2016 Seven Hills McClellan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Happy Friday!  It's been a long week, so I am certainly happy to be putting on the brakes to slow down for a (hopefully) relaxing weekend.  The weather this afternoon was perfect, sunny, breezy and about 78 degrees, so tonight I'm ready for a good dinner.  To go with that dinner, I've decided to open a recent wine club shipment from Seven Hills Winery, the 2016 McClellan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.  This is the fifth single vineyard vintage from the McClellan estate, which was planted rather recently, in 2003, though you could never tell based on the quality of wine it produces.  So let's see how this wine is shaping up. 

The wine is a veritable blast of aromas, as just pouring into the glass you get a strong whiff of the rich black fruit that permeates this wine.  Blackberry, plum, leather and oak dance in your nostrils, providing a hint of what's to come as your mouth starts watering.  The taste shifts completely, as you face more subdued fruit replaced by some wild, earthy notes of peat, dusty limestone and cracked pepper intermingled with more nuanced black fruit notes.  The tannins are smooth and well structured for the velvety smooth and wonderfully dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as it's drinking nicely now, but will likely be much better with a few years in the cellar.  Unlike some Cabernets, this wine seems to be much more versatile that simply pairing with a big steak, as I could see myself enjoying this wine with anything from Indian curries, to barbecue, to sockeye to hearty pasta.  Of course, just because I could see it doesn't mean I'd do it, because tonight I'm enjoying this wine with a big ol' prime cowboy ribeye, grilled rare with a big baked potato and some grilled asparagus.  Cheers!