2012 Mathew Bruno Beckstoffer Georges III, USA, California, Napa - Wine Review

Score: 
94
Grade: 
A

Excellent wine.  Purple in color.  The nose has cassis, chocolate and spice.  On the palate, slight tannins.  Really delicious.  Deep.  Plenty of cassis fruit, some dark cherries and a bit of milk chocolate.  Nice finish.  Has a decade or two of life left.  

 

Revisited on 10/26/18.  This is singing along.  Notes consistent with a year ago.  Still tannic and tight but with a lot of potential.  

2011 Two Terroirs Cabernet Sauvignon, USA, California, Napa, Spring Mountain - Wine Review

Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-

Purple in color.  The nose shows cassis and chocolate but also some green bell pepper.  On the palate, it comes across as a Bordeaux.  If that bell pepper quality is an issue, then you will not like this.  For me, however, I don't mind it if there is still good fruit and depth.  This has that.  Medium tannins.  14.5% on the label.  This wine seems like it will improve with a few years in the cellar.  

2004 Forman Cabernet Sauvignon, USA, California, Napa - Wine Review

Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-

Forman Cabs often fly under the radar for some reason.  This was quite good.  At 13 years from vintage, it still has a long life left.  The bottle was opened and allowed to breath for ten hours.  It was decanted for sediment and served.  Purple in color.  The nose has cassis, char, slight spice and a bit of plums and tobacco.  With air, a bit of anise emerged.  On the palate, this is, at this stage, neither powerful nor elegant but somewhere in the middle.  Really good cassis and dark cherry fruit layered with tobacco and slight tannins.  Decent acidity.  Nice finish.  It is certainly from

Sonoma's Must Try Cabernet Sauvignons - 2015 Best of Sonoma

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. If Cabernet Sauvignon runs in your veins, then there are certain Sonoma wineries that you simply can’t come to Sonoma without visiting. To help determine the best of the best, we surveyed over a hundred professional wine producers in the area for their professional recommendations of the best Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignons under $100.
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Which California Cabernet Sauvignons Deserve "First Growth" Status?

In 1855, the Exposition Universelle was held in Paris to showcase all that was good in France. Emperor Napoleon III requested the leading Bordeaux merchants to rank the best wines . The top wines were rated as First Growths. Over the years, many people in the rest of the world have discussed what wines from their country would be First Growths. I am often asked what I think the First Growths of California are. It is an interesting conversation with lots of room for debate.
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Ten California Cabernet Sauvignons for the Money

California Cabernets are some of the best wines in the world. Unfortunately, the pricing on many of them has gotten quite exorbitant. There are a plethora of great wines for $100 or more. Even at the $75 mark, there is no shortage of outstanding wines. So, for purposes of this list, these are my favorite five California Cabernets priced at under $25 per bottle. In addition, I only chose wines that are very consistent from vintage to vintage. Finally, I have avoided rare and hard to find wines for this list.
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Creating Pedigree: Cabernet and Paso Robles

Napa lays claim to Cabernet Sauvignon like they invented it. Certainly they are dominant region where it’s grown in the U.S., but Paso Robles is positioning itself to give Napa a run for its money and this central California region is producing Cabernet and Bordeaux blends offering incredible value and diversity, something Napa has strayed from.
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Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: Foods to Pair and Meals That Call for Napa Cabernet

Napa Valley Cabernet—the wine that proved to the world it was possible to make world-class wine someplace other than France. When Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon beat famous French Bordeaux such as Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Haut-Brion, among others, in a blind tasting conducted by French wine experts at the now famous 1976 Paris Tasting, the world took notice. Now Napa Valley Cabernets are served everywhere, and producers like Heitz Cellars and Ridge Vineyards are familiar names on restaurant wine lists.
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Wines to Go Buy This Week: "Comfort Wines" - A Zinfandel by Glenn Hawk and Tulip Hill's Cabepulciano (yeah you read that right)

I live in San Francisco and January weather here means 50 degrees and rain. Constant bone-chilling rain, or so it seems. And before the rest of America emails to remind me how good I have it and how freaking cold it is in New York or Ohio or whatever other frozen tundra they call home, I'm just gonna say that when you are cold, you are cold, and comfort food -and comfort wine- goes a long way towards warming your heart when Old Man Winter starts to have his way with you. So with this in mind, I bring you two comfort wines you should go buy this week. Glenn Hawk Zinfandel - I typically don't gravitate to Zinfandel. I associate Zins with "cocktail wines", that is, wines that are delicious for a few sips of a single glass but can be a bit too fruity and overwhelming for those of us who tend towards enjoying multiple glasses. So I don't recommend many Zinfandels simply because I don't drink many of them. Every once in a while I stumble back down the Zinfandel path and am reminded of how good the varietal can be. I recently tried the 2009 Glenn Hawk Zinfandel from Livermore Valley (just south of Napa in the shadow of Mt. Diablo).
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