Rob's "Wine of the Week" Archives
So here is my wine review for the week of September 25th, 2005...
Del Dotto "the David" 2001
Description: Del Dotto possesses one thing for sure; the best Napa Valley Wine tour on the planet. The cave tour allows you to sample all of their wines straight from the barrel and in the process, gets you absolutely hammered. As for their wines, they are pretty damn
good. "The David" is one of their Cadillac wines which is a red wine blend of cabernet, merlot and cab franc.
How to Get it: The winery sells it both in Napa and on-line, while still available. Some specialty stores and on-line shops will carry it as well.
How Much: It's $75 in the stores and winery, as much as $150 if you find it on a restaurant wine list.
My Thoughts: This is a little bit of an un-fair review to be writing in the Fall of 2005. I doubt the 2001 "David" is still available in most places. However, that may be the point. We fell in love with this wine in the 1999 vintage. After purchasing a case of the 2001, we were not pleased with the result when we opened a bottle in 2003. We haven't touched it since, until this weekend when we opened our 2nd 2001 and were blown away. 18 months of cellaring did this wine wonders and it is as amazing as the first time we tasted "the David." Smooth, big, lush, and full of vanilla and light coffee flavors with just a light amount of fruit to round it out. A fantastic wine.
Overall Score: While it is never a good idea to presume that a winery can consistently, year to year, make a varietal great, some wineries have achieved that with success. All of Pride's wines, for example, are amazing. Phelps winery makes "Insignia" every year and it blows us all away. "The David" has become that for me now from Del Dotto. Each year I've had is amazing, although some years require aging (as told above). This is a high quality wine worthy of its' price tag. On the 5 vine scale, I give it 4 vines. I would go higher, but at $75 you are competing with a whole new level of greatness and it's tough to match up against names like "David Arthur," and "Caymus." This is a great wine to consider as your "special occasion" wine if spending $100 for wine is way out of your range.
Del Dotto "The David" 2001 =
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