Kind of intrigued to try this one…have been on the lookout, but doesn’t look like its out yet. With 11k cases made, and selling in the $26-36 range…might be one to load up on? Anyone see this out, or have tried it, please post here. I think I’m going to try one of the 2013 to get a feel, then compare the 14. Here was Parker’s note…
“The bigger, richer 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petite Sirah aged 16 months in 50% new French and American casks. This is a bigger wine and close to 2% higher in alcohol at 15.5%. There are 11,000 cases of this big, full-bodied, boisterous Cabernet Sauvignon that has a dense ruby/purple color, notes of underbrush, forest floor, tobacco leaf and oodles of blackcurrants and black cherries, with a touch of woodsmoke. The full-bodied wine hits the palate with a cascade of glycerin, fruit and purity. This is a beauty – dense, rich, and structured, but capable of lasting 20 or more years. 97pts”
If it tastes anything like the Sebastiani Gravel Bed that he gave 97 points to, I’m out. It was like drinking Jello shots that had been reduced down to balsamic levels. Even my wife who loves big reds thought it was terrible.
The '13 Martini Napa Valley is decent at around $27. The '14 Sonoma County sucks. I would be willing to give this one a try just to complete my Martini trifecta.
I also will give it a try when available. BTW, I don’t think the 2014 sonoma sucks, it is a $14 dollar cabernet and it is what it is. The gravel bed bottling was pretty poor to me, why wreck what may have been pretty good cabernet by adding zin to it? I love both varietals, but not combined.
Sometime in the mid 70s Louis Martini, the family patriarch, had lunch with Herb Caen, a famous SF newspaper* columnist of his day, and presented their 1970 Cabernet. The best we have e ver made, said Loouis, and Herb wrote it up. The only problem was that in order to buy a case of the cab you had to buy five of something else.
Has Gallo gone back to the old playbook??
*Newspapers were a method of reading --news on paper…get it?-- about local and national events popular back then…kind of a long winded version of Twitter…Tom Hill can remember, I bet.
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