Hi all - new to Wine Berserkers and also early into exploring wine seriously but excited to dive into this community more! I recently had two phenomenal lean California Cabernets:
Both wines were AWESOME and, while young, had great bright fruit. I’ve steered away from the California Cabs due to how big and jammy so many of them seem. I’d love any other recommendations folks have for great lean cabernets.
I don’t ever find great Cabernet to be “lean”. Its a grape that doesn’t really benefit from light bodied winemaking. I’ve tried plenty that are lean bodied wines and they just never seem to carry to character or expression the best Cabs do.
I personally can’t stand the uber extracted, rich styles but that’s not to say I want the opposite. I want balanced. The best Bordeaux are not lean bodied wines after all.
Some of my favorites have been mentioned here in Mt Eden and Corison but I would never call them “lean”. Maybe in a bad vintage.
More balanced wines come can come from Ridge, Forman and Frog’s Leap too.
Thanks! Will have to check this out! Actually saw this at my local shop and will pick up next time I’m there. I’ve had one of the Ceritas Pinots before and quite enjoyed it, though the price on Ceritas is certainly high.
Monte Bello is elite! Recently had the opportunity to try the 2019 and will admit that it was tasting a little oaky. Imagine it was just the youthfulness on it though.
Thanks for this callout! I’m certainly not trying to use the term lean to represent diminished, but more so the balanced, Bordeaux-style wines. The word balanced seems so overused though. I was at a recent tasting drinking an over-the-top Napa cab and the pourer was mentioning how structurally balanced it was. Maybe balanced in the sense that it was drinkable and could probably age but certainly not balanced in that you get any sense of the fruit beyond the high alcohol, over oaked wine that it was.
I would agree with you here Chris, that Cabernet is different than most other red grapes in that it doesn’t respond as well to “leanness”. Most grapes, especially Syrah, PN and Zin etc, do really well in an early pick scenario. But Cabernet needs to get over a certain hump somehow to develop nicely.
I love Mt Eden but only in the context of the OP’s post would I think of it as lean. For me, it has a perfect balance between rich fruit and balance.
The one leaner California Cabernet (and even a Napa one) I have enjoyed is from Stony Hill. But, these wines were from before the winery was sold, so I don’t know anything about more recent vintages.
The OP might also look into Bordeaux. Bordeaux reds seem to be what he is looking for. He should find posts by Robert Alfert and Julian Marshall and try some of their recommendations.
I was also going to mention Smith-Madrone. Don’t have much experience with them, but the 2008 and 2009 that I tried recently were definitely “lean” in the realm of Napa Cabernet. I actually thought they didn’t have enough stuffing, though they are supposed to be 30+ year wines, so I’ll wait on my remaining bottles.
