Thursday, June 18, 2009

Trace Wines 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (California)

I am back from my Michigan wine tour and in the next few days the reviews of some of those wines are going to start to appear on this blog - the good news is that I brought back a case and a half worth of good wines from the "Great Lakes State". But tonight it was about getting back to basics, and what could be more basic than an eight dollar Cabernet from California. I think I was drawn to this one because of the hypnotic red circles on the front label - kinda reminded me of the Alfred Hitchcock movie 'Vertigo' the way they swirled around - it would be a great one for playing spin-the-bottle (do the kids still play that one?). So consider me hypnotized when I popped the cork on this, right up until I smelled it - it snapped me back to reality. Truthfully it smelled like any other value Cab from the "Find Yourself Here" state. There was lots of black cherry and red fruit on the nose. I must have nursed this wine over the next three hours ... and while at first the palate was a little harsh and gritty with tannins - it managed to smooth out nicely and deliver precisely was it did on the nose within about 45-minutes; lots of black cherry and berry notes. Sweet fruit up-front and smooth on the mid-palate right through to the slightly dusty finish. This wine was okay in my book, exactly what I expected - delivery no more and no less ... whatd'ya expect for 8 bucks.

No comments: