The Wine Club Saturday Tasting: California Cabernet 2004/11/27

Year	Wine	Price	Rating
2001	Terra Valentine Wurtele Vineyard Cabernet, Spring Mountain chalky, mild earth, vanilla, plum, long finish. A lot earthier and chalkier than previous tastings... - so - ws	24.99	****
2001	Volker Eisele Cabernet, Napa Valley I wonder if Volker Eisele is related to Milt and Barbara Eisele of the famous Eisele Vineyard whose grapes were sold to Joseph Phelps and later the vineyard was sold to Araujo, and becoming a cult... nobody knows the answer. plummy nose balanced with beautiful French oak, reminicent of a J. Lohr Hilltop Vineyard cabernet. Well balanced blackberry, cherry and toasty oak. Long finish. - so - ws	31.99	****
2001	B.R. Cohn Olive Hill Cabernet, Sonoma blackberry liqeur, jammy, concentrated but simple. med. body. 3.5 stars. Overpriced. - so - ws	35.99	***
2001	Archipel, Napa Valley A wine I wanted to buy or taste for a long because of its elegant label design. Made by Verite, I believe. Beautiful nose of coffee and grape, flavor of blackcurrant, rather simple. The nose is much better than the flavor. Finishing short. - so - ws	27.99	***
2001	Atalon Cabernet, Napa Valley Green, cassis, raspberry, med-full body, vanilla, sweet oak. 3.5 stars - so - ws	24.99	***
2001	Frank Family Cabernet, Napa Valley plum, blackberry, full body, complex long evolving finish. - so - ws	31.99	****
2001	Constant Cabernet, Diamond Mountain violet, floral, blackberry, dusty, jammy, very complex, vanilla, long long finish. Right up with Rudd, Staglin, Spring Mountain, Dunn and Stags Leap. - so - ws	64.99	*****
2001	Spring Mountain Elivette, Napa Valley closed, roasted nuts, almond, powerful, gritty tannins, blackcurrant, chocolate, long finish - so - ws	69.99	*****
2001	ZD Reserve Cabernet, Napa Valley grapy, cranberry, no depth, rightly priced if it were $15, rip-off at $100. I expressed my opinion with the Wine Club staff. One of them explained with conviction, "Oh this wine is made for aging... so it may show better than the other wines [he meant including Spring Mountain Elivette!] in a few years." hmm... may be I don't know my wine. - so - ws	95.99	***
2002	Simi Cabernet, Alexander Valley Normally a dependable wine but this vintage is a bit off. jalapeno, spicy ginger, strange. - so - ws	19.99	**
2002	Frog's Leap Cabernet, Napa Valley acidic and green, simple cherry. $30.99? Rip off. - so - ws	30.99	**
2002	Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Artemis, Napa Valley toasty nuts, blackberry, raspberry, long simple finish. 39.99? Rip off. See Kuleto below for a good 39.99 value. - so - ws	39.99	***
2001	Kuleto Estate Cabernet, Napa Valley jammy plum with a hint of mixed spice, very long finish - so - ws	39.99	****
2001	Clos du Val Cabernet, Napa Valley some sort of plastic box aroma, simple berry, green tannin. Not so good. - so - ws	20.99	**