1. RobertMondaviWnry CabernetSauvignon NapaVlly (14.5%; www.RobertMondaviWinery.com) Oakville 2012: Dark color; strong blackcurranty/Cab slight licorice/chocolaty/ripe light toasty/oak/smokey pleasant NapaVlly nose; slightly tart fairly strong blackcurranty/Caab/fruity bit chocolate/herbal light toasty/smokey/oak straightforward/simple flavor w/ light bit hard/bitey tannins; med.long strong fruity/blackcurranty/Cab slight licorice/herbal light toasty/vanilla/oak finish w/ light firm/bitey tannins; needs a few yrs of age but don't get your hopes up; a straightforward pleasant classic NapaVlly Cab that has its place (somewhere) in the wine world I suppose; if you have to have a NappaVlly Cab (not sure why you'd ever want that?) and didn't want to spend big $$'s, this would fill the bill; perfectly serviceable wine but, to my palate, boring as hell. $26.00 (Sprouts)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. After I delivered the rant below, I felt I owed it to myself to try a Mondavi wine. The above wine is what I turned up.
This is probably the first Mondavi wine I've purchased in some 40 yrs. I shoped at 1 wine shop where I found a Mondavi Cab priced at $55. I couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a Mondavi wine. I then went to two different grocery stores (TraderJoe's, Sprouts) to find one. I found plenty of their MondaviPrivateSelection wines at $13 or so....but I wanted to give Mondavi a fair shake. As I was skimming my gaze over the shelves, I realized that my 40 yrs of training to ignore any Mondavi wines on the shelves was working against me. Once I slowed down my gaze, I finally spotted this Cabernet that seemed to be an iconic Mondavi wine & I went with it. The wine was boring as hell. I plan to revisit Mondavi wines again in another 50 yrs. I predict this TN will have a record number of few views for a TomHill TN.
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2. RobertMondavi: This is the 50'th anniversary of the founding of RobertMondaviWnry. Been seeing a lot of press about it. SteveHeimhoff had a blog entry ystrday praising to the skies RobertMondavi and pointing out how this event launched the "botique" wine movement in Calif. It is, to me, more than a bit tiresome.
To tell the truth, RobertMondavi has had virtually zero impact on my wine hobby. I never met the guy...so obviously never been charmed by his personal charisma. When I was getting interested in wine in the late-'60's; the RobertMondavi wines were touted as the creme de la creme of Calif. I tried a number of them and was never very thrilled. Over the yrs, I try them intermittenly and find them rather charmless and soulless. Even the iconic Cabernets (must admit I'm not much of a fan of NapaVlly Cabernet), even w/ some age on them, have never seemed very thrilling. The Cabs from sons Michael and Tim, the few I've had the opportunity to try, seem to be cut from the same cloth. There have been a few that I've genuinely liked...Moscato d'Oro and Botrytis SauvBlanc. But the rest of them leave me cold.
So...what am I missing here?? Why don't I stand in awe and worship at the feet of the late RobertMondavi like the rest of the wine community? Why don't the Mondavi wines make the Earth move for me?? Please point out the error in my ways...I want to be edumacated!!!
Tom