As I mentioned before, we happened to be sitting at the wine blending table with two men who own a vineyard. They are the only custom crush client of Nelson Family Vineyards at the moment and they are currently awaiting the bottling of their second custom crush, a 2006. They were kind enough to break out a bottle of their 2005 Trixie's Cat House Cabernet, and while I'm not usually one for cutesy labels, I must admit, the play on words in this one makes me chuckle. The grapes are sourced from their vineyards, the vineyards at Miralago and are completely Cabernet Sauvignon.In the glass the wine was a dark garnet color. Now, I know I don't normally note color, but I do when it stands out, and this one struck me as a really pretty color. On the nose there were raisins with a little toasty oak and dark dried chaerries. Later, as the glass sat out, I could get hints of strawberries and bitter chocolate.
In the mouth it was fruity and smooth with raisins and red currents. The wine had an excellent balance to it, with tannins that seemed to suggest to me it could age for a while. I certainly enjoyed my glass (or two) as it aired over the course of an hour. This was the first custom crush wine I have had and I wish I could get a bottle or two, as I really liked it!
Posts
Sonadora, this is your best wine-bottle-at-the-dinner-table photo yet! Really nice! So good that I bet you could sell this cutesy wine to serious drinkers.
I don't get the play on words though. Cat house? What am I missing?
4/28/07, 12:21 PM
What a fun label ! But what is inside really sounds good from your description!
4/28/07, 5:15 PM
Marcus, Thanks! I bet it was a good photo cause it wasn't taken on my kitchen table where you can see our pile 'o junk.
It's funny, cause it's like Cabernet =Cabaret...which you could also refer to as a Cat House :)
Winedeb, it was very tasty. I told them they should try to market it, and one of the men seemed pretty gung ho about that, but the other seemed to like the idea of sharing the wine with friends!
4/28/07, 8:04 PM
I agree, very nice picture. It's always nice reading your reviews. It's been so long since I tasted wine seriously, and trying to doit again after such a long time away, I feel a bit uncomfortable with my tasting senses, but they are coming back. So thus my current simple approach. Your descriptions though are nice, insightful, and you get a sense of what the wine is all about.
4/29/07, 1:21 PM
Sonadora,
Your "pile o' junk" has its charms too! I think it's really the lighting in this photo and the way it captures the diners in the background that makes it so nice.
Marcus
4/30/07, 8:37 AM
Thank you for the kind words Robb. I think you've got yourself off to a great start over there with your reviews!
Marcus, that could be it! I had to take the shot several times to actually get the flash to go off at the right level because it kept over-exposing the shot.
4/30/07, 1:05 PM