I don't know what you think about when
you hear the word "Cupcake" but the first thoughts that comes to my mind are sugar, creamy, kids party's, baking etc; I know you can go on and
on and conjure up memories of fun and games as well but does your mind at one time wonder
to wine at all? Mine doesn't either so don't feel bad. The other day Mrs. Desert Wine Girl and one of my Daughters of Angel
vineyards fame was at the grocery store and I was left home all by myself (I know right) and I decided to look around for
a nice Cabernet Sauvignon to relax with. Well of course you already know that I have wine in the house
but have you ever just been of the mindset that there is nothing that you are
interested in drinking in the house? That's how I was this particular day. No
matter what wine I looked at there was nothing that seemed to catch my eye or interest me.
Well I decided to pick up the phone and call Mrs. Desert Wine Girl
and ask her to pick up a Cabernet Sauvignon for me. When I was questioned as to
which one or what year or Vineyard I wanted I simply replied “you pick it”.
Now asking a person who doesn't know anything about wine (don't ask)
to pick one is like asking someone who doesn't fish to throw you a
hook while trout fishing, you can only imagine what size hook is
coming your way. Well I was feeling adventures that day and was ready
to take whatever was coming my way. When the Desert Wine Girls got
home I saw that they had chosen for me the 2012 Cupcake Vineyards http://www.cupcakevineyards.com/about)
Cabernet Sauvignon. “Cupcake, really” I said. I had heard of the brand name before and I had heard some decent things about it but those decent things that I did hear were from the average mom & pop so called wine drinker and I didn't place to much stock in their wine opinions. It also appears that everyone seems to carry Cupcake wines including the local gas station and Target
stores, that seriously scared me. I then reminded myself that this was all my fault to begin with and that I
would have to suffer and drink the wine that my wife and daughter were nice enough
to bring back for me and be, or at least act grateful
Before I go on let's learn a little bit about Cupcake Vineyards. This is one of those places that makes you believe that there is a real Vineyard(s) but there actually isn't any Vineyards that Cupcake owns or grows. Cupcake is one of those places that sources out their grapes from different vineyards "....from all over the world" as Beth Cohan A Senior Account Executive for Cupcake told me in an e-mail. While this is not necessarily a bad thing I do find it deceptive. Cupcake "Vineyards" also claims on their website to be "Americas number one premium wine brand by volume". Along with their "premium brands" they also make Mad Dog 20/20. For those of you who are unaware of that particular......beverage, consider yourself VERY lucky. When I was a young kid the name for a wine (?) along the lines of Mad Dog 20/20 was termed "Sneaky Pete". It was a group of various wines that people who lived in a house or apartment or for that matter did NOT live on the streets in an alley way simply did NOT drink. For all my Jewish readers you might recognize one of the other brands they own such as "Mogen David". How many of you grew up having that wine at Passover? For my family it was Manischewitz by the way (yummy yummy). O.K it is time to get down to business. For those of you who follow me you already know what my next step is. With my wonderful Crystal wine glass, the wine, a pen and notepad I headed up to my Loft to play......ah I mean review the wine. Let's learn about this wine now and whether it truly is sweet as a Cupcake or is indeed a serious wine.
As usual we begin with the pour of
this wine which is simply medium Red nearly bordering more on
Cranberry in color.
Moving on to the Bouquet here our
nose is hit with the smell of Bing Cherry first, blending nicely with
some nice Black Cherry and Molasses of all things. The Molasses is
interesting although a little worrisome to be honest because of my
initial worry of tasting a sweet wine due to what the name implies.
The Bouquet is pretty nice however and at this point in the tasting I am
interested in exactly what the wine has in store for me once it hits my pallette.This wine actually has a lot going on here as far as the mouth feel goes. For starters the wine opens in your mouth with Blackberry which seems to go with part of the Bouquet that was present. There is a bit of Black pepper thrown in and some acidity to the wine but I would have to say that this wine is more towards the lighter side of a Cabernet, it is almost like you would expect from a big Merlot. The tasting note of a nice, medium Bing Cherry makes an appearance here to liven things up. There is also a slightly Oakey finish that comes from the American Oak that is used in the making of this wine. When it comes down to it, everything except for the Bing Cherry is on the light side. The Bing Cherry does seem to pop more than the other flavors in the wine but the wine is overall kept very smooth indeed. There are very slight silky and polished Tannins that are present along with a hint of Cassis. The one flaw that I did notice in the wine is the fact that there is something in here that I can't put my finger on although I feel it may be the Blackberry that for some reason adds a slight amount of a bitterness and is more of an aftertaste to the wine. Don't let this scare you away though because on one hand it was nowhere near in the strength required to make the wine bad or to ruin it but on the other hand was present enough to taste.
O.K so overall this is a fairly
decent wine and one that I would say goes very nicely with Hot Dogs
or Hamburgers for the Summertime which is not far away now. If you are having friends over for a pool party I think this wine would go nicely. I would not, however call this a wine drinkers wine or even a Cabernet for a Cabernet drinker. This wine is really made for "Mom & Pop". It has it's place on the kitchen counter or on the the rack behind the couch or on the Coffee table. It is
not a complex wine by any means although there are many different
flavors to enjoy here and I don't think meant to be taken to seriously. As for
the sweetness or sugary fear that I thought might crop up, that never
materialized thankfully and the worries of an overpowering sweetness factor was a non issue. As for addressing the slight bitter taste. I did some research
to see if I am the only reviewer to taste this and I discovered that
I am not. There are actually at least two more blogs that report the
same fault. Once again this aftertaste is in no way a reason not to drink this wine. Do allow this wine at least a couple of hours to come into it's own. The bottom line is this is NOT a bad wine BUT it does have it's place. I would add this wine to the list of the many other wines of this type and enjoy it while the heat and the pool are up and running and that is coming soon especially here in the Desert of Las Vegas.
On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I would put it at a solid 86 points.
The Desert Wine Guy
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My husband and I love cupcake wines.
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