2009 The Prisoner

A Slight Decline, But Still Sublime

I am a big fan of The Prisoner. This is not news to anyone who previously read my rhapsodic review of the 2008 vintage. If you haven’t, feel free to, either now, or when you’re finished here.

I’m also a big fan of this wine, although it does show some dissimilarities with its immediate predecessor.

2009 The Prisoner Napa Valley Red Wine

For one thing, while Orin Swift Cellars is still the name on the bottle, a new crew owns The Prisoner. The 2009 is the first vintage bottled by The Prisoner’s new owners, Huneeus Vintners, who also own (among others) Quintessa and Faust in Napa Valley, Flowers on the Sonoma Coast, and Veramonte in Chile.

I’m not so sure the change in ownership has benefitted the wine. In fact, before finding any of this out, I had already decided I preferred the 2008. Still, this remains one of the single finest value buys in Napa Valley wine in my opinion. At $35 per bottle, you can easily do much, much worse.

In fact, don’t let my hand-wringing over the inside baseball of ownership dissuade you: this is some really, really good wine.

The 2009 Prisoner has a dark burgundy core in the glass, that lightens a bit to red at its edges. On the nose you’ll find ripe cherries, a touch of strawberry and raspberry. The nose is almost entirely fruit, and not quite as complex as the previous vintage. The wine is medium bodied, and the palate gives more of the complex aromas and flavors that are missing a bit from the nose: incredibly bright, jammy raspberry and cherry notes mingle with subtle dark chocolate and just a touch of smoke.

Soft, supple tannins round out the mouthfeel. Incredibly tasty.

Hopefully, Huneeus won’t fix what ain’t broke, and hopefully fans will be able to enjoy The Prisoner for years to come.

2007 Raymond Sommelier Selection Cabernet Sauvignon

The Sommelier Selects the Uninspired

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t bad wine. It might not be easy to find, and it might not be the cheapest (Raymond’s “Reserve Selection” sells for less and is more readily available, from what I can discern), but it isn’t bad. The thing is, it isn’t particularly good, either.

2007 Raymond Sommelier Selection Cabernet Sauvignon

These are tough wines to write about. Wines from renowned producers (or at the very least, popular producers), that really are not examples of bad wine, but that I also can’t get all giddy excited about and explain breathlessly to you why you should drink it.

I know this is available by the glass at a local wine bar to me, because that’s where I tried it, but you may not have a hip wine bar near you. You may not be able to find the Sommelier Selection, but if you really like cabernet (who doesn’t?), the following notes sound up your alley, the price is right, and the opportunity presents… you could do much worse.

The wine is dark ruby red at its core, and only lightens a touch, to a brighter shade of ruby. On the nose is a bit too much alcohol for my taste, but some nice blackberry and black cherry, and a hint of cedar box.

The 2007 Raymond Sommelier Selection is light to medium-bodied, with a short finish, and tannins that are present, but not too rough on you. Mostly-similar notes to the nose appear on the palate, including the black cherry and cedar, but there is a touch of herbaciousness here, something just a touch green, that you’ll either love or hate, depending on how you like your cabernet.

I can recommend the Raymond, it’s a bit simple, but easy to drink and inoffensive.

2008 Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc

More Than Just A Summer Sipper

The days are getting warm again.

As my diligent temperature-tracking tool for my hometown of Walnut Creek, CA, will attest, it got up over 81° F on Monday. May is here, Spring is in full swing, and barbecue season is right around the corner.

2008 Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc

Fittingly enough, this is a wine I drank for the first time last summer. It’s just the kind of wine I want to turn to in the coming months, with their hot days, warm nights, perfect barbecue weather, and all that. A picnic in the park! See, I just thought of another place to drink this wine!

Cakebread Cellars has put together this very nice sauvignon blanc from not just sauv blanc, but from sauvignon musqué (an aromatic clone of sauv blanc) and semillon, with which sauv blanc is blended in almost every Bordeaux Blanc in France.

The wine goes through a very specific, and I find quite interesting, fermentation and aging process. 67% of the 2008 sauv blanc was fermented in steel tanks, then aged in neutral French oak barrels; 18% was fermented and aged in barrel; 15% was fermented and aged in tank, with no barrel time at all. A blend of processes like this makes for a very complete, well-rounded wine.

The 2008 Cakebread sauvignon blanc is light yellow in the glass, but like a lot of sauv blancs that I love (and I do love me some sauv blanc), there is a nice hint of green to the color of the wine. On the nose are crisp notes of apple and pear, very clean. The wine itself, though, is a touch more tropical, with notes of mango and melon to go along with the apple from the nose, plus a hint of sweet citrus and clean, biting minerality that I quite liked.

It might be a touch too sweet for me to get to a “freak out” stage for this wine, but overall, it’s an incredibly well-rounded, tasty, refreshing, and interesting white wine. More than just your average summer sipper, for sure; but definitely good to sip in the summer.