Friday, February 19, 2010

Marlboro Man Cab


I sit here basking in one of those rare discoveries for me...a wine which I love from the first sip to the last.  But this one is even more rare...because it ISN'T!  It's readily available.

All too often I taste a wine I can't wait to have again, only to find it is no longer available or it's inordinately expensive.  This one, however, is neither.  For most of us, at $16 it's not going to be an everyday bottle, but it qualifies as a regular.  I'm speaking of Rodney Strong's recent vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon.  Both the '06 and '07 vintages are quite good (the '06 is slightly better). 

It possesses those characteristics that I consistently, yet inexplicably, find desirable in a wine.  I am not a trained connoisseur, so my description is limited to my own layman's terms: it has an earthy, musty, smoky flavor reminscent of the barnyard...and which I have therefore dubbed "Marlboro Man."   That's the highest compliment I can assign to any wine.  Here is a readily-available, reasonably-priced, American-produced cab that brings it all together for me. 

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