Sunday, November 18, 2007

Windy Ridge Cabernet

Windy Ridge
Cabernet Sauvignon
Central Coast, California, USA
2004
14.2%
$9.99 -- Whole Foods, Chapel Hill, NC

Color: Dark but not obscure garnet
Nose: Raspberry, a little hot
Body: Medium
Front: Berries, creamy
Middle: Tannins, leather
Back: Peach
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork

This is a great deal. It's an interesting, simply structured Cabernet, not as huge as the fancy kinds, but with the California profile. It moves cleanly from a creamy berry front to a drier middle and a stone-fruit hint on the end of the palate. I got a case and a half of it and drink it with almost anything--sweet salami, baked chicken and sauteed spinach, tonight. It's one of these more or less mass-produced things where they aggregate berries from all over the central coast, but this vintage is largely Paso Robles grapes, if I remember right, and it shows: it's super, and way better than this price would indicate.