Tonight I’m having another bottle of Flying Horse Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville, Napa Valley. Stag’s Leap District once upon a time was my favourite Napa appellation, but now I’ve moved over to Oakville. Now I don’t know where these grapes were grown, but I hear the winemaker is none other than Château Latour’s own Denis Malbec. I know I’ll be chastised as superficial, but really – what a name, what a pedigree.
Upon reading the asking price of $25, I asked my wine broker what the problem was. Denis Malbec, artisan of 6 vintages of one of my favourite First Growth Bordeaux at Château Latour – surely there must be a misprint on the fishwrap. But not to be swayed, I soon had a pair of bottles perched on my porch. And what lovely bottles they are! What’s the problem here people? If it’s not from Tim Mondavi (who, BTW, makes excellent Cali Grand Cru), then it can’t fetch a pretty penny? Well, this recession just showed us her upside.
Possessing laser precision on the palate, great acid, gripping yet forgiving front tannins, rich rolling fruit that inundates your tongue into puckery submission, leaving a wet soothing caress of sweet chocolate soaked leather. This wine is an excellent example of the sheer power and beauty Napa wines (gee, we all know this) can achieve. The key here is that unlike the established (at least in Napa) players like Coppola, Mondavi, Phelps, Spottswoode, Caymus, and many more household names of 30 years of Napa Cab, this beauty is yours for, uhm, an embarrassing $25. Good luck getting Rubicon or any of the others anywhere near that price.
Granted this wine has something that bothers me – that typical (read: Heitz Martha’s) herbaceousness that although masked now by awesome black fruit will play its calling card in 10 years hence. Most of my colleagues that love California Cabernet don’t at all mind this component, but it really turns me off. Luckily I don’t have the patience as this is already quite capable of yielding to its fate – my gullet.
So enjoy that this phenomenal wine has managed to deflect the capitalist radar; those of us footing the front lines of the muddy trenches of joblessness are in need of a wine quenching miracle. And dare I say this is most definitely divine.
05/09/2009 at 12:18 pm Permalink
High praise from our very discerning BadMan. Divine you say? Guess I’ll have to take her out for a whirl myself…
22/11/2009 at 3:23 pm Permalink
OMG! This is possibly the biggest surprise I’ve had with a wine in lo’ these many months. This red is complex, balanced, lush and chock full of dark brooding fruit. The acids and tannins are just right and I detected no unpleasant herbaceousness at all. From nose to finish an absolutely wonderful wine… yielding, rich and not at all austere. Quite simply it’s what every Napa cab should aspire to be. To quote the label, I’ll “remember the magic” for a long time.