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Rob's "Wine of the Week" Archives

So here is my wine review for the week of May 22nd, 2006...

Del Dotto Rutherford Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

Description: Del Dotto is one of my favorite places for wine and for a visit in Napa Valley. If you go, take the cave tour and get shnockered on great wine. Lately, they have begun too many varietals for my comfort zone, although I have not seen the usual drop-off in quality that occurs usually with such a venture.

How to Get it: Almost all wine and beverage stores, the winery (which has an on-line site) and some grocery stores as the wine becomes more popular.

How Much: It's about $50 in stores.

My Thoughts: This wine was JUST released, so this is an initial tasting, which is only mildly fair for a Cabernet. This wine definetly needs time to age, mature and even out. It is obviously a big, bold cabernet with layers of chocolate, tobacco and leather but the layers right now are too heavy. Somewhere in there are some dark fruit flavors that are currently being held down by the lack of aging.

Overall Score: It's always hard to accurately define a young cab that needs to age (as opposed to those that drink perfectly right out of the bottle). Based on my history with this winery, I'm confident the wine will be much smoother and balanced next year and because of that I can recommend the wine. I wouldn't advise drinking it now, though. 3 ½ vines.

Del Dotto Rutherford Cab 2003 =