TN: Two Ca Cabes well under 14%

This if for my AFWE friends who believe that all CA Cabs are oaked prune juice. Both wines were opened with half of the bottle being decanted and consumed over three plus hours and the rest of each wine put in a half bottle and consumed the next day.

2007 Harvest Moon Buchignani Dry Creek Cabernet 12.8%alc. $28.00 on release From a vineyard across the street from the family winery complex in Dry Creek Valley. Pinotesque garnet color, translucent, Loamy, sweet cherry nose. Some oak showing chocolate/bitter mocha flavors. Big grainy tannin. Tannins are very dry, like licking a walnut, but in a nice way. Dusty aromatics, like grandpa’s closet. Not as weighty as wine #2. The wine rolls around in the mouth effortless in the mouth, think of this wine as soy milk where as modern Napa Cabs are more like whole milk. The finish has a slightly sweet pipe tobacco leave. Slight reduction, almost undetectable ,which adds some complexity. Slight ethyl acetate, but not distracting. Next day- Much more spice. This wine keeps evolving and opening. More opulent than the day before. Tart huckleberry. Bay leaf. Still grippy on the tongue. American Oak? If tasted blind I would guess it has some Merlot in it. Almost right bankish. Tomato leaf. Reminds me of Ridge SCM Cab especially the vintage. The Rhys of CA Cabs?

2010 Hobo Wine Co. Alexander Valley Cabernet 13.2%alc- $22.00 I loved the 2009 version of this wine and find the 2010 even better/more interesting. Very “intellectual”. Not for neophytes, you might scare them away from wine. HUGE green pepper corn. Capsasin- reminiscent of Loire SB Jalapeno greenness. Cilantro?! Deep purple core with the color getting lighter to the rim, as opposed to wine #1 which color was consistent throughout. Sassafras. Lavender Leafy sage, dried loose leaf tobacco. Mouth watering refreshing acidity. Not viscous but has a 20+ second chalky finish. Sweet raspberry cream. Darker profile than wine #1 as a whole. Jalapeno and greenness blew off somewhat in th decanter. Herbs de Provence. This wine proves that Cabernet does not have to be slurry to coat your palette. No mid-palette “doughnut” in this wine. The wine smells like a vineyard. This wine Pops in your mouth. This wine is very young but is a pleasure to drink now. I have a few to drink through the years and am excite to see how it does.

Well here you go. Two Sonoma County wines which are much lower in alc. and ripeness than their contemporaries. I find them very pleasant in a world full of innocuousripe wines. For those of you who miss the “Ca Old School Cabs” of the 70s, 80s, and early 90s you might find comfort in these wines.