Points.”