Wednesday, June 9, 2010

An Interesting Three Way

Three way comparison that is. Given that I am sticking with the Cabernet Sauvignon grape this week I decided to do a little comparison between a local, Alex's Red Barn Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, against the popular Michael Pozzan Cabernet Sauvignon "Knights Valley" 2007 and the well respected Argentina Bodega Catena Zapata Cabernet Sauvignon Mendoza 2007 (which was awarded a 90 by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and the producer Nicolas Catena was named "Decanter Man of the Year" in 2009). I have to say that in all three main areas: sight, nose, and palate the local Red Barn offering held its own again the larger, better know producers. Visually the two slightly younger wines were a bit darker and had more of a purple tint to them which was to be expected. On the nose the Red Barn Cabernet Sauvignon was a touch more intense and the finish was a little longer (both the Pozzan and Catena were for this reviewer toward the medium (-)/medium length). So for those who are downplaying the local producers I think you really should put out of your mind the fact that Temecula doesn't have any big blockbuster names and instead view it as a place to find some very respectable undiscovered gems.

For the Catena review look to my next posting for the details.

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