Olfactory detections…Black currant, cassis, cigar box, cedar, pipe tobacco
The yum factor…Being a Costco member has never been more pleasant than the last 3 months or so. I’ve been fortunate enough to drink some quite tasty wines and not had to pay through the nose for them. This happens to be one of those wines. I picked this up only because there was a two dollar coupon bringing the total of the wine down to about 11 bucks. Even without the coupon this is in my price range, but I wouldn’t have paid much attention to it had I not already had the coupon. Enough about my shopping habits, on to the review. Decant, decant, decant; unless you absolutely love your red wine to be heavily flavored/scented of wood (cedar, oak and cigar box aromas mainly) then you must decant this wine for at least 24 hours. Even with the aid of a Vinturi this wine was still very wood-y. I absolutely love Cabernets that feature lots of oak and cedar and this one has the perfect amount of those two flavors. Going forward I’m splitting this review into a pre-24 hour and post-24 hour review.
Pre-24 hour – The attack is heavy with a mix of blackberry, cassis, black pepper, cedar, cigar box and tobacco flavors. They are all piled on quite thick and play with my palate just as much as they play with one another. The mid-palate has a decent amount of heat and acidity from the alcohol and the tannins are quite chewy but the level of astringency is less than I’d expect. This is a full bodied wine and the finish is nice and long with mellowed flavors of blackberry, plum, tobacco, vanilla, and licorice with a backbone of wood smoke and cedar.
Post-24 hour – The amount of wood-like scents is much reduced now, though I can still smell cedar and cigar box hints they are not as overpowering as they were previously. The attack shows the same reduction in wood-y flavors now featuring blackberry, vanilla, tobacco, cedar and a lasting buttery flavor that turns into butter-like textures during the mid-palate. The mid-palate itself is far more balanced and mature than formerly; the alcohol is toned down a notch, tannins are still chewy but they don’t seem like they are on the cusp of running amok on my palate, and the astringency is more relevant though not cloying. The finish is still long and this is still a full bodied wine but the flavors on the finish have evolved some as well; licorice comes back strong with blackberry and black plum, then there are some tinges of vanilla and leather and finally a silky layer of smoke, dust, cedar and pencil lead (not pencil shavings just pencil lead).
Overall, this is a two faced wine; the pre-24 hour wine gets a good QPR and the post-24 hour wine gets a great QPR. Yes this wine is just that good. I would gladly pay 20 dollars for this bottle; and the post-24 hour flavors remind me of the Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon I have previously reviewed. It has a balance and depth I’ve rarely come across in a sub-15 dollar bottle of wine. It just tastes of higher quality grapes than I’m used to seeing in anything less than 15 dollars. I’m delighted that I purchased this bottle and saddened that it’s gone, but on my next trip to Costco I’m picking up at least two bottles; one for my cellar and one for drinking. I HIGHLY recommend this wine!
Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery
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