Category Archives: Napa/Sonoma

Great Wines – Big Price/Flavor

02 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in France, Italy, Napa/Sonoma

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Here are some quicky reviews on some really great red wines – not good, but really great. The price point is a tad higher than the value wines I write about in the newspaper column but, I’d argue, the wines are better than the price point listed!

Philippe Cambie La Calendal 2007 Cotes du Rhone – There is good and then there is crazy good. If you like Rhone wines, no .. make that … if you like red wine, you are going to love this incredible and unique French blend.

I bought this wine because I had heard Philippe Cambie referrer to in such glowing terms in the wine media over and over and over. Well, my colleagues are right on this one. This is a unique Rhone wine because of the blend. It’s 80 percent Mourvedre and 20 percent Grenache.

This was smooth and rich like many Rhone wines but it had much more of a mid-palate and secondary notes than most Rhone bottles. It has dark and earthy qualities beyond the usual $15 entry. For me, credit the Mouvredre – probably my favorite grape many haven’t even heard about! Robert Parker gave this wine 92 points – quite high for a Parker rating of Rhone.

The Cambie wine is easily one of the best Cotes du Rhones I’ve ever tasted.

Philippe Cambie La Calendal 2007 Cotes du Rhone, $23-$27, Very Highly Recommended. 

Girard 2009 Artistry – This big red California blend is awesome wine. It’s a rich blend of 56 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 15 percent Cab Franc, 11 percent Petite Verdot, 10 percent Merlot, and 8 percent Malbec. It’s obviously a Bordeaux style blend that delivers serious bang for the buck. I bought this on an online wine site for $23-$24 but it normally sells at $45.

Frankly, I usually don’t find these wines that good at $45 but this one is an exception. It’s got bright flavors like a cherry or spice. It has a long-lasting finish and beautiful mouth feel. It’s big alcohol at 15 percent without the burn on the finish.

The wine publications, Wine Spectator and Enthusiast, consistently like this wine with ratings of 89-92 through the 1008 vintage.

If you aren’t drinking California blends you are missing out on a lot of great red wines.

Girard 2009 Artistry, $44.99, Highly Recommended

Morlanda Crianza 2007 Priorat – This is great dry Spanish wine. At $40 it may scare some people off, but frankly it drinks above even that price point.

This dry beauty has currents, coffee, and dirt on the palate. This is dry and wonderful red wine. It’s not a sipper but works well with food. I loved this wine with some mildly-spiced, roasted pork.

How do you coax a vineyard into making great wine? You drop fruit and take a low yield. The winery gets just over one ton an acre from the vineyards for this wine. And if you want another good sign, there are only 3,000 cases of the wine produced.

Spectator, Enthusiast and Advocate all give the 2007 a rating of 90 points.

Morlanda Crianza 2007 Priorat, SRP $40, Trade Sample, Highly Recommended.

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Nice, Unusually Smooth Petite Sirah

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in California, Napa/Sonoma

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Petite Sirah can be overwhelmingly big, bold, astringent, and other describers good and bad. But when the wine is done right it can also be very satisfying for big red wine drinkers.

I’m working my way through several sample bottles of California Petite Sirah. I’m just on the second label and so far been surprised at the smooth and lighter style employed by these winemakers.

Tonight, (Jan. 15) is my second night on a bottle of The Crusher, 2001, from Don & Sons. Now if Don & Sons doesn’t ring a bell it should if I give away the fact their last name is Sebastiani.That family is an iconic name in Sonoma County wine dating back nearly 100 years.

The ‘grower’s selection’ Petite Sirah had the beautiful dark purple of Petite along with the ripe plum, licorice, chocolate and a hint of herbs. The alcohol is in check at 13.5 percent. The wine did not have a lot of finish and would not have enough tannin for some drinkers.

One man’s loss is another man or woman’s gain. The Crusher is pretty easy to drink wine. If you’ve never had Petite Sirah it would be a good introduction to the grape. And because it is the Sebastiani family, it’s widely distributed. I’ve actually seen it in a couple of Indiana wine shops since receiving the sample.

I had the wine on night one, when the fruit was more pronounced, with some beef roast and was excellent. The second night the wine had really leveled out with the fruit going a little softer and finish softer yet. That was ok with a quick pan of pasta with seasoned tomatoes.

The Crusher would be a killer selection for easy drinking or the Petite Sirah novice.

The Crusher,$18, Trade Sample, Highly Recommended.

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A Great Saturday Night Bottle of Wine

13 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in California, Napa/Sonoma

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A lot of value wine is featured in reviews, and even more in the newspaper column, on Grape Sense. But like most people I save the ‘good stuff’ – which can also be interpreted as more expensive – for friends or the weekend.

A Great Saturday Night Bottle of WineWith rare warm weather, near 60 degrees, it seemed like a good night to grill a nice Angus ribeye. So with steak getting friendly with the sea salt and fresh ground pepper, it was time to rummage through the wine rack.

A Chilean Cabernet perhaps? Maybe, a big California meritage-style wine would be a great match with the steak and evening sipper. On the third shelf of the rack was two bottles of Peterson Dry Creek Sonoma Bradford Mountain Zinfandel. It was a gift through a work contact. That sounded great so one was opened and decanted a bit.

It was big and beautifully rich red wine that really hit the spot. It is a blend with mostly Zin, and just sa splach of Carignane, and  Mouvredre. It has pretty serious alcohol at 15 percent.

Rich red fruit, chocolate, and a nice spicy/pepper finish makes the Peterson Zin a California (Sonoma) classic. If you like big and rich, the Peterson Zin really hits the spot. I liked the big smooth fruit that didn’t clobber my palate like some Zins. And, frankly, was suprised to see the alcohol was 15.3 percent. I didn’t get any burn on the finish.

The quality of small production wines are tough to beat. Peterson made just 375 cases of this wine from the 2010 vintage.

I visited Peterson briefly during a spring 2012 visit to Sonoma. It is in the same hilltop location with Indiana’s Erik Miller’s Kokomo Vineyards and a couple of other tasting rooms.

Peterson Winery, Dry Creek, Bradford Mountain Zinfandel, $38, Very Highly Recommended.

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Mmmm – Some Wonderful Big Red Wine

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Italy, Napa/Sonoma, Washington State

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It’s winter and cold outside and there’s nothing better than hearty food and some big red wine! I’ve had a couple this weeks that just knocked my socks off. The three range from a dynamite and impressive Washington Blend, an Italian classic, and a bold California Cabernet!

Columbia Crest Horse Heaven Hills Les Cheavaux – Indeed, it would not be a crazy mistake to mis-identfy this Merlot-driven blend as a Bordeaux wine. While not as nuanced as inexpensive Saint Emilion, it has the fruit characteristics to make you look twice at the bottle. It also has a price that doesn’t look anything like what you’d pay for a right-bank Bordeaux!

Lets start with the blend which is 80 percent Merlot, 13 percent Cabernet, and 7 percent Syrah. If you like big bold fruit, you’re going to love this wine. Big fruit, big tannins from 18 months in oak, and enormous value. Dark fruit, dark chocolate, some spice, plenty of earth, and a big finish makes this a great wine for hearty meals.

I’m excited about this wine because of the price point. You just can’t find wine this big and this balanced for $10-$20 – and that exactly the price range you’ll find Horse Heaven Hills in at your favorite wine shop. The national average is $15, duh, and I found it for a bit less!

Oh, did I mention I’m not the only crazy for this wine? Wine Spectator scored this wine at 90 points – and as one of 2012’s outstanding values!

Horse Heaven Hills Les Cheavux, $15, Very Highly Recommended.

La Palazzetta 2009 Rosso di Montalcino – Long one of the best values out of Tuscany, the Rosso di Montalcino wines seldom disappoint.

While this one was a bit flat on the fruit the freshness of the wine was still a defining characteristic. Good Sangiovese has acidity, certainly, but the better-drinking Sangiovese-based wines bring a clean fresh fruit to the palate.

This wine is even a bit floral and incredibly pleasant. I’ve had better, but not many.

La Palazzetta 2009 Rosso di Montalcino, $19.99, Cork+Cracker, Indy, Recommended.

Fontanella 2008 Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon – Oh my! This is darn fine wine. This bottle was a gift I had been saving for a nice occasion and a medium-rare roast with herbs and a friend made for good enough excuse.

After a nice two-hour decant, the Fontanella was silky smooth yet big Cabernet. I absolutely loved the rich mouth feel. Certainly has dark fruit and some hints of wood. It’s a big mouthful of very drinkable California Cabernet.

Truly outstanding wine! 91 points from Wine Spectator!

Fontanella 2008 Mt. Veeder Cabernet, $50, Very Highly Recommended.

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Three Really Great Bottles of Wine

16 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by in California, Italy, Napa/Sonoma

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It’s time to catch up on a couple of recent bottles of wine I’ve found to be outstanding. Two Italians and one California Cab rate highly in my book.

Ca de Rocchi Montere Ripasso – This 2009 Valpolicella Superiore is fabulous Italian wine. The wine is a blend of three varieties grown in Italy’s north-east. Corvina, and Rondinella are the trio primarily involved in the blend.

The wine is lighter than many Italian choices but the wine drinker is rewarded with big beautiful fruit and a rich smooth finish.

I went back and bought more of this beauty after trying just one bottle. This big heavy bottle of wine comes in around $20. I’m not sure the significance, but this might be the heaviest bottle I’ve ever picked up with 750ml of grape juice inside. Pinot Noir often features big heavy-bottomed bottles, but this one was even heavier than most. Talk among yourselves!

This Ripasso might be my all-time favorite for under $20.

Ca de Rocchi Montere Ripasso, $18.99, Very Highly Recommended

Attems Pinot Grigio – I’ve never been a big fan of Pinot Grigio. It never matches up to Oregon’s Pinot Gris which I like a lot. I find most Pinot Grigio (particularly the Italian version) to often be thin or uninteresting.

I’ve now tasted the exception to that stereotyped characterization. This trade sample Attems had an unusual richness that really set it apart from so many other Grigios in the market. It had apple and pear hints on the palate.

The big difference here for  me was the use of some oak. Plenty of Pinot Grigio, Gris, Blanc, etc are often stainless steel only. And generally, I don’t care for much oak in my white wine, but it really made this wine standout.

The tech sheet for this wine indicated 15 percent of the production spends time in barrels while the rest is done in stainless steel.

Attems 2011 Pinot Grigio, SRP $18, Trade Sample, Highly Recommended.

Franciscan 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon – There are well-known names and a second tier of names when it comes to Napa Cabernet. And, come to think of it, there are probably three or four or six more categories.

Franciscan is name known to most wine lovers because it is widely distributed. I find their wines to be consistent and good wines at the price point.

The 2010 Cab has all of the characteristics of great Cabernet. I decanted this wine and even saved a little for the next night. It’s really good Cab but it needs some time on the wine rack. For me, the wine was just too big with some astringency. But, the more wine you drink the easier it gets to identify what the wine is going to be instead of what it is the day you open it. Did that make sense?

This is going to be a really great Cabernet in another 5-10 years. I liked the herbs, black currant, tobacco, and dark chocolate hints. It had really big tannins, but again – give it some time.

This is a blend with 85 percent Cab, 11 percent Merlot, 3 percent Syrah, and 1 percent Malbec. The wine gets 20 months in oak barrells while 25 percent of that sees new oak. So the tannin structure is huge now but there for great aging potential.

It is a mild 13.5 percent alcohol wine. Franciscan distributes a lot of this wine so you should be able to find it at a good nearby wine shop. For the price point, it’s a great wine to go buy two bottles and experiment a little. Open your first bottle and make sure it gets a good decant. Put the other bottle away and don’t open it for at least five years.

Franciscan consistently scores 90-plus points for its Cabernet. When aged or decanted properly, this is tremendous value for $28.

Franciscan 2010 Cabernet, SRP $28, Trade Sample, Recommended

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Mondavi Carneros Pinot Noir is Surprisingly Good

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in California, Napa/Sonoma

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Robert Mondavi = Napa Valley.

Robert Mondavi = Cabernet Sauvignon.

Robert Mondavi = California wine icon.

Now if we were playing a word association game all of those responses would be good ones if you mentioned the name of legendary winemaker and wine ambassador, Robert Mondavi.

But what if we offered this one – Robert Mondavi = Pinot Noir.

Huh? Pinot? Who? What? Why? Pinot Noir? Mondavi?

It might go something like that. Fair or not, Mondavi is associated with Cabernet or maybe his iconic white Fume Blanc (or Sauv Blanc, if you want to get technical.)

So when I received a 2010 Mondavi Pinot Noir sample I wasn’t skeptical, I just didn’t really know what to expect. Fair or not, not many people associate the great Mondavi name with Pinot. When we think of Pinot we think of the Sonoma Coast and the Russian River Valley.

Now, it’s also fair to say the Carneros region in Napa Valley was cool long before Pinot was cool when it comes to Pinot Noir.

I recently popped open the bottle and like, ‘wow dude, (or dudette), this is good Pinot!’

Okay, it has 7 percent Russian River Valley fruit to complement the Carneros but it’s very nice Pinot. The grapes hare hand picked, it sees about one-third new oak barrels, and the wine is still pretty young.

I loved the really nice spicy, soft black fruit flavor. The wine was marvelously balanced and smooth. It had hints of a forest floor and a few fall pumpkin pie spices. It was beautiful wine.

I’ve written before that we take the icons for granted. I tasted five or six $100-plus Mondavi Cabs earlier this year and was really impressed with the consistency and quality. This little $27 Pinot is a welcome brother to the winery’s better known bottles!

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Two Great Glasses (or more) of Awesome Wine

15 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in California, Napa/Sonoma, Oregon

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Oregon’s Willamette Valley view from Penner Ash

Is there anything better for those of us who love wine than a really, really great glass of juice?

I do taste a lot of wine at price points up to $100, I’d guess. I buy some wine in the $40-$60 range and just a few a bit higher. I opened two great wines this weekend that just lights the inner fire to share these great labels and names with those who read my wine writing.

Both wines originated in iconic U.S. wine regions – Napa Cab and Oregon Pinot Noir – and they rocked!

Sattui sits at the north end of Napa on Highway 29

V. Sattui 2007 Mt. Veeder Napa Cabernet -This wine comes from one of Napa’s most unique producers. V. Sattui, one of the region’s oldest wineries, only sells its wine from the tasting room or online sales through its website. It is one of the most visited wineries in Napa.

I tasted through several of their wines during a March 2012 visit. The wines were consistently good. I remember liking a Zinfandel quite a bit before we got to the Cabs. The higher end Cabernet was excellent. I narrowed it down to a couple and purchased a bottle of the Mt. Veeder Cab for $48 which is now listed on their website for $53.

The wine is rich and supple with uber smooth tannins, hints of all sorts of dark fruit like cherry and currants. It is a bit softer than many Napa Cabs which is part of its attraction.

Mt Veeder is one of the premier appellations in the region. Here is a great description from weine-searcher.com:

The eponymous Mount Veeder peak is 2700ft (825m) high, and marks the boundary between Napa and Sonoma counties. The appellation’s highest vineyards lie on a south-west-facing slope just below the summit, and stretch up to 2630ft (800m). 

Located five miles (8km) north-west of Sonoma town and half that distance again from Napa town, Mount Veeder lies equidistant from the two valleys which are arguably the most important in the United States.

This young lady appeared as we finished tasting!

The bottom line is absolutely great Cabernet at a half, or less, the price of many premier Napa Cabs. V. Sattui is a good stop for any first time Napa visitor. They have large deli where all sorts of cheese and other foods are available. There is plenty of room outside to have your own picnic. Some snobs turn their collective noses up at places like V. Sattui but it’s perfect for the first time visitor. The staff was very friendly and knowledable during my visit.

They also have a little fun. Plenty of tasting rooms are very welcoming. But many of the upper end wineries certainly can come off as a bit snobbish. The people here depend on tasting room sales and they know. Staffers make the tasting room experience fun.

V. Sattui 2007 Mt. Veeder Napa Cab, $53, Highly Recommended

Penner Ash 2009 Dussin Vineyard Pinot Noir – I love Pinot Noir and have grown very, very fond of Oregon Pinot. I opened this with a good friend who really appreciates Pinot and we were both just blown away.

I picked up this bottle during a summer 2012 visit at the Willamette Valley winery. Lynn Penner-Ash is certainly an icon in Oregon winemaking. This is the top of her line of great wines. They are widely available (including in Indiana.) You might have trouble finding this particular bottle but her other offerings are worth a search.

This is a small production wine with usual production around 500 cases. The 2010 is the only Dussin Vineyard on the Penner Ash website and it’s listed for $60. My memory fails me but I felt like I paid closer to $70 for this bottle. It was worth every hard-earned nickel.

Penner Ash tasting room action.

Wine Spectator gave the wine 92 points and I couldn’t agree more. I might even go a point or two higher. The wine is almost floral with it’s rich and silky dark fruit. It’s very smooth and enjoyable on the palate with the depth and complexity a serious wine drinker would expect at this price point.

The 2008 Oregon vintage was hailed as one of best in years. I tasted the 2009 early after release and was generally unimpressed. But when I tasted the ’09s a summer ago was really taken by the bold fruit and silky qualities.

Frankly, I have several favorite Willamette Valley producers and this bottle added Penner Ash to the list. There are lower entry points for price and they are worth a try. This particular wine is a great example of how you can buy awesome Pinot Noir without paying Burgundy prices.

Penner Ash 2009 Dussin Vineyard Pinot Noir, $60, Very Highly Recommended.

All photos in this post by my friend Drew Casey, who is now a tasting room associate at Chateau St. Jean in California’s Sonoma County.

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An Easy-Drinking Cab and Chianti Red Wine

02 Friday Nov 2012

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Being way behind on wine mentions/reviews, time to catch up.

Here are some thoughts on really easy to find California Cabernet and Italian Chianti. I’d argue these are two wines you should always have on hand. A nice, easy-to-drink Cab for beef and a nice Chianti for pasta of fava beans in case Anthony Hopkins is a dinner guest!

Robert Mondavi Central Coast 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon – This wine is available, most probably, in your supermarket. Frankly, for $11 or less, you can do much worse. This wine does not have strong Cabernet characteristics but its quite drinkable. And after all, isn’t that always the real test?

The wine is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah, 3% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Malbec and 1% Cabernet Franc from California’s Central Coast. It’s soft, It;s red. It tastes pretty good.

I drank this wine with some mildy spicy pasta and then with some chocolate and found it enjoyable. I love wines like this because they are easy to find and easy to drink.

Mondavi has repackaged this line with a focus on Central Coast fruit. The Mondavi Private Selection remains one of the best values for drinkability in the supermarket and elsewhere.

Robert Mondavi Central Coast 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon- SRP $11, (trade sample), Recomended. Try this wine for $9-$11. It works at that price point.

Banfi 2010 Chianti Superiore –  Wine Spectator gave this wine an 87 and that’s about right. This is much like the Mondavi above. Is it a true representative of great Sangiovese, well – not quite. Is it drinkable and enjoyable – well, yes it is!

It has some cherry and a little astringency but a drinkable bottle of wine. If you have some pasta with tomato sauce or tomato based it will work well.

This wine can be found really cheap and in lots of liquor stores and wine shops. There is nothing special about it other than its simple drinkablility without any negatives. For the price, go out and buy it.

Banfi 2010 Chianti Superiore – SRP $11, (trade sample), Recommended Look around and you might find this bottle at $9-$10.

 
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A Pinch of Salt (Oops, Oak) Can Make a Darn Fine Wine

09 Tuesday Oct 2012

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Peters and Miller in the vineyard behind Kokomo Winery
No wine tasting or even a subscription to Wine Spectator can teach wine enthusiasts more than a few hours visit to the vineyard. The ultimate experience is to tour a vineyard and then spend time with the winemaker.
Through four years of writing about wine it’s an opportunity I’ve been afforded on a number of occasions.
Kokomo Vineyard’s Erik Miller was a gracious host earlier this year and put a few things in perspective with his own winemaking thoughts.
After touring a barrel-making plant in Windsor, Calif, Erik talked about his vineyards and the winemaking process. The conversation started where the morning began and that was with oak barrel aging.
“My philsophy on oak is that we use oak like you’d use salt at a meal,” the Kokomo, IN native said. “You want some salt on your meal so it has that seasoning. It would be bland with out it to some degree but you don’t want to taste the salt.”
But wine is more than just the oak its aged in. Great wine comes from the vineyard. “It’s the terrior – the earth, soild, sun exposure, the bench (land),” Miller said. “That has to be first and foremost in the wine and then that oak is more than a storage vessel. The oak adds some tannin, some flavor and some mouth feel.
“We have to know how to use that and not overpower the delicacy or sense of place. Here I am making 12 different varieties of Zin alone and we use five different vineyards. If I put the same oak on all five vineyards I’d have the same Zin. That common thread would give me a house flavor. I never want a house flavor because those vineyards are very different.”
For vineyard manager Randy Peters the success of Miller’s Kokomo Winery gives him input on what he does with the land and vines.
“Now that we have many more small wineries I can see the end product,” Peters said. “My father and grandfather sold to bigger wineries. There were not a lot of small wineries in their time. All the grapes went into a blend with all the other growers. All the Zin went in a 10,000 gallon tank somewhere.
“Now with smaller wineries like Kokomo, it shows us the things we do in the vineyard throughout the year translates into the wine as a finished product. It makes us feel better spending money and doing work to make a better quality product. We can see it in the finished product by having vineyard designate wines.”
Peters isn’t a grower who sells the grapes and disappears to next year. He is a partner with Miller and regularly tastes the wines of all the wineries who buy his fruit. “That’s an important part of the process, especially if they’re going to put a vineyard designate on it. Then it has to meet my quality standards as well,” Peters said.
Peters and Miller agree that when a wine is a vineyard designate bottling its more than Kokomo Winery.”It’s Paulene’s Vineyard on that bottle, or Peter’s Vineyard,” Miller said. “If there was something lacking that Randy doesn’t think met his standards that’s going to hurt his brand of the vineyard. When you give up the fruit all control is not lost here because we’re in partnership with the vineyards because that name is going on the bottle as well.”
The Dry Creek Valley Kokomo Winery is modest but the wines go far beyond the limited releases seen in the midwest. Miller and Peters team for several wines which often don’t make it beyond the winery or California.
Howard’s Picks:
The Kokomo Cab is really pretty easy to find in wine shops and better liquor stores and a great wine for the price point. But for a real treat try some of the winery’s higher end wines. The Kokomo 2009 Timber Creek Zinfandel (vineyard designate) is tremendous wine. The wine had beautiful black pepper and nice acidity and a well balanced feel on the palate for wine of more than 15 percent alcohol. Wine Spectator gave this wine 90 points.
Howard W. Hewitt, Crawfordsville, IN., writes every other week about wine for 20 midwestern newspapers in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.

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Two Easy-to-Find. Big-Flavored Red Wines

27 Thursday Sep 2012

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Don’t just walk past those brands you see everywhere, because some are really worth your hard-earned dollars.

Ravenswood Zinfandel has seemingly been around forever. You can seemingly find it in groceries, liquor stores, and most wine shops. Ravenswood has a nice line of value wines and and even better line of vineyard designate and higher priced bottles.

Ravenswood 2009 Sonoma County Old Vine Zinfandel – This is a step up from Ravenswood basic entry level Zin and it’s dynamite wine for the money.

It’s rich, smoky, big fruit and nicely balanced red wine. You’ll get the dark fruit, maybe chocolate, and other rich flavors from this wine. It is like most California Zins in that it will hit you with 14.9 percent alcohol. But the fruit does a nice job holding up on the front of the palate. This $15.99 bottle doesn’t quite have the peppery finish I love of slightly higher priced Zins, but it will be a great pairing with your BBQ or pulled pork.

Ravenswood 2009 Sonoma County Old Vine Zinfandel, $15.99 SRP, trade sample, Recommended.

Kokomo Winery 2007 Cabernet Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma – Indiana native Erik Miller has made a name for himself in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley with Cab, Zin, and even his ever-improving white wines.

His 3007 is a nice Cabernet that you will find priced a bit all over the ballpark. I found it ranging from $31 to into the $40s on a net search; but I picked it up on one of the flash internets sites for just under $20 a bottle.

The wine is a big fruity, spicy Cabernet that may not be complex as some but very satisfying. I enjoyed the Cab with a ribeye off the grill and found myself quickly ‘quaffing’ down the Cabernet.

It does have a nice long finish and one you could decant and serve to most wine fans. Serve it with a well-peppered steak and its sure to be a hit.

I liked this wine a lot for what I paid for it and think it’s still a good buy at just over $31.

Kokomo Winery 2007 Cabernet Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma, $32 avg price on net, Highly Recommended as value buy for California Cab.

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