2012 Robert Storey Cellars Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Well, it's Friday night after a busy week of travel to the east coast so I need to relax!  And what better way to relax than with a nice bottle of Napa Cabernet?  Tonight I've decided to open a bottle of 2012 Robert Storey Cellars Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from the Rutherford AVA in Napa Valley that I recently purchased.

The color on this wine is deep brooding purple, so typical of a nice Napa Cabernet.  The nose is a lovely combination of ripe black fruit with somewhat of a jammy characteristic along with some leather, oak and cocoa powder.  The taste is nice, with some rich black fruit up front, black cherry, plum and black currant that transitions effortlessly to some wonderful mineral notes midpalate - part of the characteristic "Rutherford dust."  The finish is quite nice, with rather young yet plump tannins providing the foundation for a wonderful long, very dry finish that seems to last a minute or more.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, as it could do with a bit of cellaring, but it's a wonderful example of a Rutherford Cabernet at a terrific value - I bought this one from Wines Till Sold Out for just $20!  Tonight I am enjoying this with a lovely autumn dinner of butternut squash ravioli with a creamy alfredo prima vera (what's better than lightly steamed vegetables and cream with pasta?) but it would also pair well with just about any red meat dish, but honestly I didn't feel like cooking tonight!

1998 I Balzini Super Tuscan Blend

Here we are, the first Saturday of October, which of course means it's Cellar Saturday!  And thank goodness for that, since over the past 24 hours it seems like we've gone from summer right into the depths of fall!  It was about 75 and rainy with a lot of humidity, and right now it's 43 and raining, heading to a low of 37 tonight!  Perfect weather for a hearty super Tuscan blend of Sangiovese (50%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (50%)!  This bottle was a part of a vertical that I bought from Wines Till Sold Out that included the 1997 (you can see my review of this one here), 1998, 1999 and 2001.

I opened this bottle a few hours ago and let it breathe a bit rather than decanting.  The wine is a lovely deep ruby color in the glass.  The nose is somewhat rustic, with some aromas of barnyard, leather and cedar intermingled with some ripe berry and plum notes.  The taste is quite nice, with some lovely mint and fruit, blackberry, cherry and raisin, up front that transitions to some iron, mineral and spice notes midpalate.  The finish is rather subdued, with mellow tannins supporting a smooth, very dry finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, as it just doesn't seem as nice as the '97.  Tonight I am enjoying this one with a wonderful grilled New York strip on a bed of baby kale with an aged white balsamic, a baked potato and some steamed green beans, a perfect fall dinner, with some big flavors that play very nicely with a more mature wine like this one.  Cheers!

2012 Encantado Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Do you know what day it is?  Do you...know what day it is?  That's right, it's hump day, and for me it was an exceedingly long hump day as I didn't leave the office until nearly 7 pm, and although I was supposed to go to the gym tonight, I was just too tired, so I decided to make it a wine Wednesday instead!  And tonight's wine is one that just arrived from Wines Till Sold Out today, the 2012 Encantado Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a cabernet blend from several select blocks in Napa produced by Pine Ridge Vineyards in a 200-acre estate that spans five appellations: Stags Leap, Rutherford, Oakville, Carneros and Howell Mountain.

The wine is a deep, inky purple color in the glass edging toward some lighter ruby.  The nose is rather oak laden with a hint of green cedar, with some dark fruit notes mixed in.  The taste is really quite nice, with a veritable explosion of dark, jammy fruit up front, plum, blackberries and a hint of cocoa that transitions nicely to some dusty limestone midpalate.  The tannins are remarkably mellow for such a young wine, and the velvety, rounded mouthfeel makes for a long, dry and quite pleasant finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 8 with room to improve with age, and best of all it was an absolutely spectacular bargain at just $19!  Tonight I am pairing this with a rather low maintenance dinner of heirloom tomato and basil ravioli with some creamy pesto sauce (I highly recommend the Three Bridges Refrigerated Pasta for quick, easy but delicious midweek meals where you really don't feel like cooking, like wine Wednesday!