BUYING GUIDE - Wine Enthusiast Magazine

BUYING I GUIDE
Cabernet isn’t showing well now. It’s all fruit and
no subtlety. Offers wave after wave of blackberries,
cherries, plums, currants, chocolate and
licorice, and feels so soft, it could almost be from
Paso Robles. Hard to predict its future. —S.H.
87
William Harrison 2007 Rutherford
Red (Rutherford); $80. Starts off with
oaky, jammy aromas of cherries and raspberries,
and tastes a little sweet in fruit pastry, with the
baked crust. Seems a little one-dimensional,
although that dimension is a very delicious one.
Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet
Franc and Malbec. —S.H.
86
Ben Hogan 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
(Paso Robles); $27. A good,
fruity, everyday Cabernet. It’s a little too sharp
throughout, but offers fine blackberry, blueberry,
currant and licorice flavors. Ready now. —S.H.
86
Jordan 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
(Alexander Valley); $52. Tastes a bit
raw and herbal in the mouth, like a piece of
celery, although there are also richer blackberry
and cherry flavors. Yet it’s a dry, elegantly constructed
Cabernet. Best soon, before the fruit
disappears. —S.H.
86
Napa Station 2007 Cabernet
Sauvignon (Napa Valley); $20.
Shows classic Napa varietal flavors of blackberries
and black currants, with a sweet overlay of smoky
cedar wood, and the wine is soft and dry. It’s not
the most complex Cabernet, but the price is fair
for the quality. —S.H.
86
Pedroncelli 2008 Three Vineyards
Cabernet Sauvignon (Dry Creek
Valley); $16. Here’s a bone-dry, somewhat lean
Cabernet. It has tobacco and blackberry flavors,
framed in rich, furry tannins. Quite a nice sipper
for drinking now with grilled steaks and
chops. —S.H.
86
Terlato 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
(Rutherford); $60. Sweet and jammy
in raspberry, cherry and blackberry fruit, with
spicy, pie-filling flavors enhanced with plenty of
toasty oak. Rather forward now, with firm tannins.
Decant before drinking with steak, chops, or
even a chocolate dessert. —S.H.
86
Terlato 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
(Stags Leap District); $60. Marked
by superripe, jammy blackberry and currant fla-
vors that taste like they were baked into a pie,
this Cab also has plenty of sweet, caramelized
oak. It leaves little to the imagination. Good, but
would benefit from greater nuance and complexity.
—S.H.
85
Healdsburg Ranches 2008 Cabernet
Sauvignon (Sonoma County);
$10. Good price for a nice, dry Cabernet with so
much fruit. It’s forward in ripe blackberry, blueberry
and cherry jam flavors, with a rich coat of
smoky oak. Best Buy. —S.H.
85
Magness 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
(Napa Valley); $20. Here’s a
good Cabernet to drink now. It’s soft and gritty in
tannins, with ripely forward blackberry, cherry
and currant flavors, coated with sweet, smoky
oak. —S.H.
85
Rodrigue Molyneaux 2006
Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Liv-
ermore Valley); $24. Soft, fruity, dry and hot,
with jammy cherry and raspberry flavors, touched
with smoky oak. If you like this high alcohol style,
the wine is for you. —S.H.
84
Arrow Creek 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
(California); $18. Jammy and
sweet in blackberries, cherries and blueberries,
with a vanilla and caramel richness. A bit simple,
but fans of fruity wines will like it. —S.H.
84
Delicato 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
(California); $7. A good buy for
its dryness and overall balance. You won’t mistake
it for a cult Cabernet, but the blackberry and
currant flavors work. Best Buy. —S.H.
84
Huntington 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
(California); $14. Soft and
jammy in blackberries and cherries, with a sweet
oak edge. A good, everyday Cabernet to drink
now. —S.H.
84
Rodrigue Molyneaux 2005 Cabernet
Sauvignon (Livermore Valley);
$32. Hits the mouth with a disagreeable sharpness
that accentuates the tannins, making it
harder to appreciate the cherry, blackberry and
currant flavors. The fruit and oak are fine, but
the texture needs fine tuning. —S.H.
84
Still Waters 2006 Estate Barrel
Select Cabernet Sauvignon (Paso
Robles); $42. Tastes softly tannic, superripe
5 0 | W I N E E N T H U S I A S T | D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 0
and simple, with oaky flavors of cherry and blackberry
jam and spices. Not much going on. Drink
now. —S.H.
83
Mirassou 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
(California); $12. Simple and
jammy, with raspberry and cherry flavors. It’s a
totally dry wine, with a fresh cut of acidity. —S.H.
82
Rangeland 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
(Paso Robles); $39. Drily harsh
and Porty, with raisinskin bitterness. Shows some
good blackberry fruit, but the texture is hard to
like. —S.H.
81
Glass Mountain 2008 Cabernet
Sauvignon (California); $7. A hard,
tough, astringent Cabernet that almost hurts the
mouth. It’s acidic and dry. —S.H.
MERLOT
96
Chateau St. Jean 2005 Reserve Merlot
(Sonoma County); $90. Easily one
of the greatest California Merlots ever. Notable for
its complete balance. Nothing sticks out; all the
parts work together. The black cherry, plum, black
currant, dark chocolate and licorice fruit is big, but
perfectly balanced with smoky, sweet oak, while a
subtle touch of violets brings a smack of the earth.
The tannin-acid structure is just beautiful. Will continue
to develop bottle complexity for at least six
more years. Editors’ Choice. —S.H.
94
White Cottage Ranch 2007 Estate
Merlot (Howell Mountain); $50.
The best things about this Merlot are its extreme
dryness, tannin integrity and relative austerity.
It’s a pleasure to drink a Merlot that’s not a fruit
bomb. That doesn’t mean you won’t find complex
flavors of blackberries and currants. You
will. It means that this extraordinary Merlot is
pushing the envelope on what California, and
Napa Valley in particular, is able to achieve in
making Merlot along classically structured lines.
Editors’ Choice. —S.H.
90
Gainey 2007 Limited Selection
Merlot (Santa Ynez Valley); $38.
Dry, juicy, ripe and balanced, Gainey’s best Merlot
since 2005. As they’ve begun sourcing grapes
from farther inland, the wine has grown richer.
Shows a nice integration of oak with flavors of
currants and red licorice, with a distinguished finish.
Now–2013. —S.H.