The Desert WIne Guy - 2012 Dynamite Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

Today I want to talk about a wine that almost nothing is known about, at least I can't seem to find much. Today I want to discuss the 2012 Dynamite Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. A deep search on the internet will bring you to a link for their website however the link is dead. I did find an e-mail to the vineyard but that also is dead. There are some mentions of the wine but they are just that, mentions. I did find out that the inspiration for the name "Dynamite" came from Hillside Vineyards because the land was full of Volcanic rock and they needed to use Dynamite in order to plant the vines. The artist for the label is Stephen Ward and illustrates the Pomo Indian legend behind the Diamond like quam that sparkles in the soils of the Vineyard. The Moon wept when she could not be with her love, a Pomo Chieftain and her tears fell to the Earth forming glistening "moon tears". The other thing I found out is that Dynamite is owned by Diageo which is the worlds biggest spirits supplier and also owns Beaulieu Vineyards and Sterling Vineyards to name just a couple. Before we move on I also want to let you know that I paid $10 for this wine at a warehouse type liquor store and it was more that worth it.
   Before we go on with the actual review I feel that I again must comment on the label. I sitting in front of my computer and am looking at my notes here and it brings me back to seeing the bottle itself. The label brought to mind the thoughts of a very unprofessional wine with childish art work. I thought the label was unclassy. This seems to be a new trend in today's wine world and I for one do not like it. When I see a silly label on a wine or a wine with a silly name I usually avoid it. How I can to but this wine I will explain a little bit later on. Having harped on the subject long enough I'll leave you with this question. How many of you readers agree with me.
   Today you are going to read about a wine that I think is fantastic. It is truly amazing how many small label wines there out there that for whatever reason don't make a name for themselves and yet are every bit as good if not better that some of the big label wines that we have are all familiar with. This is one of those wines folks. Sit back and relax and enjoy this review and that if you can find the wine go out and buy a few bottles for yourself.  The 2012 Dynamite Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of both Cabernet Sauvignon as well as Cabernet Franc and what a blend they make here together in this wine. O.K let's start off with the Bouquet of this wine. This wine was weird on the nose because although there was a lot of notes on the nose but none of them were that you would call strong or overpowering.  There most certainly was Leather and wood along with a Green Pepper spice and Cedar. I really enjoyed it but wished it had been stronger on the nose. In my glass the wine showed a medium to dark Inky Red and I was really impressed by it's appearance in my glass. Now onto how this wine displayed itself on my Palette. This section is going to be a little weird because upon initially tasting this wine I sensed that I needed to leave it alone for a while. I sensed that this wine needed badly to be given a chance to open up .....a lot. My initial impression upon tasting this wine was that there was a note of overpowering Black Cherry a slight bitterness and strong hints of Alcohol. Now normally I would end the review right there and perhaps not even mention that I did a review on it because it simply wouldn't be worth it but as I said, something told me to give the wine some time to develop. I occupied my time by reading a wine magazine and from time to time I would take a sip and after about a half an hour to forty five minutes I started to notice that the wine was starting to evolve in a big way, it was beginning to develop some nice notes. What would another little while do for it I wondered. I really didn't expect much because in order for this wine to even be decent it would need a lot of development and I didn't think it was possible. Well I waited a total of two hours and while I didn't Decant the wine I simply left it in the bottle I experienced the wine begin to express itself and the development of it and I was finally ready to do my review. Here is what I found. The Bitterness was gone from the wine and actually replaced by quite a bit of Tannins in it's place. There were notes of Pomegranate and Cassis there was also still that big Black Cherry but it was not offensive at this point as it had toned down just enough and remained at the level that it allowed the wine to be what it was designed to be. This wine had developed into a very nicely structured wine. The finish left you with all the stated notes intact with none taking precedence or dominance over the other. An added bonus came when a nice Caramel note was also appeared. This wine is very aggressive in the fact that all it's notes are straight forward with no hiding or underlying notes anywhere as some wines tend do. With all it's in your face power it is not over the top (close though) and brash yet classy and in a sense elegant. This is not what I would consider a fruit forward wine although there is some some nice fruit her that you will enjoy but not to the extent of being able to call it fruit forward. Slight acidity is present and seems to connect well with the Blackberry and Caramel that were mentioned.  Did I mention the Dark Chocolate that is present as well? Oh yeah, there is a wonderful Dark Chocolate note that shows up a little later and meshes nicely with the other dark fruit. While drinking this wine I was able to imagine myself in a very expensive restaurant ordering a very expensive bottle of wine, this wine. Poise, elegance, stuck up and nicely developed this wine can last many more years since the Tannins are very bold and aggressive. There is also just the right amount of acidity to help set this wine off nicely.




   Let's go ahead and put the finishing touches on this wine. Originally this wine was going to find it's way down the drain very quickly. I didn't think that a wine could change that dramatically but this wine did just that. Guys, this wine changed that much. I wish the Vineyard would ditch that label however, this wine deserves a lot more than the weird label that was placed on it. I never would have bought this wine if not for one of my children picking it out because of the child like label. Yes that's right one of my 5 year old liked the label, she thought it was "pretty". This is not a "Yuppie" wine or a wine for someone who has a preference for a light or a soft Red. The wine is definitely big and bold and meant for a true lover of a meaty, dramatic wine. This wine exceeded all my expectations of a wonderful Cabernet Sauvignon. The structure here is almost unmatched and came very near to the 2011 Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-annabella.html) that I reviewed in October of 2015. The wonderful Caramel note and the Tannins present were great. This is a wine meant for a nice Dinner and for some spicy ribs and a hefty steak., it is meant for a spicy meat dominated Dinner. Don't waste this on Chicken or Hot Dogs please, you will be sorry you did. So how much did this wine change over time? The wine changed so much over time that Ion The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale I put it at a superb 93 points.

                                                                                                                 The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert Wine Guy - 2014 Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc

  
   Well everyone now that there is bud break occurring in both my Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard as well as the Sauvignon Blanc vineyard I figured it would be nice to review a wine from one of those varietals. Since I seem to tend to do a lot of reviews of the Cabernet Sauvignon varietal I thought it would be nice to do a review of a Sauvignon Blanc this time. So...do a review on the Sauvignon Blanc varietal I did. Well off to the store to buy a wine I guess. While I was there one of my kids pointed out "I like this label, it's pretty" so of course I had to pick that particular wine. to review.
   Today's review is on the family owned 2014 Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc http://www.villamaria.co.nz/wines). This wine is from the Marlborough wine region of New Zealand. The Marlborough region is known for its complete LACK of subtlety as far as flavor. The grapes in our review wine are sourced from sites in the Wairau and Awatere Valleys. This region which had it's first Sauvignon Blanc vines planted in 1973 and it's first wines made in commercial quantities in 1979 and has now become known for Sauvignon Blancs that are seriously in your face with Green Pepper, Gooseberry as well as Lemongrass.  This wine is certainly no exception. There is a moderate level of acidity that is brilliant and in your face. The Marlborough region has a long growing season due to it's diurnal temperature variation. Autumn in this region is dry and sunny and helps produce the Sauvignon Blanc that it is known for. The country of New Zealand had it's first planting of wine grapes back in 1819 when the Reverend Samuel Mardsen decided to plant 100 vines at a mission located in Kerikeri. In 1851 New Zealand's oldest existing vineyard was created by French Roman Catholic missionaries at Mission Estate in Hawke's Bay. The Marlborough Region itself which is where this wine comes from was first planted in 1973 but it wasn't until the late 1980's that the region came to have the fame for the varietal known as Sauvignon Blanc and is today believed by most wine reviewers to grow the worlds best Sauvignon Blanc. Today there are about 50,000 Acres of grapevines planted and the country of New Zealand gets around 73% of their wine production from there. Another interesting statistic is that around 85% of the country's wine export comes from the Marlborough region. Villa Maria itself was actually founded in 1961 and today is one of New Zealand's leading winemakers. The wine has an Alcohol level at 12.5%
  Before we head off into this review I just wanted to say that I REALLY liked this wine. There was an extremely nice bouquet that really showed this wine off upon opening the bottle. Let's begin with the little fact that this is a screw cap wine....well I've said all I want to say about that topic unless you need a lecture on my thoughts on the topic.  In my glass the wine exhibited a very slight Golden hue but for the most part was almost clear in color when held to the light. Bringing this glass to my nose the wine showed off aromas of Peach, Lemon & Nectarine notes that reminded me of being out in an Orchard somewhere. There was a note of a very pale Honeydew to add to the complexity here as well. The aroma of Gooseberry was present here as well. Like I do with all wines that display a nice bouquet I started wondering if the wine would be able to transfer all this on over to the Palette. In my mouth the wine was super crisp with acidity and showed notes of fruit such as Lemon , Nectarine and Honeydew, almost all of the notes in the Bouquet. The Honeydew note is sustained throughout the time the wine is in your mouth, nice. As I noted, this wine has a good amount of an acidic side to it and has plenty of grassy / Lemongrass pop to it as well. The majority of Sauvignon Blancs from the Marlborough area of New Zealand seem to have these notes.  The notes of Lemon and Nectarine simply explode in your mouth and combined with that good bit of acidity are wonderful. The notes of Gooseberry and Honeydew are not quite as in your face but are almost at that level. The Lemongrass was enjoyable and is well placed in the wine and helps all the other notes present here in creating a stunning wine. As a side note there does appear to be a note of sweetness here that I detected but nothing that alters the wine in a negative way so no worries there.
  
In wrapping up this review I want to tell you guys that I drank this wine at room temperature and I believe that elevated the acidic note that it had. I really believe that if this wine was chilled a bit some of that acidic note would disappear which would allow the wine to still have a good bit of acidity to it but tone it down slightly. I think also that the toning down of the acidity a bit would be very nice and I probably would have elevated this wine another point on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale if it was toned down but never the less I still really enjoyed this wine. I must say here folks that this is certainly a very serious Sauvignon Blanc for very serious Sauvignon Blanc lovers. As far as food with this wine I envision Oysters, Clam Chowder and lightly battered Fish & Chips. Well now the moment you have been waiting for. As I said if not for the good amount of acidity I would have boosted this wine by 1 point however the score I did give it is great as it is. I am going to score this great wine at 92 points folks. I highly recommend that you go buy a couple of bottles but do place a slight chill on the first prior to drinking.

  

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The Desert WIne Guy - 2013 Dominican Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon - A Real Sugar Bomb

   Today's review will be a rather short one because that is really all this so so Napa Valley Cabernet really deserves. Today's review is of the 2013 Dominican Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a wine that you really can't find any information about for some reason. The makers of this wine are the Rutherford Wine Company however when you go to their webpage you can't find anything on this wine, they make no claim to the label. The only way I knew they made it was because I looked at the back of the bottle. There is no other information about this wine that I can find available. This is a $20 bottle of wine that no one wants to take credit for. I would love to tell you more about the wine from the angle of the makeup of the grapes (blending) or a little about the winery but since no is willing to take ownership of the wine I guess I won't worry about it.
  Call me weird but when I pour a wine into my glass I enjoy pouring a very small amount. I believe rightly or wrongly, that this gives the wine more of an opportunity to open up quicker and allows me to really get into the swirling of the wine. I also feel that since there is so little in the glass it allows more room for air to mix in quicker. I am not saying there is any scientific evidence to this but it sounds good in my mind :) This can be a detriment as well because by the time I am half way thru the bottle Mrs. Desert Wine Girl has Dinner ready and there is still half a bottle left that goes down the sink drain since I don't like wine sitting around even for a day.
   Now to the wine and what I thought of it. First remember that we are talking about a $20 bottle of wine. With all the great wine being offered in today's market at prices just under this wines price, I feel this wine should stand out. Now while that is fresh in your mind I want you to think about the fact that this wine is VERY fruit forward and VERY sweet. In the glass the wine looked pretty nice however and I had hopes for a good wine to be in the cards. A medium to dark, inky / Burgundy in color appearance sat in the bowl of my glass. The Bouquet consisted of Caramel, Black Berry and Hibiscus....still promising I thought and I was getting more excited in anticipation. For $20 this would be what I should expect and it is what I thought I was about to receive. Here however is where expectations met reality and you will see what the results are.
   From the very first sips of this wine till the very last sip of this wine the wine changed or opened up very little. On my Palette I consistently tasted Oak and Black cherry but to me the overly dominate note in this wine was a very fruity Black Cherry that carried with it a lot of sweetness. There were nice notes of Cassis and there were also some nice Tannins but they couldn't help this wine much. Because the Cassis and tannin's were so nice I did however raise the final score on this wine by 1 point but the overall sweet notes simply couldn't be overcome enough to raise it more than that.
   I'm not going to sit here and say that this wine was not O.K but it was really just an average fruit forward, hastily made Cabernet Sauvignon. I won't even use the word decent to describe it. There are many of these wine out there and if the wine was less expensive for what it was I might have raised the score another point for value but not at this price point, no way. Although the Bouquet may seem to have been nice I didn't find this wine really expressing itself or able to use it for it's benefit. The notes as described were there but they didn't ....yell out that they were there, they were simply present. If I had to use one word to describe the wine it would be "sweet". If you like a fruit forward Cabernet Sauvignon, as I do but hate when they are dominated by sweetness than you seriously need to look elsewhere. This wine sits at a price point that I feel more, much more is expected of it. There was some Caramel in it when the wine opened up but still not enough to make any meaningful impact.
   Bottom line here is that unless you like the fruit forward, overly sugary tasting red wine this is not the wine for you. There are a lot better and for a less expensive price that blow this wine away. If you are looking for one here ( http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-black-stallion.html) is my review on one. For $10.99 you will have yourself an excellent fruit forward yet NOT overly sweet, expressive Cabernet Sauvignon that I rated at 93 points on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale. As for this wine well it can't hope to touch that rating and I place it at 86 points on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert WIne Guy - 2013 Z Alexander Brown "Uncaged" Propriety Red Blend

The 2013 Z Alexander Brown "Uncaged"

    Hello everyone, today I want to discuss a little bit about a wine from Z Alexander Brown entitled "Uncaged". Before we get into this wine review however, I would like to tell you a short story about just exactly how I came across this wine in the first place. Last year, in November I came across and did a review (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-black-stallion.html) of  the 2011 Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon from the Delicato Family Vineyards. I loved the wine so much that I searched all over to find some more. It turned out that this particular vintage was sadly  unavailable (sadly) anymore. Well to make a long story short I finally managed to find the last couple of bottles at a wine seller on line named WineLibrary (https://winelibrary.com/) and bought a couple of bottles for my cellar. When I went back to get some more they of course were sold out. Well I still wanted a couple of more bottles and I ended up contacting the Delicato Family Vineyards (http://www.delicato.com/) themselves who are the makers of Black Stallion and I was referred to Allison Mendoza who is the Areas Sales Manager for Nevada. She unfortunately informed me that neither she nor her numerous wine sources were able to get me any more of that particular vintage, she was however able to get me the 2013 vintage and she would gladly get me a bottle to review if I so desired. Well I assumed that if the actual winery can't come up with any more that I have to believe that it is not available anymore. I also hoped that if the 2013 was as good as the 2011 than I was in luck and I felt the wine maker deserved a shot at trying to impress me again. Well Allison and I ended up meeting at a local coffee house here in Las Vegas and to my surprise Allison brought not only a bottle of the 2013 Black Stallion but a bottle of wine named Z Alexander Brown "Uncaged" red propriety blend as well. Neither wines had actually been released to the general public at that time although you should be able to find them at the time you are reading this review. Before I go on I wanted to give a special thank you to Allison. I was very impressed with her and thought she was very professional and presented the Delicato Family Vineyards extremely well. Allison was also prompt for our meeting which is important to me and was extremely pleasant and informative as well. We ended up speaking for about an hour and I learned much about the wine and distribution end of alcohol in general.
   With that being said I would like to establish once again before I move into the body of this review that this wine was a gift from Allison on behalf of the Delicato Family Vineyards.  As always, I promise you that I will always give you my honest opinion. Remember that I have a full time job and am not beholden to anyone. One last item before we get into the heart of the review. In case you think that you might recognize the name Z Alexander Brown from somewhere but you can't put your finger on it Yes, the wine is named after the singer Zac Brown.
   So lets begin at the pour. This wine is truly what is known as an inky red wine. The color is really wonderful to experience, it is like a feast for the eyes. You can almost see how good this wine is going to be by it's appearance. So we have started off here on a good note for this wine. There really isn't much more to say about the appearance of this wine in my glass so let's now move on.
   Now we move to the Bouquet. I really wish that the Bouquet was as appealing to my nose as the pour was to my eyes, unfortunately I can't really say much about the Bouquet because there really isn't much of a Bouquet in my opinion to speak about. There were notes of Blackberry and Baking Spice there but they were fairly on the weak side. Basically there really wasn't much of anything on the nose I am sorry to say. So far it looks as if we have a mixed review here doesn't it? Don't be fooled into thinking that this review is going down hill here though folks because it most certainly is not.

Back of The "Uncaged" Wine Bottle

   Onto how the wine was on my Palette. Here is truly where this wine really shines. When I very first put this wine in my mouth the first thought that came to mind was "wow, impressive". My mouth was filled with some simply powerfully impressive notes and I really was rather impressed. Here is a wine that has as much depth to it as there is color on the pour and that folks is a lot. To continue, there is a luscious, deep, rich Black Cherry note followed by well refined and rather nice Cassis that coats the Tongue. Pretty serious deep BlackBerry notes are in here as well.  In the wine and on the finish there is a hint of Caramel that seems to softens the BlackBerry note and provides a velvety smoothness. Adding to the finish is the sense of a almost a hint of Black Pepper and along with the rest of the notes mentioned adds to this delicious mix. Yes, there is a lot on the finish. It is very busy in a good way. There really isn't one particular flavor that dominates the finish which think is nice.
   There is also a surprising hint of Blueberry note that I detected as well. Wow, this wine folks is seriously shaping up to be a very "in your face" (which I love) red wine blend. As I said the deep Black Cherry is the first note to hit your Palette however the other notes I  have already mentioned come along for the ride almost instantly and are almost, but not quite equal in their presence on your Palette. Some pretty nice notes of slightly chewy Tannins also  managed to creep their way into this wine. I totally love the way the Tannins and that note of Cassis create a sort of chewiness in my mouth, we are talking about a fairly complex tasting wine. I happen to love a wine that is not shy but is instead so bold and flavor packed that it almost screams "look at me". Yeah, this is a slightly fruit forward wine but it has so much more to offer your on your Palette that it is almost easy to overlook for those of you who are put out off by fruit forwardness in a wine. Simply put, this is a wine that doesn't request, it demands distinction, it screams suit & tie on one hand and casual steak dinner at home on the other. The notes of BlackBerry and the others I mentioned carry's this wine trough nicely to the finish and complete this outstandingly superior wine you won't regret it you bought it. This is another wine that is in the same family as the last few reds I have been reviewing meaning that it is not for the weak of heart.
   It was rather interesting I thought while I was reviewing this wine that this is the first release of this label and I couldn't help but think what would happen if this wine hit it big with the so called professional wine reviewers. What if this wine in three months was unavailable on the market anymore becaus eit took the wine world by storm and happened to win best new wine of the year? What, it could really happen :) Here I was having the great fortune of tasting this wine before it was released to the general public, I just thought that was really cool. I also want to give credit where credit is due. Zac Brown himself of course did not make this wine but he deserves a lot of credit for hooking up with the man who did, So you ask, who did make this wine? Well none other than John Killebrew. John also made wine at Pareidolia Wineworks and Havens Wine Cellars in the Napa Valley. By the way this isn't Johns first venture in combining the music and the wine industry into one. In 2012 John and the Spanish artist Gabriel Moreno also along with the Delicato family joined together to create "Juxtapoz" which is another red wine blend from California's North Coast (as is the "uncaged") that seems to be getting very nice reviews.

John Killebrew (left) And Zac Brown (Right)

If I may I'd like to make a suggestion to all my red wine fans. Here is another wine that is in the same category as the 2012 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-desert-wine-guy-2012-franciscan.html) that I recently reviewed. For both of these wonderful wines I am going to be purchasing a couple of bottles for my wine cellar and who knows perhaps just to say I have them. The one fortunate thing for you is that unlike the Franciscan, the "Uncaged" has just been released and is available in enough quantity (for the moment) that you can try a bottle for yourself before spending the money to buy two more bottles later to put away. Who know s this might even become one of those "cult wines" that everyone must have. I think that whether it becomes a cult wine or not this is a wine that you are going to love and is more than capable to be both a wine for that steak night or the wine for that special event, either way it will surely stand out as a wine of respect.

   You must be a dark, Red wine drinker in order to appreciate this Red blend. This is A big wine too die for essentially. There is the very slight note of sweetness that I detected but nothing too overbearing and the other notes work well in attempting to cut down on the sugary notes. Unfortunately this is where the one negative item I found in this wine came to the forefront I am sorry to say. While the sweetness to the wine is really for the most part negligible it does tip to the slightly pronounced side and is enough for me to be forced to take away a couple of points from this still wonderful wine. We will discuss the sweetness level a little further in the review when I give you my rating. This is a truly awesome wine and one that I think is going to make a big splash in the wine industry. The Delicato Family should once again be proud to claim this label as another winner that will continue to put the family on the wine map and do them proud.

The Indelicato Family

   O.K lets put this all together now. This is a full bodied, powerful, in your face, yet smooth and impressive at the same time Red blend of a wine. The Delicato Family Vineyards have done it once again, they have managed to  impress this wine reviewer with another of their wines.  The 2013 Z Alexander Brown "Uncaged" propitiatory Red blend is a wine that I feel needs to be poured in wine glasses throughout the wine world and judged as possibly a "best in class" by some reviewers. I can't speak for Zac Browns music because I am not a country music fan but I can speak for his (John Killebrew) wine. This wine while having the notes of Cassis and Tannins is for the most part smooth as silky in your mouth. I highly recommend it.  SO let's get to my scoring of this wine. Originally this wine was headed for 94 points on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale but unfortunately that just a hair over the top sweetness that it seemed to exhibit in my book brought it down 2 points in the overall score. The wine ends with a rating of 92 very respectable points.

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The Desert Wine Guy - 2012 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Today I want to talk about about a particular wine that I found simply fascinating. The wine I want to discuss here today is the 2012 Franciscan Estate (http://www.franciscan.com/Story/Estate-Vineyards) Cabernet Sauvignon. Let's start talking about this absolutely amazing wine and exactly how I came across it which I almost think was an error on Costco's part. First though,  a little bit of bad news, as far as I know it is no longer available anywhere. I have searched online and have been unsuccessfully in locating this vintage.  So the bad news  (the only bad news) is out of the way so  I guess I should start from the beginning here and just how I came across this wine.

Franciscan Estates Winery

So Desert Wine Guy exactly how did you come across this wine? Well here is the story. The other day I was sitting around at home and this thought just came into my mind. The thought was that I needed to head to Costco and buy a bottle of wine. I know, weird huh? Why Costco I thought. Yes, it is true, I do love Costco for their wine selection but in reality it is a rather small selection in general. Besides, there is a store near me that is almost as big as a Walmart that sells every type of wine, Liquor or Beer you could ever possibly want or need. I really don't know the answer but I am glad I followed thru on that thought. So anyway Mrs.Desert Wine Girl and I got dressed and we went to our local Costco here in Las Vegas to do some wine buying for me and some shopping for her. When we got to the store I of course headed over to the wine section. During my wandering around in the wine section I happened to come across a wine varietal from a label that I haven't had for a long time. That label was the Franciscan Estate and the varietal was the Cabernet Sauvignon.  The particular wine was the 2013 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The Franciscan winery is located in the Oakville AVA of the Napa Valley. Franciscan is actually one of those winery's as is the Peju (http://www.peju.com/) winery that has always stood out in my mind as making one of the wines that has a special note on my Palette. I don't know exactly what it is but I can always spot the Cabernet Sauvignons from these winery's. I don't know if it's something in the soil or what but they definitely stand out on my Palette. So there I am looking at the wooden crate that is holding the 2013 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and I happened to see at the bottom of the crate the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon. Having done some previous research on that particular wine and vintage I knew that I had to grab not just one but two bottles of this wine, I left two for some other lucky individual.  One bottle I bought was already marked to go into my wine cellar, that is provided the bottle I did a tasting on was as great as I was hearing it was. I am talking about a wine here that is composed of 85% Cab, 9% Merlot, 3% Malbec 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc. The wine is put through a pre-fermentation cold soak of 4 days with a macceration time of 22 days. The wine finishes up being aged in small Oak Barrels (25% new) for 20 months. Well anyway, after grabbing the two bottles I met up with my Wife and helped her finish the rest of the shopping. The very next day was review day so I brought a bottle of the 2012 Franciscan Cabernet up to my Loft and proceeded to do a review of this wine. So now the big question is did the other bottle end up in my Cellar after all?  That is a good question and one that I could answer in one word but that wouldn't be fair to you nor the wine itself for that matter. Wines such as this need justification for the review you are about to read. Folks this is going to be one of those reviews that simply cannot be done in a few lines. In order to justify the rating this wine received I do feel that I must justify it and that I will need more that a few lines. While I could in reality jot down a couple of lines and get my point across that really wouldn't allow you to share my experience sufficiently enough to put this wine in the category in which I have it. Besides what kind of review would that be.  I want to really let you know why you should try your hardest to find a couple of bottles for yourself. Now that my little teaser is done I want you to sit back, relax and lets get into this review. We will start with a little bit of information on this winery.

   The Franciscan winery owns about 240 Acres in the Oakville AVA of the Napa Valley. This is the same AVA that wine greats such as Opus One, Swanson as well as Silver Oak own vineyards. The Franciscan winery was founded in 1972 by a group of Lawyers & Doctors from San Francisco. Today the Associate Winemaker is Justin Myers who has also worked for Stags Leap Winery and Beaulieu Vineyards to name a few. They released their first vintage in 1975 and that was also the first vintage released that included fruit from the Oakville property. Having now given a little background into the selection of the wine and the winery itself it is time to get into the heart of the review so lets do that.
   Let's begin at the top. In my glass this powerful 2012 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon poured a deep, dark Burgundy. A wonderful, rich looking, powerful dark Burgundy at that. The wine actually looked very formidable in appearance visually and showed some nice legs on the side of my glass as well.
   As for the Bouquet there was the semi sweet enticing aroma of Caramel with Cedar and Cocoa which appeared to blend rather nicely when it reached my nose. The Bouquet itself seemed like a complete meal to the nose (weird huh?). To me this wine seemed to exhibit an elegance combined with a dominating power in it's bouquet that I haven't smelled for some time in a wine. To say that I was rather impressed with this wine from the start is an understatement. Now, whether the wine would carry on as far as how the real test was which was on my Palette remained to be seen.
   I don't normally Decant my wine and sometimes I find the wine changing as my tasting goes on which is fine with me but in this case I decided to Decant and see from the beginning what this wine was really about. Having opened this wine and having it Decant now for almost 2 hours I must say that I don't consider this wine to be a fruit forward wine. I'm really happy about this fact because it seems that lately the Cabernet that I have been tasting are rather fruit forward and while that is OK and I have had some excellent wines in that category it is however nice to finally get a wine that is a little more down to business. I think that this wine is also far to busy with other notes to put fruit at the top of it's presentation anyway. This wine as I said IS all about getting down to business. This is simply a good old fashioned Cabernet Sauvignon. You folks who have taken the time to learn the difference between a fruit forward Cabernet and a non fruit forward Cabernet should be able to identify that this wine spends it's time worrying about other more important things. This truly is the reason why the varietal known as Cabernet Sauvignon is still the king of Reds.
   Those of you who love a fair amount of Tannins in their Reds will most certainly be happy here as this wine is loaded with Tannins and at just the perfect levels that seem to coat lightly coat your tongue. Now, I know there are those of you reading this that will determine simply by this review using the word "Tannins" in relation to this wine that his wine is not for you. Those of you who like a wine that is made for a relaxing Patio / pool day or for a mid morning get together should look elsewhere, this is not the wine you want. If that is you there are many other wines out there that will please you and many that I have reviewed and loved myself. If you are interested here (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-black-stallion.html) is one of those wines. Sipping on this wine you know you have now tasted a Cabernet the likes of which your parents probably drank. In this wine perfect levels of Cocoa mixed ever so slightly with a smooth Mocha nicely manages to subdue any idea of this wine being fruit forward. A wonderful Dark, Black Cherry note is very prominent here as well. This Dark Black Cherry is like the Cherry's that you would pick from a tree that you would find on the most fertile land. When mixed with the Cocoa & that smooth Mocha the wine simply present a perfect combination of notes of each. There is a medium Chocolate here as well. If you are starting to fear a wine that has no fruit at all take heart because of what comes next. Notes such as a deep, Dark Plum with just the right amount of sugar, pop up. Just when you think a wine in general couldn't provide much more I tasted a lovely Black Berry. A medium weight Black Berry that explodes from almost the beginning of it hitting your Palette. On the classy side there is a sense of Cigar and Oak that really belong here in this wine. These last two notes are what propels this wine above anything else. The combination / blending of all the listed notes make this a truly incredible wine in my book. There is fruit in here and you do taste it but thankfully it is at the perfect level where it does not place these notes front and center but confidently lets the other notes take the lead. This wine is a seriously big, bold and in your face, Red . From the very first sip that you put into your Palette you will notice that this wine is way different from wines that you have probably been tasting lately. From the first sip all the other Cabernets you have ever tasted will pale in comparison. Your mouth will be bathed with aggressive Cassis that meshes every so nicely with the Chocolate type notes. I promise that your tongue will be given a workout over this wine.  I guess you can probably guess that this is not a delicate wine or one for the faint of heart, you simply MUST be a Cabernet Sauvignon drinker to enjoy this wine. The Tannins are not what you would call "smooth" but also not what you would say is overly aggressive either. They certainly make their presence known and you will notice that they are there. Everything that in my opinion places this wine at the pinnacle of it's varietal is bold and "in your face" so to speak. If this wine would attempt to do anymore it would most certainly be to over the top and lose it's high score. Luckily for us it stops and maintains itself at the point it level does. Black Berry explodes in your mouth but somehow manages to avoid the sugar trap. The simply cultured taste of Cigar and Oak are also prominent here.
   So lets try to wrap this up now. The 2012 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a simply OUTSTANDING wine. A simply INCREDIBLE wine. I think that the Cocoa / Chocolaty type notes play a big hand in the unique Franciscan flavor. Perhaps the note comes directly from the terroir from where the grapes are grown. Big, bold flavors are in abundance here. The wine can be a drink now wine and you will enjoy it should you choose to. You on the other hand can put this wine away for another 8-10 years if you wanted to and it will grow even larger that life. which is probably what this big stuck up wine wants anyway.
   On  The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale I respectfully give this wine 96 points.

                                                                                                                 The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert WIne Guy - Keep Your Sugar Out Of My Cabernet Sauvignon

The Bartles & James uys - Dick Maugg (left) & Dave Rufkahr

   Well folks Christmas and New Years are now over and it's time to start off a new year. For many of us that means working on some changes that we think will benefit us and / or our families. This is a time when we all have hopes for a better future. From The Desert Wine Guy Family to yours we wish you good luck in whatever changes or ventures you decide to undertake this year. As for The Desert Wine Guy, this year I am going to attempt to start a YouTube wine review series on my current YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCUb3w1n2S_UGU2yYRkFYQ/videos). I haven't quite decided on how I will format it but that is in the works. I also plan this year to get into some form of sales of wine accessories. Although I do have an Etsy page (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Desertwineguy) currently I plan to pick it up a little, so to speak. I think that that should occupy my year and if I can get those thing started and moving along I will be happy.
   To start off this year I want to talk about those over the top, overly sweet wines. I don't know about you but I am getting kind of tired of those very "fruit forward", overly sweet wines that attempt to (for instance)  pass themselves off as the king of the Red grape, Cabernet Sauvignon. It seems that there are so very many of these reds floating around and from every vineyard and winery at that.

Common Table Sugar

   To begin with let me clarify something.  The wines that I am definitely NOT referring to are the reds that are slightly on the sweeter side or "jammy" but are complimented by the other notes in the wine. These wines are fine and I have no problem with them. Sometimes a little sweetness just adds to the complexity of a red wine and further enhances it. As I said, these are not the Cabernet Sauvignons that I am referring to. I am talking about the Cabernet's that are sugar dominate or "sugar bombs" as I have begun calling them. If you check the wines that I have reviewed on this blog you will see that I actually prefer a slightly sweet or fruit forward wine. As I said, if they are combined with other notes that are at similar levels they are fine. To me they can even in some cases reach the 90 point rating on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale. While this is outstanding in itself they very seldom reach beyond that although there are a couple that have provided they had near matching of the jammy level as compared to other notes in the wine. I grew up with religious ceremony with wines such as Manischewitz and Mogan David were the norm and I don't need so called Cabernet Sauvignons that attempt to lower themselves to that status. If I want a sweet wine there is always the good old Bartles & James to reach for and when I am in the mood I do indeed reach for them. I don't even like a Riesling that is over the top with sweetness. Why or how do varietals that should not be sweet end up sweet? Lets take a look.

     One of the aspects of a sweet wine that I want to briefly discuss is something is called Residual Sugar. What is Residual Sugar? Residual Sugar typically refers to the sugar remaining after fermentation stops, or is stopped. It can also result from the addition of unfermented must. Residual Sugar is measured in grams per Liter (g/l) of wine. Any wine that is 45 g/l is considered sweet.  Sugar is need in wine in order to feed the Yeast needed for wine. Residual Sugar sometimes happens simply because common table sugar is added in inexpensive wines. The sweetness taste in a wine can also be from the level of acidity or Alcohol levels in the wine. Sometimes what our Palette detects as sweetness is because of what our other sense (that of smell) detects. There are all kinds of formulas that can show you how this sugar to wine ration is figured out but I won't bore you with all that stuff. There are varietals of wine that I DO expect to be on the sweeter side such as a Port, Moscato or an Asti Spumante and when you purposely go out and buy those wines you are expecting a much higher level of sweetness than should you buy a Brut or a Cabernet Sauvignon. To me here lyes the issue that I have with a sweet wine. When I do go buy a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot I do not expect to taste a sugary wine that tastes like sugar mixed with fruit juice. I expect to taste what the varietal is supposed to be famous for, what makes it (in this case) a Cabernet Sauvignon, the king of Red wine. I expect to taste Black currant, Tobacco, Licorice, Oak, Black cherry. It would be nice if there were also some Tannins but if the wine is meant to be drank in a relativity near future (same 2-3 years) I can forgive the lack of them being present. BUT when I taste a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot and I taste a heavy, sweet fruity sugar that dominates or over powers the other notes of this great varietal.... I get upset. To me and I think to others, there are certain varietals of wine that are simply not meant to be sweet and others that are meant to be sweet....period.

   So there you have it folks, let's go  ahead and finish this up. I must admit something to you guys at this point. Believe it or not this article didn't start off as my Thesis on sweet, sugary tasting wines. This article actually started off as a review of the 2013 Dominican Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon and kind of morphed into what you just read. A little over half way thru writing this I realized that I had hardly mentioned the actual wine I was supposed to be writing about so I erased the little that I had on it and kept the rest of the article and simply carried on with with what I was ranting about. I guess you could say that I was led or inspired by the wine gods to write this piece. When all was said and done I was happy that I deviated from the original topic. 
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert Wine Guy - Arsenic In Wine, Should You Worry?

   On March 19th of this year a class action lawsuit was filed by 4 California residents against 28 low priced wines that are also some of the most popular Supermarket labels / California wineries for selling wines that they say contain high amounts of inorganic arsenic. Here https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/f0533877/files/uploaded/Wine_Complaint.pdf) is the link to the actual summons. The tests were conducted by a company named BeverageGrades which is owned by Kevin Hicks who also owns a company named HealthGrades. BeverageGrades claims on their website to be an "Independent Third Party Lab Testing Facility Of Wine, Beer And Spirits". Lets first take a look at exactly who BeverageGrades is before we get into the body of this article. BeverageGrades is, according to their website an independent Laboratory that ....." operates a commercial laboratory which tests wines, beers and spirits for such chemical compounds as heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic, cadmium, etc.), pesticides and sulfates to name a few". There, that is basically in a nut shell what the company is. The only issues I see with the company is from websites that I have never heard of before or seem to have no credibility backing them them that I suspect might very well be wine industry related and websites that are from wine P.A.C'S (Political Action Committees). These websites seem to cast doubt on BeverageGrades honesty and reliability. From what I have seen during my research AND in my opinion there is no credible research, proof or for that matter reasonable argument made that the company is anything but unbiased or independent.
   Before I go any further into this blog / article I think we owe it to ourselves to do a little education on exactly what arsenic is. To begin with arsenic, which has been given the term "the king of poisons" is a natural element that is also released from the earths crust. Arsenic is  NATURALLY in our water (including saltwater), rivers, lakes, our food, air, soil, (gee where are grapevines grown) rocks as well as pesticides and other things that we are around every day but in mostly very low amounts. Arsenic is odorless & colorless as well. Arsenic in high doses has been known to cause Cancer, skin lesions and has been associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and issues with our other organs. Arsenic levels tend to build up in our body over time and if that happens at a rate higher than the body can eliminate it you will die.  There is Organic Compounds (arsenic combined with carbon and other elements). These compounds are much less toxic than the inorganic arsenic compounds and are not thought to be linked to cancer. These compounds are found in some foods, such as fish and shellfish. These compounds are much less toxic than the inorganic arsenic compounds and are not thought to be linked to cancer. These compounds are found in some foods, such as fish and shellfish.(http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/intheworkplace/arsenic). There is also Inorganic compounds (arsenic combined with elements other than carbon): These compounds are found in industry, in building products (such as some “pressure-treated” woods), and in arsenic-contaminated water. This is the form of arsenic that tends to be more toxic and has been linked to cancer).  The EPA limit for arsenic is 10 ppb IN BOTTLED WATER. In most cases the lethality of arsenic poisoning depends on the amounts of it in our body. As a fun bit of information did you know that in 1851 the House Of Lords tried to pass a law prohibiting Women from buying arsenic because it was being used by Women to slowly kill their Husbands?

  Since we are concerned about poisons did you know that there are actually many things that we come into contact with everyday that are poison. Did you know that uncooked Lima Beans contain a compound called Linamarin which when eaten decomposes into Hydrogen Cyanide which by the way is deadly. How about Elderberries, did you know that uncooked they contain Glycosides that are metabolized into Cyanide? I'll give you one more example. Do you like Almonds? Did you know that Bitter Raw Almonds contain substances that break down into (once again) Cyanide? O.K, O.K one really last one. Did you know that Green Potatoes are packed with Solanine and will make you vomit, BUT should you keep eating them they will cause Cardiac Arrest?  O.K, O.K this is the really last one. Did you know that Fluoride is also considered poison. Remember that if you swallow more than a pea size amount you must call poison control, if you doubt me read the tube itself.
  Now in relation to the whole wine and arsenic thing the news media has jumped onto the story (of course) with fear mongering headlines such as the following:
1) CBS News: "Very high levels of arsenic" in top-selling wines
2) San Francisco Gate: "Of those wines, 83 showed presumably toxic levels of arsenic, above the 10 parts per billion that’s considered safe for drinking water."
3) NY Daily News: "Dangerous arsenic levels found in California wine from 28 producers, suit claims"
4) USA Today: "A class action lawsuit claims dozens of California wineries produced wine with dangerously high levels of arsenic..."
   So what is the real story and should we worry? Well for starters the EPA does not set a standard for arsenic in wine. The report that started all this was of 65 wines and the results showed that the average wine sample had a level of arsenic of 10-76 ppb (parts per billion) with the average being 25 ppb. The lawsuit uses the EPA standard for safe water WATER as the standard that they believe should be the arsenic levels in wine. Denise Wilson, who is a Professor at the University of Washington's electrical engineering department did a study on Arsenic in wine found that said that casual drinkers have nothing to worry about. Professor Wilson isn't alone in her opinion either. Gavin Sacks, an Associate Professor in the life department of food science at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences put the risk at very low to non-existent. The arsenic levels in American wine also meet the standards for export to other countries. For instance in Canada the standard for arsenic is 100 ppb and in France it is 200 ppb. The big problem that I see here is that the data for the tests done by BeverageGrades have not been released. For instance the methodology that the testing company used has not been released. The consistency between same bottles was not released. CBS also did their own testing and found much lower amounts of arsenic in the same wines that were supposedly showing higher levels for the lawsuit. As for other tests of American wines, in the first peer reviewed study it was determined that Washington state scored the highest as far as ppb for arsenic at 28ppb. Oregon had the lowest at 13ppb. The BeverageGrade results did show the level of Inorganic (the most dangerous) Arsenic.

   So what do I think? Here is my take on this. Being that I don't sell anything and that I have a real job and do this wine thing for fun, I have no skin in this game. I have to say that until everything is done I am up in the air on the whole thing. As a reminder I did notice that while doing my research for this article my sources always liked to add in what other things we eat or drink and state they those items also contain small amounts of arsenic. That to me sounds like a bait and switch. I don't care right now about a food since wine is a liquid drink. As far as I am concerned Wine / water (and yes for that matter food) should have the same levels of danger. That is like saying you or I are only a little dead. Drinking / eating 25ppb of Arsenic is either dangerous or it's not dangerous, there is no in between. I do wonder now about the wine that I drink. The wine industry is saying that since arsenic is natural than there is nothing to worry about. As I just said, I don't care where the arsenic I eat or drink comes from, it is very dangerous and it accumulates in the human body over time causing major issues. The one thing the so called experts say that I do agree with is that if you are not a heavy drinker (more than 4 drinks on any day or 14 per week) and only have a glass or two once in a while you should have nothing to worry about. My opinion is if you are a heavy drinker of Alcohol in general that you either stop or cut way back on wine or other Alcohol. Right now the whole situation is up in the air and still open for debate since nothing has been verified and not much in the way of testing procedures has been disclosed. This is something I would keep a very close eye on however. What I want to know is is the wine industry purposely putting arsenic (Inorganic) based chemicals or pesticides on their vines and therefore in the soil and in our wines. If this is the case I can understand joining in on this lawsuit. From what I have educated myself on and in my humble opinion I do see a very serious issue brewing here and cause for alarm. I also see a large problem on the horizon that will need to be addressed by the wine industry and very soon.

                                                                                                           The Desert Wine Guy



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The Desert Wine Guy - 2011 Black Stallion Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon

 

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.

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.

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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