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| Rob Williams - Cabernets and Blends | ||
Rob's "Wine of the Week" Archives So here is my wine review for the week of July 22nd... CONN CREEK ANTHOLOGY 2003
Description: The Conn Creek Anthology has always been a series red wine for serious red wine drinkers. Not for the faint of heart, palate and sometimes esophagus, this meritage blend traditionally packs a serious punch of deep flavors and heavy tannins. Since its beginning in 1991, the blend has never received a score below 90 from the major wine publications. This year's blend is 64% Cabernet, 16% Cab Franc which means that 80% of this wine is two huge red wine grapes. How and when I drank it: Saturday morning, July 21, 2007 I opened the bottle to allow it to breathe for later in the day. Upon opening it, I had half a glass to gauge my initial reactions. After allowing the wine decant for 6 full hours, I had 2 full glasses. Knowing the history of this wine, I wanted to try it fresh from the bottle and then hours after breathing, because historically, the bigness and fullness of this wine will demand allowing it to open up. Additionally, this is still a very young big red and will be tight by nature. How to get it: It's available at some grocery stores, BevMos, some wine merchants, on-line, and at the winery in Napa (which by the way, I have not had good experiences at. I love their wines, but I have found Conn Creek to be inaccessible and off-putting. To be fair, I last tried visiting in 2005 as was so put off by the experience that I haven't tried since. They make great wine, but, similar to Caymus, their winery staff is pretentious and fairly unfriendly.) How Much: At the winery, $50 per bottle. My Thoughts: The initial nose right out of the bottle is filled with dark fruit and some bell pepper aromas.. The first taste out of the bottle is surprisingly smooth for such a young, full red. While there is a definite tannic bite on the way down the back of the tongue and into the stomach, it's not overbearing or unpleasant. The aftertaste shows promise of a vanilla, cocoa finish. Initially out of the bottle however, the vanilla loses the battle to more overbearing leather and dark berry flavors. 7 hours later the wine has calmed down dramatically. While the total body of the wine is still slightly muted by its youth, the flavor and overall essence is very impressive. With proper decanting, this wine delivers a wonderful balance of soft dark fruit, some understated vanilla cream and a nice, easy, oak finish. This is what we call a very "approachable" red wine. Overall Score: The Anthology remains priced very competitively for a Napa flagship Meritage. Other blends like Insignia, Profile, Opus One, trilogy and countless others are all $75 north to $200 (some of these wines are worth every penny, others are named "Opus One," which is the most overrated wine in Napa….but I digress). Given the overall approachability of this wine, its complexity of flavors which are almost perfectly blended and the tannic presence delivered in such a subtle way, this is a great bottle of wine for the price. We have a winner! 5 vines
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