WTN: Cal Cab QPR (Who the heck is "RR Vineyards St. Helena"?)

Dominican Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 (Napa Valley)

Medium-dark, velvety purple, nearly opaque. A rich, ripe nose of blackberry and currant, with some pencil shavings and a hint of vanilla. Medium-bodied but full of cassis, black cherry, plum, and blueberry flavors. Green tobacco and menthol notes come out with food. Pretty typical Californian profile, but plenty of acidity keeps it fresh. Light but persistent tannic grip, with dark fruit and cherry cream lingering on the finish. $15. 13.5% alcohol. I don't drink a lot of Napa Cabs, and my reasons are by now cliches: they are too often overoaked, oversized, and overpriced. But this seems like a terrific value in the category. Just as good after four vacu-vinned days in the fridge. "Vinted and bottled by RR Vineyards, St Helena," says the label, which looks as if it's illustrated with winery clip art. Nice job, whoever you are.

Vinted and Bottled By means that whoever holds the license likely had nothing to do with making the wine--it could be from bulk juice, it could be the same bulk juice found in other bottles that have been Vinted and Bottled By other license holders, and it could be found in these various bottles at various prices (just think of it, someone could be drinking the same thing under another label at half the price you paid).

It's what one gets from a glut!

[James Roscoe]

Clinton,
Where did you get this? It looks like a good buy.
Cheers!
James

Where did you get this?

Hey, James. I got it at Beltway Fine Wines, just north of Baltimore. But they're part of the Total Wine empire, so I'd be surprised if Corridor (where you sometimes shop, right?) doesn't carry it too. FYI, Beltway mails out a newletter wrapped around their more-or-less quarterly buying guides, and it had a $2-off coupon for the Dominican Oaks, so I paid $13. Corridor may do something similar.

[James Roscoe]

Excellent! I will look for it at Corridor on Saturday. I will also look for my coupons. there's nothing like a couple of bucks off a good wine.

"Vinted and bottled by RR Vineyards, St Helena," says the label, which looks as if it's illustrated with winery clip art. Nice job, whoever you are.

My guess would be Rutherford Ranch, curiously enough with a mailing address in St. Helena:
1680 Silverado Trail
St. Helena, CA 94574

and now but a label owned by Round Hill/ASV, a source of bulk wines.

Mark Lipton

John,

I stand by this definition of the term:

"...phrases, such as "vinted and bottled by" and "cellared and bottled by" can mean the winery bought the wine from another vintner, maybe blended it and aged it a bit -- maybe not -- then bottled it."

Meaningless term with no legal definition.

Even though I'm just a home winemaker, I used to put "vinted and bottled by Howie Hart" on my labels before I knew the significance of the term. Now I put "produced and ..."

John,

You are talking about what the words mean to you, literally. I am talking about what the regulations allow. As for word meanings: I'm not so sure the verbs "vint" or "vinted" are in the dictionary.

Estate Bottled and Produced and Bottled By have specific meanings; the former means "grown, harvested, fermented and bottled" by that producer; the latter means "fermented and bottled" by that producer. All the other designations are confusing and therefore meaningless.

Why would a producer who can use either "Estate" or "Produced" on the label want to use any of the other designations? The best use of them is to obfuscate. All the other designations can be covered in one phrase: "Obfuscated and Bottled By."

It certainly is a great day out there--walked the vineyards today with the dog and not a wind was stirring while the temperature was rising and the sun was blazing.

Kevin Williams--NPR--says starting tomorrow, we are in for a rocky few days of storms and floods. It's coming from the Midwest. Why doesn't someone build a tall wall???