I love Napa cabernets. They are big, powerful wines full of fruit, tannins, exotic spice, and when aged, leather and tobacco. They are great with steaks, chops and roasts. In other words, they are like California, and in that bigness may be the sense of place that makes these wines truly world class.
The only drawback to these beauties are their price, with many of the top producers charging well over $100 per bottle, sometimes reaching to $150 and over $200. Last March, I had the pleasure of attending a vertical tasting of Shafer Hillside Select cabernets. The 1996 was spectacular, one of the best red wines I ever tasted. Suggested retail: $216. The Rudd Estate wine $150. Perhaps you care for something a little less expensive, but grown near this great company, try the Oakville East Exposures and that's $100. All are really excellent wines, all are over $100. You can go up and down the valley and it's the same thing.
And that is the problem, I love great Cabernet, but I can't afford it. What are the solutions to this challenge. First is to try the second bottlings of the great producers. You will find some relief here, but no bargains. You can try other varietals. Great, first growth quality Zinfandel is available fro $25-$50 per bottle. Excellent pinot noir is $50-$75 per bottle. These are great wines, but they are not cabs.
Maybe the best solution is to look outside of the Napa Valley for everyday cabs. In a roundabout way, the first stop on this exploration was Washington State. Last year, I attended a warehouse sale conducted by the wine giant Diageo in Sonoma CA. There I picked up a case of Canoe Ridge Horse Heaven Hills 2005 Cabernet for about $4.50 per bottle. Was it Napa cab, no, was it great wine for everyday drinking? You bet it was.
The next place I looked was Sonoma Valley. There are two Cabernet producers of great interest, Arrowood and Chateau St. Jean. Arrowood makes a Sonoma County bottling, and several reserve lines. The last time I was there we tasted a Monte Rosso Vineyard bottling from 2006 that just knocked my socks off. At $70 per bottle, it was approaching Napa Valley pricing. But at $35 the Sonoma Valley cab offered plenty of drinking pleasure at a reasonable price. And a search of the Internet may find that bottle at a lower price.
Chateau St. Jean produces Cinq Cepages, a wine that in a good year approaches Napa in power and finses. And even in those years it still has a suggested retail price of only $75. And sometimes it is available at Costco for considerably less.
Which brings me to last weekend. Jessica and I attended the Taste of the Valley in Alexander Valley, an area known for Cabernet Sauvignon. In past years, I have not been very impressed with cabs from this AVA. Whenever I tasted them, I always felt "that's nice, but they are not Napa." Well, nothing is further from the truth, we tasted some truly spectacular wines from this area. Stonestreet (a KJ property), Soda Rock winery (a property of the expanding Wilson Family of Wines) and Robert Young.
Soda Rock and Stonestreet had spectacular offerings at $30 per bottle. Robert Young and Silver Oak's were at $50 plus. All of them had power, finese with great fruit, tannins and well, all those things that make California Cab California Cab. Were they as good as Napa cabs? A fair question, but the only way to answer it was a side by side tasting we did at Silver Oak, an Alexander Valley cab vs. their Napa cab. The Alexander Valley cab was well made and had all the elements I love in cabs. They Napa Valley cab had all that and more. It had an acidity that just made me want to drink more and more of it.
And that's the bottom line, Napa cabs are just from another planet. And to go to that planet you just have to swallow, and pay up.
Thanks for stopping by. Yesterday I had the pleasure of tasting Champagnes from 38 houses. And do you believe that I was spitting these out!
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