This Wine + More Time = Amazing Meritage

2006 Ferrari-Carano Tresor

The barrel room at Ferrari-Carano

Back to beautiful Ferrari-Carano.

As I mentioned in my review of their Eldorado Gold dessert wine, Ferrari-Carano is a pretty spectacular place. Visually stunning, physically impressive, it even smells good there.

One of the wines that Philippe sent my way, and for which I was grateful (not all of them were all that good, to be quite Francis about it) was this one: Their Tresor, a Meritage blend.

I never know whether to call these Meritages, Clarets, or “Bordeaux-style” blends. I know better than to actually call them Bordeaux, the sin of geographical fraudulence weighs heavy. The English call them Clarets, Californians tend to say Meritages. So I guess I should go with the latter.

If you didn’t pull it all out of there, what this all boils down to (my friend) is that the 2006 Ferrari-Carano Tresor is made up of cabernet sauvignon (79%), malbec (9%), merlot (5%), petit verdot (5%), and cabernet franc (2%).

The wine’s color is very dark, almost, though not quite, nebbiolo dark, with an almost-black core that lightens to ruby red edges. The Tresor’s nose is quite interesting: wet stone and earth mingle with anise and blackcurrant and just a hint of stinky barnyard, kind of a horse blanket aroma. Subtle, though.

The wine is full-bodied and tannic, with a big big structure. The alcohol needs time to soften the tannins, I think, and right now isn’t really the time to be drinking this wine. The notes here are fairly lacking in fruit, with most of the bouquet featuring pepper and more earthy aromas.

It’s gonna be a good one in a few years, I think… but 2010 might be just a bit early to be drinking the 2006 Tresor. It was released just last September, and needs some bottle time. The Tresor can be found in the $40-$50 range and will be well worth it in two or three years, but right now, it’s just a bit immature.

Verdict: B+ (with the hope I taste it again in 2013 or so)

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elcapitan/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

2007 Columbia Crest “Two Vines” Cabernet Sauvignon

Mt. Rainier-Sized Washington State Value

I’ll be perfectly honest with all of you, because I think it’s important and I feel, at times, like you’re all just so open with me, that a little quid pro quo is due. I don’t shop for wine at supermarkets. Ever.

Does this make me a snob? I hope not. The majority of my wine purchasing is done at wineries and at wine shops. Part of this is the luxury of my geographic location: surrounded by many of Northern California’s best viticultural regions.

The other part is, admittedly, a kind of conceit. There are a bunch of wine shops near me, and I just don’t like buying wine at supermarkets. I’ll do the BevMo thing, but they don’t sell fresh produce where I buy my wine.

So at my mother-in-law’s for Mother’s Day, I saw this bottle, opened, on the counter. Decided to give it a shot. She’d bought it for cooking only, but the fact of the matter is, I know damn well that some “priced-for-cooking” wine can actually be quite drinkable. While no one is about to be blown away by Columbia Crest’s Two Vines line, it is significantly better than some cheap wine I’ve had recently.

The wine is fairly light-colored in the glass, with a garnet core that lightens just slightly to purple at the edges. On the nose is a little more noticeable heat than I’d like to see from a 13.5% ABV wine, but it’s also fairly common in my experience for “value” wine to show off more of its alcohol than better-balanced, better-structured (i.e. “more expensive”) wines. Hints of black cherry and lightly-toasted vanilla show up on the nose as well.

So, the taste: the wine is light-bodied, surprisingly light for a cabernet, and very fruit-forward. You gotta be down with some fruit to enjoy this wine. Cherries and jam, and the lightest still-noticeable oak I’ve seen in a cabernet in a while.

If this is indicative of how Washington State does value cabs, compared to how California does it, then head to your supermarket’s wine aisle and look for the Washington designation. Wine Searcher lists the wine between $5.50-$9 but I saw the receipt: my in-laws spent $4.99 at their local Safeway. Well worth that price, in my opinion.

Verdict: 83/100

2007 Columbia Crest Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Columbia Crest Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon

Napa Cab That Delivers

2006 Regusci Cabernet Sauvignon

A close friend of mine came into town last night for the coming weekend. I haven’t seen him in 6+ months, but when he lived in California, my wife and I introduced him to Regusci Winery, a small Stags Leap District winery right off Silverado Trail.

It’s one of my favorite places to visit, and between the smiles and knowledge of the employees, and the happy butt-wagging of Trixie, the winery’s Welsh Corgi, we always have a great time.

Oh, the wine is pretty damn good, too.

I bring up the friend of mine, because he had supper with my wife and I last night, and I decided to crack open this Regusci cab I’d been holding on to for a bit in celebration. The man’s been in Utah, not a place known for its spectacular wine (or liberal direct-shipping laws)!

So what’s the wine like? First, it’s not completely cab, but is instead a Bordeaux-style blend (called a Meritage here in California) of 90% cabernet sauvignon, 6% merlot, and 4% cabernet franc. In the glass, the wine is dark, almost black at its core, and lightens to a bright ruby at the edges. There’s a bit of heat on the nose but it dissipates with even a short amount of time in the glass. Smoky toastiness mixes with red cherry and blackberry notes for a pleasant mix of fruit-forwardness and oaky, earthy mellow.

The Regusci cab is full-bodied, with soft, supple tannins and good structure. Notes of raspberry and black cherry mingle with oak, mimicking–though remaining distinct from–the combination on the nose.

The wine isn’t the cheapest in the world, listed at $48 on their website, but is worth it, as it’s a great example of a Meritage, with grapes from the Valley floor tucked up against the eastern hills.

Verdict: B+

2006 Regusci Cabernet Sauvignon

2006 Regusci Cabernet Sauvignon