2015 Burrowing Owl Cabernet Sauvignon
Community Tasting Note
forceberry wrote:
Saturday, December 4, 2021 - 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Okanagan Valley, harvested on November 9th and 13th, 2015. Fermented and macerated in stainless steel tanks, aged for 18 months in oak barrels. Bottled unfiltered. 14,5% alcohol, 6,7 g/l acidity, pH 3,78. Tasted blind.
Almost completely opaque and somewhat concentrated garnet color with an evolved pomegranate hue. Very bold and sweet-toned yet not particularly ripe nose with very juicy aromas of blackcurrants and fresh blueberries, some leafy green tones, a little bit of cherry marmalade, light sweet oak notes of vanilla and cloves and a hint of raspberry juice. The wine is juicy, moderately ripe and slightly warm on the palate with a rather full body and slightly sweet-toned flavors of succulent blackcurrants, licorice, some fresh blueberry, a little bit of slightly astringent chokeberry, light woody notes of oak, a sweet hint of vanilla and a herbaceous touch of leafy character. The overall feel is quite balanced, thanks mainly to the moderately high acidity; the tannins feel quite ample, but they are ripe, soft and silky in nature, contributing mainly to the texture, not to the structure. The finish is long, dry and rather bitter with flavors of rather pronounced toasty oak, some bittersweet notes of dark chocolate, a little bit of ripe blackcurrant and bilberry, light bitter notes of chokeberries, a hint of vanilla and a touch of savory wood spice.
A pleasant but also rather polished and anonymous Cab which shows some nice, fresh cool-climate character, but all the finer nuances and most sense of freshness get unfortunately overwhelmed by the rather liberal use of oak. This isn't a big, concentrated super-Cab, but it feels as though the rather heavy-handed oak influence tries to tell otherwise. I hope the rather pronounced oak tones would integrate better with the fruit as the wine ages, but as the wine doesn't feel like it is built for the really long haul, I have my reservations whether this wine will ever become something particularly interesting.
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3 comments have been posted
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Comment posted by Canoehead:
1/13/2022 11:00:00 AM - Very detailed and helpful TN. How did you arrive at an “84” for a rating? That would suggest a low quality ranking if not bordering on being faulty and albeit this isn’t a stellar wine it is indicative of what a Cab Sauv should present. Cheers!
Comment posted by forceberry:
1/16/2022 3:57:00 AM - Hi Canoehead,
I think 84 might in your books suggest a low-quality ranking, but seeing how I prefer to use the rating scale as described here in CT - for example: "Good (80-84)" and my average score at the moment is 87,92 for +12000 wines - this is a pretty average wine in my books.
As I prefer to use the whole 50 points scale as opposed to only the top 15-20 points, anything above 85 is still something I'd buy for myself and above 80 is something I'd drink more or less happily. I'd rate something low-quality as 60-69 and something bordering faulty as 50-59. And is a wine is faulty, I mark it down as "faulty", not scoring it.
Finally, if this is "what a Cab Sauv should present", I'm badly disappointed. :D I, myself, don't think a Cab Sauv should be represented by a polished, anonymous and heavily oaked wine where most of the varietal character gets smothered by the sweet, glossy oak character. Although this isn't a bad CS, there are so much better examples of the variety out there. Even at this price point.
Comment posted by Canoehead:
1/16/2022 12:05:00 PM - Thank you for the additional rationale to your rating and assessment methodology.