Here is my first advice: if you don’t have a nice juicy rib eye steak to pair with the wine, then just don’t open!!!
It is a huge wine, not overextracted, just plain huge. Lots of dark brooding fruit in there and the oak is well integrated. Consumed half of the bottle with the above mentioned steak and it was the perfect marriage. The fat in the steak perfectly matched the biggness of the wine. 94 points
I refrigerated the wine uncorked, and I am sipping on this right now. This is not really a sipping wine, as it got even bigger (bigger than huge is what?)
Happy to have 2 bottles, shoulld be placed in the back of the cellar, but if you open, see the first paragraph.
I really really really really enjoy this wine. And Otto, I totally got the same thing you did. It’s a BIG wine but it’s not a “ripe” wine. It’s really dense and packed full of flavors and intensity. Seriously, Jeff Ames is a freaking star for this wine being $60.
2006 Rudius Cabernet Sauvignon- USA, California, Napa Valley (1/12/2009)
pop and pour
A fragrant nose of sweet fruit with some forest floor and tinges of vanilla. A bit tight on the mid palate with restrained cherries and raspberries with a streak of green running through the finish. Big in the sense that it’s not “silky smooth” but it’s pretty typical CA cab with a more abrasive mouthfeel, but not one you’d notice unless you were drinking that style cab at the same time (which we did). Nice to compare to the 06 RM, this i believe has more old world feel with some tobacco and cedar without the overwhelming cocoa and vanilla that you find in certain cabernets. (93 pts.)
Thanks Otto, I had one last month and gave it about four hours of air, poured a glass and came away with the same thoughts ( this aint a sippin wine), but then had a couple more glasses with a huge rib eye for dinner and it was freakin great, wish I could have got more than 3 and at $60 just a steal.
Great note.
I happen to have some well marbled porterhouses on deck. I am not sure which direction. No Rudius on deck but your note has made me very thirsty indeed.
Maybe I can ‘rustle’ up something.
I actually almost opened one of mine with a 32oz. ribeye last night but went with a 2007 Delas Saint Esprit CdR instead. Big mistake. The Delas was terrible. Should have opened the Rudius but guess that measn I still have 3!
This is definitely a wine I want to try and know that I should hold off on. Problem is that over the years I’ve had too many wines in my cellar that I’ve bought for a few years without trying and then find they are not my style. I’ve got it in the queue for the next time I’m eating cow.
