The other day I was in the Airport here in Las Vegas awaiting the boarding for my flight to Florida (what's up with that) when I suddenly realized that I was hungry. Since I had about an hour and a half to kill before the flight boarded I thought that I would grab a quick bite to eat. I decided I would eat at the Las Vegas Chophouse & Brewery located in the Airport and since I was by myself and had no kids with me, I also very happily sat down at the Bar. After reviewing their Menu I decided on the Crab Croquette which itself was just incredable but what made this an even more delightfull meal was the glass (or possibly two) that I had of the 2016 Louis .M. Martini - Cabernet Sauvignon that I chose to go along with it. Now hold on a minute there DWG, did you say that you had a red wine with Crab? Yes, I most assuredly did say that, and you know what, it was FANTASTIC. Being straight with you guys as always, I didn't really expect much from this wine. I guess I fell into the trap of judging a wine by its price tag.
My expectations of the wine changed however when I took my first taste of the wine, it was also at that point that I also decided you guys needed to know about this wine which of course was going to be accomplished by me reviewing it for you. One last thing here. The stares that I received while sitting in an Airport restaurant while
judging both the visual and Bouquet presentation of the wine were amazing by the way. Anyway, it's been a few weeks and here I am, back from Florida and sitting in my Loft with a bottle of that particular wine so let's get into this review.
This is a wine that is fairly common as I seem to see it everywhere wine is sold and for a very reasonable price as well. Speaking of price, the wine cost me $13 but does sell for $20 at the winery. The wine is also of course Cork sealed and comes in at a moderate 14.5% Alcohol as well. The grapes for this wine come from the Frei Ranch vineyards in the Dry Creek Vally AVA (Sonoma County) as well as the Barrelli Creek Vineyard in the Alexander Valley. The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Merlot with unspecified percentages of each varietal and also sat for 16 months in French & American Oak.
As for the label now guys I think that while it is obviously nothing flashy, it does present a certain element of clean simplicity to it. While it is on the plain side it is not too plain where it is what I would consider to be bland. I thnk the words are well placed and the Fonts were fairly decent as well. Overall a very simple label one hand yet on the other it does the job and I'm comfortable with that.
Let's now go ahead and actually look at the wine. You know that while looks aren't everything (lucky for me) they can form an impression(s) on others, in this case the wine consumer. These impressions might carry on to their overall view of a wine or a product in general as well. Holding the wine glass up to direct Sunlight I will tell you that the wine is exposing itself an absouletly wonderfull Burgundy in color. If I were a betting man I would bet that the wine also probably looks as dark as the day it was bottled. What a wonderful & impressive visual presentation this wine is showing putting on display. Legs, legs on this wine were numerous, fairly thick and ran quickly down the sides of my wine glass. At times the wine also seemed to almost coat the glass, almost like a light oil.
So now we discuss very briefly the Bouquet of this wine. Yeah, what's up with the Bouquet of the wine there DWG? Well red wine lovers, let me tell you about what's up with the Bouquet. I'll start off with the fact that the wine exposes a very nice inital yet moderate oak note on the nose. Along with this oak came some light Black Cherry which is also in the mix here and is so very welcomed as it fit perfectly here. The Bouquet simply screams of a wine that is going to be wrought with complexity and overall development if ever one could. A good note of Cocoa and smoke is certainly exposed as the wine opens up to it's implied greatness.
We move now onto the wines Palate presentation. Straight up I will tell you that at a half an hour into the wine being opened and my initial tasting of it, this wine is showing that it is on its way to demonstrating it is very serious concerning its presentation. Now, whether or not the wine will develop into a fruit bomb or not is unknown as I guess that remains to be seen but with inexpensive reds it is unfortunetly a common fault that crops up. Some forward Black Plum comes lunging out at you here on the initial Palate presentation but is subdued to an ever so slight extent by a note of the very same oak which I picked up on the Nose. In perfect tune with that oak and Black Plum is a note of almost ripe Black cherry. Real quickly here I want to tell you that this is a juicy wine on the Palate and your Mouth fills with robust & ripe red fruits, amazing. The fruit notes are very concentrated which also assists in making for an "Old World" type expression which you guys know I prefer in my reds. Now I did say the wine was of the "Old School" type expression right? Keep this in mind as I mention that there is a slight bit of fruit forwardness to it but that doesn't mean that this bit even has thoughts of dominance or even to makes the attempt at trying to steer this wine towards a Generation X type wine because it does not.
I am in actuality talking about a presentation which adds just a hair bit of softness and sugar that is mostly noticed at Mid-Palate and is from 1 - 10, a 2.5. I know that I mentioned oak earlier but I need to expound on that for a minute. This oak is at a level where it is just enough to make a slight yet defenitly positive impact on the Palate. That slight, positive impact is however just perfect as it does not even come close to dominating here, this is not an oakey wine. The oak is simply.....perfect. Let me go ahead and throw in a serious Leather note which is present just after the opening notes here guys and brings along with it lovely Tannins. Speaking of Tannins, the wine does have some nice yet not exactly subtle Tannins folks so be ready for that. As I already said, this is an "Old World" style Cabernet Sauvignon to a massive extent so be warned. A Black Pepper note is present here as well and it is evident as well but not overpowering. Ripe Blackberry guys, do you wnat that as well? Well if you do, you are in luck. Ripe Blackberries just thrusts forward on the Palate and I think plays a big part bringing out that bit of fruit forwardness as well that I mentioned earlier. Black Currants are massive here guys and helps this wine to create a sense of big money being spent on it. Acidity is well balanced and is not an issue here if you are sensitive or dislike that particular note although there is some present. The wine also exhibits a taste of Brown Sugar which works in coordination with any fruit forwardness the wine presents. Have no worries here guys as the wine is not what I would consider to be a sweet wine but there is a underlying slightly sweet component to it. All of the other notes do a great job at adequately covering up this Brown Sugar to a good extent and what is left is really well presented. There is a "grip" to this wine as it coats your mouth and you struggle to find out just how for this price such a wine can be created. Some Graphite and Clove is presented here in this wine as well and I have to say that this wine is very powerful and tastes so much higher then its price point suggests guys.
Okay so we are in the final paragraph. Before I give you my closing thoughts and my rating on this wine, I have to make a comment on the Louis .M. Martini website in relation to this wine. When you first read the page the winery presents to you (
https://www.louismartini.com/wines/sonoma-county-cabernet-sauvignon-2016) in referance to this wine you will notice that they say that the "Varietal Content" of the wine is Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Merlot. As you get to the "Winemaker Notes" section you will see that they say the wine now has Cabernet Franc. I ask you, which is it? One other issue here is if you read the "Viticultral" section you will notice that we all of a sudden jumped backwards to the 2015 Vintage. One final issue here is that the Winery doesn't state anything about the French/American Oak in referance to the oak being new or old (neutral). For those of you who are unaware if indeed the oak is "neutral" then it really doesn't matter what type of oak it is or for that matter, how long the wine sat in it because a "neutral" it no longer imparts any flavor onto the wine. Alright then, let's finish up this final paragraph now. If you blind taste this wine at a party or perhaps another tasting venue, your guests will suggest prices of at least $50 if not more, that is how mpressive this wine is. If I hadn't seen the price per glass at the restaurant I also would have thought of that price range as well. This is a very textured wine and one which presents a rather nice plushness to it. I see that Mr. James Suckling has rated this wine at 92 points but on The Desert WIne Guy rating scale I am going to up him by one and give this wine 93 points.
I was very impressed by this wine and it's complexity as well as the fact that I have tasted many wines double the price which couldn't even hope to reach this score. By the way my Dinner at home that went perfectly with this wine was Hamburgers made from Wagyu Beef placed on the Smoker and cooked to perfection by Mrs. desert Wine girl. Lastly I will say Good job guys, keep up the great work.
The Desert Wine Guy
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