4 Blind Cabernet-Based Wines

Thought it would be fun to do a little blind tasting of four Cab-based wines for some people I work with. This crowd are mostly winetasting newbies, though some enjoy and have tried many different wines. Everyone had fun and learned from the experience.

• 1999 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select 96 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District

  Second time tasting this wine in a week! The wine gods are smiling. Managed to nail this one blind among four Cabernet based wines from smell alone. As soon as my nose was in the glass, I knew this was the '99 HSS. Showed very much the same as my last note (happily no bottle variation). Most in the group liked this very much and picked it as either the #1 or #2 wine. A couple people noted that though they liked/loved the wine, they thought it would partner poorly with food - the same comment I had made a week earlier.

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• 1999 Quintessa 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  This showed very well in a blind format. Tasting this after the '99 HSS, some tasters admired the freshness and medium body of this wine. Again, most picked this wine as the #1 or #2 of the tasting. It quite upstaged the Bolgheri Rosso "Paleo" '98, which was chosen for its similar price point. I nailed this one's identity also, but was very pleasantly surprised by its performance, given the lukewarm and even negative reviews this wine gets sometimes. Readily identifiable as a ripe Napa Cab. Hint of the Rutherford dust/earth. More restraint than HSS, but drinking very well now. Nice with an assortment of coldcuts.

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• 1998 Le Macchiole Paleo Rosso 90 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Bolgheri, Bolgheri Superiore

  Somewhat of a disappointment when tasted blind. A bit soft and undefined in the mouth. Touch of menthol. Very good fruit, but little of the earth you expect from Italian Cab-based wines. In fact, I couldn't even pick it as Italian and mistook it for Wynn's Coonawarra Cabernet. Nice, but not as nice as it should be. Maybe a stage? I have a few more bottles, so I'll follow this with interest.

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• 2001 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 83 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  This was very disappointing. Served as a bargain "ringer" in a tasting of upper end Cabs, this really was out of place. I've had many bottles of this in the past and always recommended it as a good value. In this lineup, it looked more like a case of "you get what you pay for". The first thing that set this apart was the relatively weak fruit, exacerbated by a complete lack of mid-palate. The wine surprisingly featured quite high acidity as well - the combination of these factors led me to believe this wine was Italian and not Australian. One out of 17 tasters chose this as the favorite wine. She was then teased as the "cheap date" all night.

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