I have previously written about wine pricing but lately I feel the need to touch upon the subject yet again. So, why do I bring this topic up you may ask? I bring it up because I feel the need to set something straight, I hate seeing people ripped off and trust me, people are being ripped off. Why does an unpopular wine varietal that is grown in just as pristine
soil and under the same wonderful sun as a more popular varietal of wine, cost so much less? While wine manufactures will throw out all kinds of reasons for this, in my opinion, they are very simply lying. Simple economics dictates that the more popular a product (in this case a wine varietal) is, the more people want it and therefore, the more they are willing to pay for it. One way that a manufacturer makes something popular is by releasing a product slowly (diamonds) which causes an artificial shortage ("the wine is currently unavailable") of that product. As with any product, there is also tons of marketing that is involved in selling wine.
Once a winery establishes its marketing demographics for a particular wine, they devise advertisements that those demographics can relate to. Sell a particular wine towards an upper class male audience and the marketing has you thinking that you will have
beautiful and sophisticated women dressed in classy dresses and looking super hot falling all over you at business meeting or after parties. I mean
after all guys, who doesn't want hot women, right? Sell wine to an upper class female audience and you will have sophisticated men dressed in custom fits suits and looking all suave and sophisticated. Come on ladies, don't you want the men to find you hot? In short, buy this wine and you yourself will be handsome or beautiful and desired by the opposite sex. The advertising matches the audience or financial
category the target audience is in. The higher the class of person you target, the
more the winery can get away with charging. I could go on here but I am sure you get the point. If you are an educated consumer, this trick normally doesn't work on you as you realize you are being tricked into paying more for wine that should in reality be costing half as much. Psychology is used to implant thoughts in your mind geared towards you opening your wallets to up pay $20 for juice that in all reality is worth only $10 or
pay $50 for a Cabernet Sauvignon whose juice is worth only $25. Well,
you guys get the point here I am sure. I guess I should write an article on the subject as it can get really deep but right now, it is
time to get into today's wine that is up for review.
Okay guys, today I am going to be talking about a brokered wine. This is a wine that most likely came from a prestigious winery but is not sold under that prestigious wineries name nor, at their prestigious price. This particular series of wines which is named Vineyard Block Series is created for sale at ABC Fine Wine & Spirits which is a pretty big alcohol chain here in "Freedom" Florida. These wines are sourced from different well known wineries but sold under the Vineyard Block Series name and at a much lower price as well. Having reviewed a lot of these wines, I will say that around 80% of their wines are good to very good where the remainder of 20% is just so so, or simply in my opinion, "okay". Today's wine up for review is the 2020 Vineyard Block Series 829 Special Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine in this bottle came from a winery that is located in the St. Helena AVA of the Napa Valley and cost me $32.99 which is on the pricier side for the series. The wines alcohol percentage comes in at a whopping 14.8% and the bottle is cork (real) sealed.
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| A Beautiful St. Helena Vineyard |
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Alright then, lets talk label. Guys, just take a look at the picture on the bottle above, what do you think I will be saying about the label? To me, in my humble opinion, the label is...outstanding...amazing... incredible! Look at those graphics guys. Look at the colors and the way the almost double label is laid out. The wording on the label such as "Special Reserve" while probably in reality means nothing, has this wine label screaming "high quality". The AVA itself says (marketing) quite a bit about the wine grapes the wine comes from. Folks, to me, the label is top notch.
Now let's talk bouquet for a bit. So the minute I brought the wine to my nose, I began to fall in love with it. Beginning with a note of a wonderful oaked sweet spice that gives off the impression at least that this Cabernet Sauvignon is going to be super high in quality and very well made. Continuing on now, I am getting a sense of earth as well here. I have to to tell you guys that this bouquet while admittedly limited is really nice and super promising that the wine will taste pretty darn good.
As I move on to the palate presentation of this wine, I will begin this section of the review by telling you that after taking a tasting of the wine I am impressed. Although it is early in the review, that spice, that wonderful sweet oaked spice that I got on the nose translates right on over here and it is smooth and very nicely presented for sure. Acidity seems to find a best friend in that spice and the two really mesh well and compliment one another.
A slight cocoa note intermixes with the other two notes mentioned and it is just enough to continue the very nice presentation already established. Now unfortunately comes an issue as there is a certain sweetness...a jamminess to the wine and in my humble opinion it is just a hair bit too much. Now, I am not saying that the wine is ruined by any means but what I am saying is that I would have been happier if that perceived sweetness was not present at the level it is. Moving on now, the wine offers up a plushness feel to it that attaches itself to everything else and it is delicious guys like...really, delicious. Getting back to that acidity that I mentioned earlier for a minute, that acidity is important here in the wine and with it presenting itself in a moderate way, it goes extremely well with the wine in its entirety. Dark fruits come into play now with blueberry I think being the source of the wines jamminess as it always seems to be at least for me anyway. Unfortunately that blueberry is in my opinion, a slight bit over the top and I really am disappointed in this aspect of the wine as I had super high hopes for it up to this point. I had early thoughts of the wine actually making my cellar. I don't understand what it is with American winemakers of Cabernet Sauvignon who overload the varietal with that offensive and over the top blueberry note. Moving on now, the wine has a really nice earthy note here that manages to make its presence known as it did on the nose and it is nice and also able to stand out and make an impact on the overall taste of the wine. Tannins are present and exhibited as just less than crumbly but are nice nonetheless. These tannins are something that I think everyone will appreciate as they do add a positive note to the wine overall without being crazy. Well guys, I do think that I have said enough concerning this wine so I will meet you in the next paragraph to wrap it all up.
Okay guys, so here is the deal on the wine. The wine at times really wanted to be great and there were notes here that were really nice but once again that darn jam monster just had to rear its ugly head and hurt things a good bit. To say that I am disappointment is an understatement because from the nose, I really did expect a lot more than I got. I guess marketing in the form of the label, the AVA and the heavy bottle really did convince me this wine was going to make the cellar (94 points or higher). Unfortunately the wine did not rate quite that high as on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I ended up giving the wine a generous 92 points. Once again I feel that darn jamminess really took its toll on the wine and that is a big shame.
The Desert Wine Guy
