Cabernet Tasting

We got the group together for another tasting, this time with cabernet. The only stipulation is that the bottle had to be under $60.

• 1997 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Coast Range 86 Points

  USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

  Blind wine #1 of 8. Light ruby coloring with slight signs of aging. Very nice nose. Low alcohol with notes of pine and strawberry. Slight sourness with a short finish. When revealed as a 1997 cab, we were all surprised given the minimal bricking.
  
  My 86 points. Group's #6 of 8. Probably 3-5 years past its prime drinking, so if you have them drink them.

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• 2008 Jack Nicklaus Cabernet Sauvignon 87 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Blind wine #2 of 8. Decently made wine with notes of plum on the palate. Very nice mid-palate to this wine but a clipped finish. Alcohol peeked through a bit as well. Not much complexity. Others found notes of dryer sheets and menthol.
  
  My 87 points. Group's #5 of 8.

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• 2011 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon H3 85 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Horse Heaven Hills

  Blind wine #3 of 8. Tart cherry and lots of floral notes on the nose. Cherry and perhaps tar on the palate, with some "cheap tasting" vanilla notes as well. Fairly smooth with a decent mid-palate and finish; hides the alcohol well. To me, the hint of that cheap tasting vanilla gave it away as a supermarket wine, albeit a very solid supermarket wine.
  
  My 85 points. Group's #7 of 8. Great QPR @ $12 and one I will always recommend to my non-wino friends who ask me for a cheap bottle.

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• 2005 Robert Craig Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder

  Blind wine #4 of 8. Dark fruit profile with a decent amount of tobacco coming through. High acid wine with a decent amount of tart that led me to guess Australia. Well-made wine with decent tannins. Others commented that the nose was very appealing and the palate had flavors of chocolate and pepper.
  
  My 90 points. Tied for group's #2 of 8 with 2005 Pride Cabernet. This is definitely one I'd like to try again for the right price....very well made.

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• 2011 Kirkland Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Signature Series Napa Valley 84 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Blind wine #5 of 8. Red fruit profile that comes across a little sweet and candied for my taste, especially following the Robert Craig MV. Alcohol is pretty apparent to me. The wine is fairly disjointed, not a lot of harmony between the individual components. Others noted the tart/sour nose and notes of graphite, wood, and cardboard. This was one of the cheaper "ringer" bottles.
  
  My 84 points. Group's #8 of 8. I would definitely go with the Columbia Crest H3 over this wine for $5 less.

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• 2005 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 89 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma

  Blind wine #6 of 8. A fairly big Napa cab with the typical Cali cab nose, which makes sense given this turned out to be one of the biggest names in Napa cabs. Smooth and silky with a bit of wood. Very good cab but not a lot of complexity....basically a one note wine. Now, the one note it does is very good, but just not enough there to justify the tariff (I paid $52 for this). Others noted its very dark color and big grip.
  
  My 89 points. Tied for group's #2 of 8. I would not buy again at this price. One of the tasters pointed out that Pride also made a Vintner's Select this year and perhaps some of the grapes normally reserved for the regular bottling got moved to that one. It wasn't a great showing for a cabernet that is traditionally revered among those in the tasting group, which surprised us all.

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• 2010 Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 88 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Blind wine #7 of 8. Bright red fruit on this wine. Very smooth with good grip and a very long finish for a cabernet. However, I thought the fruit was a little too candied and I detected some of that "cheap vanilla" flavor from the oak that I really dislike. Others noted the big fruit and the slightly bitter finish. Everyone like this much more than I did. Perhaps I am underrating this a bit since I do acknowledge that the wine is very well made.....I just don't care for the flavor profile.
  
  My 88 points. Group's #4 of 8 (I brought down the average I suppose, with everyone else scoring this anywhere from 90 to 92).
  
  Now that I think about it, this wine reminds me of the Napanook Red and the Dominus I tasted at Binny's awhile back....I know they are highly thought of wines but I simply didn't care for them and their bright red fruit profile. This is probably one I'd like to revisit with 5-7 years of bottle age.

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• 2005 Clarendon Hills Cabernet Sauvignon Brookman 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Clarendon

  Blind wine #8 of 8. A very nice, dark fruit cabernet with notes of chocolate and tobacco. Smooth and fairly big with nice acidity rounding out the palate. A good finish with notes of honey. Others noted hints of aged beef on the palate.
  
  My 92 points. Group's #1 of 8. I think this is ready to go now, as everything was in synch and the tannins were fully resolved. This was eye-opening to me as I have not had many cabs from Australia...this certainly stacked up well and won the tasting with some other very good wines.

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Great tasting with a variety of different price points and locales represented. One of the guys pointed out that, at the end of the day, there wasn't a lot of variation in these cabernets...the incremental utility for paying $10 or $15 more is much smaller than Syrah, for example. I agree with this and find myself leaning to red blends or Syrahs as I look to get the most bang for my buck.