Theme: Over the years, the Winos have enjoyed, and studied, many different varietals of wine. Now, we could try forever and never be able to try every type, but we have worked our way through a bunch. I decided that for this premium class, we would return to our basics. We three love red wine, and Cabernet Sauvignon is a varietal that we can ALL agree on and Napa Valley has some great ones.
The Wines:
- Color: Deep ruby with a touch of purple
- Nose: An aromatic wine with aromas of eucalyptus, cassis, oak, and vanilla
- Mouth: A medium bodied dry wine with smooth acidity and round medium tannins. The wine is nicely balanced and flavorful with spice mid-palate to finish and tarty fruit up front. A long, delicious finish!
- Price: $35.99
- Rating: 4.5/5
Stags' Leap 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
- Color: Deep purple
- Nose: The nose has a dusty, earthy aromas with a hint of bell peper
- Mouth: A higher tannin, bone dry wine, medium bodied wine that is flavorful and nicely balanced. It has earthy flavors with a touch of tartness and pepper on the finish and medium finish.
- Price: $49.99
- Rating: 4/5
St. Clement 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
- Color: Deep purple
- Nose: An aromatic wine that definitely has the fruitiest aroma with notes of berries cocoa, and vanilla.
- Mouth: The wine has medium tannins that is flavorful with pepper on the finish, blueberry fruit and a touch of spice with a long finish.
- Price: $39.99
- Rating: 3.5/5
The Pairings:
Herb Brie Cheese: This was a difficult pairing. It killed the lovely finish on the Croze and St. Clement. A bit better with the Stags' Leap, but Lisa didn't enjoy the pairing with any of the wines.
Manchego Cheese: This delicious cheese paired well with the Croze.
Amish Cheddar Cheese: This paired a bit better. We enjoyed it the most with the Stags' Leap.
Tomato Stroganoff: The pairing of the night! The dish was yummy and we enjoyed it with all three wines. Hard to decide which wine we thought paired the best with this dish. Mary Jo and Lisa really enjoyed it with the St. Clement while Beth enjoyed it best with the Croze.
Dark Chocolate: Very nice with all three wines.
Smokin' Chipotle Chocolate: We weren't a fan of this but pairing but found it interesting how the wines brought out more of the spiciness in the chocolate.
Conclusion:
Beth: Such a fun and delicious class! I enjoyed putting our senses to the test trying to distinguish these Cabernets. I believe the "Rutherford dust" was definitely on display in the Croze Cab. Very difficult for me to pick a favorite for this class-they were all wonderful-but if I must, I enjoyed the Croze the most. The finish on this wine was just outstanding! All of the wines were a perfect match for the Tomato Stroganoff and they also paired nicely with the dark chocolate. It was another wonderful night with the winos! Thank you for hosting Mary Jo!
Lisa: Seams you can never go wrong with a Napa Cab! And yet they were all so very different. Starting with the Croze, I was amazed by the eucalyptus on the nose yet spice and tart fruit on the palette. Then the Stag's Leap had such a dusty nose with an earthy mouth with high tannins. Venturing to the St. Clement, this one popped dark berries on the nose-most fruity of all, with blueberry and spice on the palette. As for cheese pairings, nothing really said Wow to me. Of course the hit of the night was the Tomato Stroganoff! Starting with the Croze, I immediately thought "Now THAT'S a pairing"! I enjoyed it with the Stag's Leap and it really brought out the fruit in the St. Clement. No I always love chocolate but my favorite pairing was the Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt with Stag's Leap. What a wonderful night.
Mary Jo: I enjoyed getting "back to basics" with cabernet. They were very different and changed as the night went on, as is typical. All three had vanilla on the nose, with the Stags Leap being a little more earthy than the other two wines. The St. Clement was the fruitiest of the three wines and the Stags Leap had nice notes of bell pepper on the nose and pepper on the finish. The Croze had tarty fruit and spice on the mouth. All three had very nice finishes. The St. Clement was most enjoyable with the tomato stroganoff. I enjoyed the Croze most with the Manchego, the Stag's Leap most with the Amish Cheddar and the chocolates paired best with the Stag's Leap. It was interesting to detect the "Rutherford dust" with the Croze! A great class with great friends!
