I rarely drink Cab from California. But recently a certain retailer has been having some tremendous sales. So I conducted a blind tasting with friends using the following wines:
#1) 2006 Two Hands some days are diamonds
#2) 2005 Hall Napa Cab
#3) 2007 Louis Martini Sonoma Cab (FIller wine that I bought at the drug store for $13)
I opened all 3 bottles 3 hours prior to drinking
My wife bagged them, another friend tagged them and the 4th friend
poured from a different room. We knew them as only wines 1, 2 and 3.
#1
Color Inky, ruby color
Aroma: Initial Alcohol attack, rather aromatically challenged, clove, root beer and cocoa powder
Taste: Very One dimensional, lemon zest on the finish, lacked any fruit and had a bit of mineral almost metallic finish
Average rating: 83 pts
#2
Color Medium brick red
Aroma: Extremely muted, Spicy Vanilla, faint cherry, hazy cedar
Taste: Barely any fruit, easy drinking but no layers no nothing slight cinnamon finish
Average rating: 85 pts
#3
Color: Deep ruby
Aroma: Fruit Pie with hints of chocolate, a little stinky garbage, laced with greens
Taste: Dark Cherries, Black fruit with hints of vanilla, Full flavor and a very clean finish. In fact the one detractor was the finish it just didn’t last. It needed more finish but overall a solid wine and great QPR!
Average rating: 90 pt average and winner of the wine of the night
The first two wines were very disappointing. In fact the joke of the night was a play on #1 name “Some days are diamonds but this wine is NOT!
#3 clearly paired the best with the NY Steak and Green Peas. The first two wines were just quaffable and were completely overwhelmed by the beef.
The Louis Martini is a 90 pt rated wine I picked up for $13 at Long’s
Drug store just as a filler wine. However, it was head and shoulders
above all the other wines!
Moral of the tasting is be very careful of $40 - $50 cabs being dumped at 1/2 their original price. I am glad I only bought 2 of each! And don’t under estimate a $13 drug store wine.
