When getting friendlier with red wines, the Cabernet Sauvignon is always a charming and lively companion. They will not tend to overpower you, leave you wanting nor bore you to tears. Cabernets cannot be left simply to their own devices however, as California winemakers learned the hard way. Thick-skinned and prone to aggressive tantrums, er tannins, they had to take the time to cultivate Cabernet Sauvignon and bring out the best in this feisty red from Bordeaux. Cousin Cabernet Franc lent a hand, as did French mon amie Merlot. The blending of these wines bring Cabernet Sauv out in all of its glory, and help make it one of the most popular and admired reds around the world. In fact, this blending process gave birth to the word ‘meritage,’ a term invented by the California winemakers, marrying merit with heritage to categorize varietals which did not meet the labeling requirements listing 75% of the same grape variety.
I will begin my exploration of this tamed wild red with Root: 1, a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Colchagua Valley in Chile. This is a classy looking bottle with a classy wine waiting inside. On their label they describe, “… rich red wine with black currant mocha and cherry flavors.” By the winemakers that brought you Fat Bastard, this wine is sophisticated, even leaving a polite fresh scent on the cork. Root: 1 is harvested from a unique geographic location and climate where the original European rootstocks still grow.
Enmeshed with a smorgasbord of chocolate, black berries and a dash of black pepper, it has a deep woods personality to it — tangy, acidic, young, some heat and slightly sour. The nose is a musky perfume and it has that certain Spanish wine quality of a Chorzio sausage under taste. Root: 1 will most certainly bring out the flavors in a steak. Enjoy a good home-cooked meal and impress a date!
The more striking of this pair is Ghost Pines (2005). This was one of Dee’s recommended picks from the new Dee’s Wine Stop on Kinnickinnic, and to call it anything less than haunting would be the understatement of the year. I can honestly attest that I’ve never savored a Cab so complex as this beauty. The story behind the moniker (as retold on the bottle) is that it is tribute paid by the Louis P. Martini family to “the native grey pines which at dusk, appear to hover, solitary and ghostlike throughout the coastal valleys.”
And on that poetic note, I’m just going to let loose with the adjectives here so brace yourselves (deep breath): dusky, scary (in a good way!), deep, disturbing, unsettling, someone tapping you on your shoulder from your past, subtle and strong simultaneously, succulent squeezed fruit, full-bodied, a true middle-aged seductress, mesmerizing, Lauren Bacall in a bottle, Dracula-cloaked, smells like SEX! And we’re talking the panting sweating kind that makes your eyes roll up in your head, people. Yeah! I simply cannot sing the praises of Ghost Pines loud enough. It has the smokiness of burning fall leaves and will stay with you like the sun setting on the beaches of those last bittersweet days of summer. Ghost also stands the true test and is excellent a few days after opening. This is high quality stuff, red wine lovers. And even if it has a taste of vanilla, this wine is anything but. ‘Nuff said. Go buy yourselves a bottle and have a great night.
