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| 2011 Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon |
Well folks it seems that either I am lucky or there are a fairly large number of very good wines on the market today and for very reasonable prices. Yes, there are indeed a large number of very good wines available today for very good prices but even though that is the case there is an even greater wine phenomenon that is occurring today and that is there are also a good number of what I think are spectacular wines that are available today for very good prices. Today you are about to read a review of just one of those wines that I feel falls into that second class. Today we will discuss my feelings on a wine that is such a spectacular wine that the second I tasted it I was immediately impressed. From literally the first second that I opened it I knew that this wine was going to stand out above so many others that are out there. Before educating myself on wine, I had always believed that wine was for the ultra rich and that I would never have a good wine. Having been into wine for a few years now and delving into the actual growing of wine grapes and tasting my fair share of all priced wines I can tell you that those misconceptions are simply not true. If you keep up on this blog you will see that I have reviewed a lot of wines and the overwhelming majority have been good to very good. As for this wine, I loved this wine so much that I went thru hell and high water in order for me to get hold of more of this awesome wine but I will give you the very short version. I actually forgot where I got this wine from originally but I do know that finding more of this particular year was nearly impossible. After searching all over the internet without any luck I eventually did end up finding a few bottles of this wine that had to be specially gotten for me by my friends at Wine Library (
https://winelibrary.com/) and their owner Brandon Warnke and for the great price of $10.99. I want to send a special thanks to Brandon without whom I never would have found this vintage again. By the way there are now two bottles of this wine in my wine cellar and if I could get another one I most certainly would. Well guys after saying all this I guess I don't have to tell you that I totally love doing a review on a wine that I love. There are so many times that I fall in love with a particular wine and I decide to jump the line on the list of reviews I have pending to write. This wine is one of those wines. My one hope is that those of you who agree with my reviews from experience, go out and buy the wine (if you can find it) and love it as much if not more that I did. This is one of those wines I want you to go get a bottle of.
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| Black Stallion Estate vineyards |
The wine I am going to talk about today is the 2011 Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon. The Black Stallion Estate Winery (
http://www.blackstallionwinery.com/index.cfm?method=homepage.showpage) was established in 2007 and is located in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley and is on the grounds of an old historic equestrian center. The indoor track of the center is now where the wine-making is done. In 2010 the Indelicato Family which has been making wine and growing wine grapes for over 85 years purchased the Winery. Before we move on with the review here is a small bit of information on the Indelicato family since they are a big player in wine. In Gaspare Indelicato emigrated to California from Italy and in 1924 planted his first vines of the Indelicato Family Vineyards in the Spring of 1924. At the time Gaspares grapes were being grown to sell to home winemakers. When Prohibition was repealed Gaspares decide to try his hand at making wine himself with a portion of the grapes he grew. After developing a reputation for his wine-making ability's he purchased more land to expand his Vineyard. Today Gaspares family leads the Indelicato Family Vineyards into today's wine-making business. After reviewing what other wine reviewers both big and small have to say about Black Stallion Estate Winery, Black Stallion truly stands out in the world of winery's and the 2011 Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon has truly stood out to me and other reviewers in the large word of the Cabernet Sauvignon varietal at the very least. Now that we have a little background of the reviewed wine lets begin with the actual review of this very impressive wine. If you are interested in learning a little more about Black Stallion Estate Winery here (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68aZVi6PJzY) is a little YouTube video they have put out.
The Bouquet of this wine was simply outstanding, probably the best that I have ever experienced. I actually was able to detect it from across the Kitchen and that is no exaggeration. I don't think that I have ever noticed this before in any wine that I have ever drank at any price. As I was putting back my Corkscrew set I actually mentioned it to my Wife (Mrs. Desert Wine Girl) who of course responded with a wifely response of "that's nice honey". Well anyway I couldn't wait to get this wine up to my Loft to give it a try and see if the bouquet actually matched what I would taste on my palette. So up to the loft we go and it's now time to pour some of this wine that I have high hopes for. On the pour I see a wonderful, deep Blackberry / Cranberry in color mixture in my glass. Very dark in appearance this wine is continuing to look like it is all about something, I am now even more impressed but will it continue is the real question. On the nose this wine keeps on keeping on. Black Currant mixed in with Caramel as well as a Dusty Oak and woodsy type bouquet. Very impressive and as you see I still haven't even tasted it yet. Now for the real important part, how this wine held up on my Palette. Once on my palette this wine had notes of Blackberry and Black Pepper. There were notes of Black Cherry and a flavorful deep Plum. The wine is a super elegant, full powered Cabernet Sauvignon which expressed a depth I have seldom tasted in any wine. As if all this wasn't enough there were very nice, superb & supple Tannins that this wine has and they are extremely polished. Taking a few more tastes of this wine I reinforced my belief that the wine is also very well structured. If this wine seems like it has a little bit of everything a great Cabernet Sauvignon MUST that's because it does. The structured Black Currant that is present simply sends this wine completely over the top. When combined all together the mentioned notes bring this wine to being near perfect. The wine is fairly dry, smoky & silky and what a true Cabernet Sauvignon should taste like. While continuing to enjoy this wine there was a slow sense of it opening up and expanding to an even more impressive wine. Originally I was going to place this wine at 90 points which is still very good. I just didn't believe at the time that it would break that 90 point barrier but within a short period of time I started to notice that this wine that was so good to begin with was beginning to open up and expound upon itself. This wine was indeed becoming a very elegant and powerful Red and one full of depth. Further drinking of this wine revealed a sufficient amount of Cassis to keep propelling this wine forward towards greatness. Sometimes I will look at the bottle when I am drinking a wine like this and think why would anyone spend a hundred or even hundreds of dollars on a wine when you can have a wine that not just me but other wine reviewers have rated excellent. As a matter of fact Decanter Magazine rated this wine at 95 points. I have had some wines that were pretty expensive and most of them can't touch this wine that I paid $11 for. Ahhh yes, as we continue here there is more. Delightful Caramel is coming out in our wine as well. I hope you've all had a nice Cabernet before where Caramel pokes it's head through and sets the wine off that much more. If you haven't than you MUST track down a bottle (or two) of this wine. Folks here is one of those wines Ladies and Gentleman you must have. On the finish there is also the ever so slight hint of Cherry that is present at a level that contributes to the greatness of this wine. There was nothing in this wine that I did not like and everything in this wine that I loved.
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| The Indelicato Family |
Let's put all this together here in the closing of this review. I can see why the Indelicato Family Vineyards in the form of Black Stallion Estate Winery here is gaining so much awareness. If they can make a wine like this and at a price like this then they have only greater thing in store on the horizon for them. With all the different notes this wine has and at such perfect levels there is no way this wine should not be noticed. A superbly structured Cabernet Sauvignon we do have here folks. A Cabernet Sauvignon that has clearly had a lot of time and effort put into it. A wine whose finish is smooth and yet so powerful at the same time. As I said earlier in the article this wine was originally going to be given 90 points and that would have been good but as the wine opened up it did improve and so it is going to finish at a very prestigious 93 points on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale. I highly recommend that if you can find this wine you buy it quickly because it is disappearing very fast from availability.
The Desert Wine Guy
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