2010 Seven Hills Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Well, it's time to at last bid a fine farewell to 2016, and I must admit I have no idea where the last 12 months have gone!  But at least to help celebrate what was a pretty good year (now that it's over), I've decided to open up a nice bottle of wine that I found while updating my cellar list this past week, the 2010 Seven Hills Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon!  This wine is a special, limited production (only 82 cases) wine from the old vines at the Seven Hills Vineyard and the Fire Ridge Vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley.  So let's see if it was worth the wait!

The wine is an intense ruby color along the edges with a center of inky indigo.  The nose offers some stunning aromas of leather and rich black fruit, blackberries, cherries and cassis with a residual of green olive that lingers at the end.  The taste is absolutely stunning, with rich black fruit intermingled with some wonderful notes of cherry cola, anise and dark chocolate, which transition elegantly to some fantastic notes of olive spice that brings back images of a local Italian grocery in New York.  The finish is divine, with robust tannins providing a velvety mouthfeel and a supple, dry finish that seems to last a minute or more.

What a great wine, that is not surprising to be given reserve status by the winemaker.  I would rate this one as an easy 9.5, as it's arguably the best Cabernet I've had in all of 2016 (good to end on a high note)!  This is an ideal big steak wine, which is a good thing since my New Year's Eve dinner consists of a prime dry aged Angus Porterhouse that I bought at Eataly yesterday in Chicago, along with a big baked potato with sour cream and chives and some steamed orange cauliflower.  Cheers and best wishes for the New Year!