2006 Bobinet "Amateus" Saumur (Loire Valley) France. Jenny & Francois Imports, New York Third bottle of this interesting Cab Franc bottling, and wow, this wine has bottle variation. First bottle was a down the drain bacterial mess, the second bottle was frankly magnificent, and this one was sorta in between (although certainly drinkable). The label does indicate Sulfites were added, so this is a winery issue??? Dark ruby-black color. Clear in the bottle, no sediment or other deposits. On the nose....ooof, wow. Long, increasingly sloppy jokes about barnyard, horse, and "this wine smells like a^%$" We are not a sophisticated crowd in Vacaville
Still, if one swirls the glass enough, the brett dissipates and a quite lovely, rather brassy Cab Franc shows through. Only a hinty of bell pepper, this is more black currant fruit. Has the lovely lighter, low alcohol French texture that I prefer. Toward the end of the evening, however, some pretty prominent drying tannins appear. So...is there enough fruit to outlast the tannins? but, man oh man, that brett. I think one should drink this wine now and accept the tannins. Not sure I would age this! 2004 Opus One. OK. This was really generous on John's part. That's a lot of money for a bottle of wine.
Probably too young, of course, and might have benefited from hours of decanting. What stood out was the texture of this wine, it is very, very silky. Amazingly silky. It feels really nice in the mouth. Flavors are fairly restrained, actually-this is not a fruit bomb. Definitely some currant fruit, some earthyness, green or herbal notes in the background. No drying tannins on the long finish-the French Cab Franc was actually more tannic. The 2003, my friends indicated, was more structured. My main question is tannic structure and acidity-does this wine have the structure to age? I certainly, drinking it right this minute, prefer the Opus to some of the fruit bomb cult wines out there, but man that's a lot of money for a drink now wine.
2003 Nichellini Cabernet Sauvignon. This old family winery on the road to Lake Berryessa makes wines of competence but little brilliance, but this Cabernet actually showed decently! It had a nice leather and tobacco note on the finish I found appealing. Much better than the 2001 I had previously tried. Thanks, Rich!
2004 Cain Concept. Dark roasted currant fruit, but not pruney or jammy in any way. quite savory/earthy in character. More structured than the Opus, surprisingly, I would almost wager that this will age better at well below half the price of the Opus. While still a luxury label, I might venture that I prefer their Cain Five at $120 to the Opus. This inspired a nice discussion about blends versus varietal bottlings. I think the blend here showed magnificently, and I increasingly prefer the half-merlot-half-cab "red wines" many premier Napa wineries are producing. Thanks, Beau.
An interesting wine evening!
