The Desert Wine Guy - 2011 Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon - A Top Tier Red

2011 Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon

  Have you ever bought a wine that you were hoping was simply a decent wine only to find out that that wine was a lot more than you ever expected? Have you ever discovered that the "decent" wine you thought you were buying was actually an incredible wine? Let me explain what I'm talking about. You are at your favorite liquor store and you are just looking for a simple wine for later on that day. You haven't gone out looking for a specific wine, simply something you haven't had before is what is on your mind. Well Desert Wine Guy fans that is kind of what happened to me in the case of this reviewed wine. When I looked at this wine on a restaurant wine list it was one of the few wines that I hadn't tasted before so I figured it was worth a try. In this case the wine that I had hopes to be at least a decent wine is the 2011 Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon made by Michael Pozzan Wines (http://www.michaelpozzanwinery.com/Winery). This incredible wine is made from grapes sourced from different Vineyards in Napa California. The 2011 Annabella Cab is 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot and sits for 15 months in French oak with an Alcohol percentage of 13.5%. Michael Pozzan Wines currently runs 6 different wine labels but today we will be discussing a wine from the the Annabella label. Michael Pozzan Wines was founded in 1991 and is located in Oakville California. Today Michael Pozzan Wines produces about 95,000 cases of wine a year. The Annabella line we will be discussing today is named in honor of Michael's Grandmother.

Michael & His Oldest Son Dante

  Where do I start here? It is important for me that this review does this wine justice. I want to ensure  that when you get done reading this review that you get online or run out immediately and buy a few bottles. For me it is important that my readers are able to experience the same wine that I had so you do not miss out on the best wine that I have ever tasted. I also want you guys to have some bottles to put a couple away for the holidays and for one for when your family comes over and that one certain relative that brags about his "incredible wine knowledge" comes in the front door and tells you that he brought a particular wine over to show you what really good wine tastes like. When that happens I want you to politely thank him and place his bottle on the counter and pick up your (review) wine and immediately pop the cork on the 2011 Annabella Cabernet up and pour him a glass. Don't let him see the bottle and don't tell him the price you paid either. Tell them a story about how you've had this wine aging for 15 years for a special occasion and you wanted to share it with him. As I have said, refuse to talk about price out of modesty of course and watch as he and your other guests are impressed with your wine that you present to them to drink rather than your guests. Now sit back with a confident smile on your face and after everyone raves about YOUR wine knowledge be thankful that you listened to me and put the two bottles you bought away in your wine cellar. I don't believe this wine is meant to be held onto for too long, possibly 4-5 years however. One more thing, please comment at the bottom of this review and let me know what you thought of the wine.
  So let's see now how exactly how I was lucky enough to discover this wine? Well I'd love to tell you that I read a review on this wine or had a wine industry insider tip concerning it but that wouldn't be true. Like many other wine discoveries I was in the right place at the right time. I just happened to have had a glass (and then a bottle) at a restaurant opening that I was invited to attend and do a review on. I remember when I had the first taste of this wine there were the words "classy", "clean" & "polished" that immediately popped into my mind. What wine is this again I thought and I actually also said out loud to my Wife. I took another taste and believed that I fell in love with the wine, it was now time to order a bottle. Well order a bottle I did and you can see my Waiter, Mike pouring it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtQ_IzwJhUg. I sat back as the food arrived and enjoyed a few glasses of the wine thinking about just how expensive the wine must be and how I would never be able to afford this so I better enjoy it now. I than remembered that I could go on line and check the price. I was expecting to see all the usual fancy websites having reviewed this wine but that is not what I came across. I actually came across the opposite. When the websites that sell this wine came up I was absolutely amazed to discover that the wine was priced at around $17 on the high end and $10.99 (https://winelibrary.com/) on the low end. I also noticed that there were also plenty of sites that sold this wine but I did notice that a lot of them were sold out. I knew where I was headed the next day when I got up in the Morning and that was to my local warehouse wine retailer. I picked up one bottle for $17.99 (it was a wine emergency) so that I could take it home and head to my review room and do a proper review of it. By the way I did order two bottles form Wine Library because I was no longer in a rush to get a bottle and because I wanted to pay only $10.99 and get free shipping. I also ordered a bottle for a fan and contest winner on my wine Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy (shout out Misty and thanks). Well after all this the review is done and here are my complete feelings on this wine.

Michael Pozzan Winery

  From the very beginning of laying my eyes on the 2011 Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon bottle that night I was actually impressed by it. Sounds crazy, huh? Something inside me just said "you are going to like this wine". The label was simple yet very classy and informative. There were also no crazy, childish or goofy designs on the label as some wine makers are now starting to do. No crazy goofy names either, no, just a simple nice light Golden label with beautiful script font was what I was first treated to. What do you think about a wine that shows itself off even before it's opened? What do you think about a wine that continues to show itself off the minute it is opened and before you even taste it? I will tell you that I think, I think that wine has a lot going for it from the get go. That is what this wine was already treating me to. As I just said, the minute this wine was opened I was hit with this amazing bouquet. I even walked away a few feet to get a wine glass and STILL I could appreciate it. I have only experienced this a few times in a wine and I ended up loving the wines each time it happened. When I was able to experience it with this wine I knew the wine was going to be consistent with the wine I had at the restaurant.
  When I poured this wine in my glass it simply sat there a beautiful deep cranberry in color. The wine appeared to simply wait to be tasted, almost like it had nothing to prove to anyone. This wine simply look very appealing and I couldn't wait to taste it again. In the light the wine didn't seem to fade or lighten up too much at all, it still for the most part maintained its deep Cranberry color.
  Bringing the glass to my nose I sensed a wonderful bouquet of Leather intermixed with Caramel. Present was also a nice Cherry/Current mix. I thought I also sensed a hint of Molasses as well. Here was a very rich, complex bouquet and one I could sit and breath in all day.
  Now for what I tasted in my mouth. Oh....my.... goodness guys, WOW. There is no  question that Black Cherry and Current certainly dominate here BUT and I say BUT, don't let this fool you into thinking that this is some run of the mill Cabernet Sauvignon because it most certainly is not. Yes, I used the word "dominate" for the Black Cherry & Current but none of these overpower the other notes in a way as to ruin this wine. This wine is actually incredibly balanced and the Caramel notes on the Tongue that were most certainly present were on one hand mellow & smooth and yet on the other hand not too mellow. The Caramel complimented the other notes that the wine had to offer which was a lot. There were nice notes of Brown Sugar which were inserted smoothly into the wine and along with the Bordelaise Cassis simply elevated this wine above any other Cabernet Sauvignon that I have ever tasted. I especially loved how the french Oak also imparted it's own personality into the wine and brings in some dark notes as well which once again, puts this wine over the top. Here is a fruit forward yet semi-soft Cab that doesn't seem to need any reviewer saying it is great. This wine has a personality of it's own and takes itself very seriously indeed, as it should. A sense of Leather seems to top off this wine and adds some more dark rustic type notes here as well. One interesting note to this wine is that it needed absolutely no time to open up. The wine didn't change from the first drop to the last drop. The wine offered what it had from the very beginning to the very end.

Matt Pozzan With Some of The Winery's Different Wines

  Let's get to the bottom line here because I have a bottle of this particular wine waiting for me :) In my opinion there appears to be a lot of wine making experience, knowledge and wine passion that went into this wine. Yes this does appear to be a wine that is not meant for a top rated review. Judging from the notes the winery put on it this wine appears to be for the casual wine drinker. In part the winery is correct with it's target market BUT I believe that the winery needs to re-evaluate this wine and realize that this wine is an all around class act. This definitely does not appear to be a wine that was simply thrown together for a quick sell. The Vineyards that this wine was made from were certainly top tier and if the names were released I think we would know them all for producing the best of the best in grapes and Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was truly a treat to drink. There was nothing that I could think of that I would add and nothing I could think of to take away from this wine, it was simply outstanding and deserves to be recognized for what it is...a superior wine with elegance, poise & dignity. In my opinion this is the new benchmark for Cabernet Sauvignon. This is also a wine that will happily sit along side (although excel) wines that are in it's price point and hold it's own among wines priced much higher. From the label to the last drop this wine is what a Cabernet Sauvignon, the King of Red grapes was meant to be.
  On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I give it 94 points.

The Desert Wine Guy


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