Cabernet Sauvignon

Last night, Thursday Night Tasting explored four quite different expressions of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. It was great!

The wines were, in order of appearance:

2008 Smoking Loon Cabernet Sauvignon ($12)
2006 Wine Smith Cabernet Sauvignon ($20)
2006 Chateau Moulin de Tricot Haut Médoc ($32)
2005 Rubicon Estate Captain's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($48)

The players were, in order of residence, north to south:

Robin, Upper West Side in the 70s
Tracy and Raphael, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Kristie, Park Slope
Tina and Claude, Park Slope two blocks south of Kristie

And once again, the method:

Sequential tasting using an evaluation sheet that rates the wines by five criteria: visual appearance, aroma, texture (or body), taste, and finish. The scale used, which adds up to 30 points in total, is as follows:

25-30 Excellent, incredibly delicious, memorable
20-24 Outstanding, a really good wine
15-19 Good to Very Good
10-14 Average, drinkable
0-9 OK, who brought this?

I should add that I also supplied a list of helpful adjectives and nouns for tasting Cabernet Sauvignon, words like "brawny," "complex," "hot," "structured," "tobacco," "fig," "chocolate," and "vanilla," plus many others. Note: I did not supply the term "like a jellyfish on my tongue," which Robin used to describe the Smoking Loon.

More on that in a minute. First, however, I should explain why I followed last week's Burgundies with Cabernet Sauvignons this week. The reason is personal: these are the two wines that, for me, have flipped the switch. At the risk of indulging in yet more autobiography, I should admit that a third switch-flipper is out there too, though it was flipped first, in Tuscany when I was 23. Seated outdoors on a cool July night, I sipped what might today be called a Super Tuscan alongside Coniglio con Olivo, and widened my eyes. Anyway, I think I've mentioned already that it was in Napa, just a year or two ago, when I tasted that lush Cabernet and felt something deep inside me twist a quarter inch. So, at the beginning of this whole venture, I'd like to honor that moment with a tasting.

Also, if one is to begin tasting wines, Cabernet Sauvignon is a great place to begin. Often considered to be a "noble grape" due to its association with the ancient European viticultural history and its striking, powerful body and flavor, the Cabernet yields complex, highly structured wines. Many of the world's most coveted (and expensive) wines are Cabernets. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Latour, for example, two of the most prized Bordeaux wines, are Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact, all red Bordeaux wines are Cabernets, though they are typically Cabernets mixed with other varietals, including Merlot, Cabernet Franc (one of the "parent" grapes of Cabernet Sauvignon), and sometimes Petit Verdot, Malbec, and even Syrah. In the United States, we use the simple term Cabernet Sauvignon, though to be called such a wine has only to include 75% Cabernet. In other words, just like reds from Bordeaux, American Cabernet Sauvignon is usually a blend (though there are exceptions and 100% Cabernets do exist, in France and the U.S.).

Why are Cabernets so often blended? Well, the Cabernet is a very "tannic" grape. What does that mean? Tannins are acidic compounds derived from grape seeds and skins. They provide the bitter and astringent dryness that registers on the back of your tongue. They are essential components in wine-making, helping to ferment and preserve wine. I'm not sure the analogy is entirely correct, but tannins are to red wine what hops are to beer. In any case, because the Cabernet Sauvignon is a small grape with numerous seeds, the ration of juice to seeds and skins creates a very tannic result. The lush Merlot and flavorful Cabernet Franc balance out this powerful blast of bitterness. That's why most Cabernets are blends, whether they're from Bordeaux or the Napa Valley.

By the way, it's not as if the only Cabernet Sauvignons in the world come from France or Calfornia. Hardly. In fact, Cabernet is planted across the globe, and with Merlot is among the most popular wine varietals.

Well, let's get to it. What did we find out about Cabernet Sauvignon last night?

Smoking Loon
Prior to the tasting, I read Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl's chapter on Cabernet Sauvignon, in her new book Drink This: Wine Made Simple (Ballantine 2009). Besides offering a great introduction to the grape itself, Grumdahl lays out a really smart gendered reading of this hypermasculine varietal. More to the point, she also suggests that a tasting of Cabernet Sauvignon might well begin with a mass-market and "affordable" bottle, something that represents the mainstream of Cabernet. That's what we got, and I should say that, in short, no one loved the 'Loon. It earned scores of 15, 15, 13, 12 11, 7. I guess that 7 (Robin) is a harsh indictment, and it is notably the first wine to fall into the "OK, who brought this?" category. Robin's pejoratives are on the money: they include "viscous," "not very fragrant," "jellyfish stingy in center of the tongue," "sharp and flat," "single note," and "alcohol smell." Ouch. Others agreed: "acidy" and "sharp" (Claude), "one-dimensional" (Kristie), and "sting tangy" (Kristie again). I'll just add to this chorus of disapproval that the wine is simply dull. It was hard to derive much from the nose, the flavors were muted and difficult to differentiate, and the finish was a little "hot"--that is, noticeably alcoholic. On the other hand, and to be fair, most of us put this wine in the "Average" category or the lowest rung of "Good." As unremarkable as it is, it would go fine with a pizza or a sandwich. I guess, though, that for $12 one can do so much better.

Wine Smith
This wine was nice. It's a straightforward California Cabernet: balanced, round, lots of berries and spice. What is unique about this wine is the way it was produced--or I should say, the philosophy of its producer, Clark Smith. Smith believes in drawing on but limiting modern technologies in winemaking. He calls it "Postmodern Winemaking," by which I take him to mean a kind of free-play with the various methods and ideologies, sidestepping the dichotomy of old-world purity and modern technology. For example, Smith believes strongly in terroir and "natural" methods though he also discusses in great detail things with names like "micro-oxygenation" and "coextension." He doubts that terms like "natural" or "organic" have the clear and stable meanings typically granted them, and seeks to deploy all the resources at his disposal to make good wine. You can read more on this at Smith's own 'blog, GrapeCrafter:

http://www.grapecrafter.com/grapecrafter/

Anyway, Clark's Cabernet Sauvignon (22, 22, 20.5, 19, 16, 16) was visually more stimulating than the muddy Smoking Loon, with streaks of violet and magenta, greater clarity, and "clear, inner brightness" as Robin put it. The body was "velvety, smooth, and sting-free" (Robin again), and the flavor was full of all sorts of complimentary notes: we detected maple sugar, vanilla, clove, "fireplace" (Robin again!), toast, and chocolate. The sweetness balanced well with the spice and tannic edge, and there were all sorts of berries here, rolling everywhere. For the finish, I wrote the phrase "singes pleasantly" in my notes, and I think that gets it right. The dissenters: Claude and Kristie were less pleased, calling the finish "too dry" and the look a little syrupy. Though somehow, Claude did end up saying it was one of his favorites of the night . . .

Chateau Moulin de Tricot
Delicious! A real Haut Médoc Bordeaux. (Grumdahl helpfully explains that Bordeaux wines fall into two very rough categories, inexpensive Médoc and upscale French Bordeaux, from places like Pauillac, Margaux, and Haut-Médoc.) This wine (24, 24, 24, 23, 21, 20--all numbers in the "Outstanding" range) was characterized most succinctly by Claude's word "mellow." It just has an easy-going balance of flavor, back and forths all over the place: a light body with lots of depth; tastes of cherry and cinnamon; sweetness and tartness; thinness and richness; maturity and a "jumpy" quality (thank you, Tina). This wine is smokey and chocolaty, spicy and berry-rich, warm but not hot. The attack was slow--the flavors come on nice and smooth. Tracy thought for a long time before figuring out that she tasted bay leaf, which is one of those flavors that seeps in and suggests, never overpowers. This Cabernet comes on slowly and backs off calmly. Robin captured it all well: begins sweet, ends salty. Mellow, not pushy. Wish I could drink this kind of wine every day.

Rubicon Estate
I get shipments from the Rubicon Estate five times a year. They specialize in rich, lush Cabernets, and often suggest in the promotional literature they send with each shipment that these wines need years to really unwind. I have a few bottles of what they call their "Cask" Cabernet which I'm cellaring for another decade or more. In any case, this wine is a treat, and scored the highest of all: 27, 26, 26, 26, 25, 23. This is "big" wine: the bouquet hits you first, bright, rich, full, dark, deep, with true lavender, leather, blueberry, plum, and tobacco. So much is simply happening here on the tongue and at the top of the mouth in this layered wine. Notable flavors include jalapeno, coffee, chocolate and vanilla, and soy sauce. I think Juice Newton helped Robin articulate her feelings when she said it "called me angel of the morning then slowly walked away." Tina recalled Bonnie Tyler's "Living on a powder keg and giving off sparks." It was getting late and we were grooving.

Tasting wine with friends is fun. We had tons of food. Claude came over early and whipped out a few pizzas, Kristie brought a ton of great cheese, and Robin made brownies that tasted like coconuts. Everyone left around midnight, I took Shaba out for a walk, we cleaned up and fell asleep. Thanks all, for a wonderful night.