Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($200). Rich black cherry and plum flavors with a hint of chocolate. The cabernet franc bolsters the floral aromas and tames the cabernet franc to make it enjoyable in its youth. She is joined in this effort by her son Alan who is equally committed to producing high-quality wine from their Howell Mountain vineyard estate. Delia Viader leans heavily on cabernet franc (36 percent) to support the cabernet sauvignon in this elegant and rich blend. Viader Napa Valley Proprietary Red Blend 2016 ($195). Good depth with black cherry and raspberry notes with an intriguing combination of herbs and spice. Twenty percent of this wine comes from a combination of merlot, petit verdot and malbec. Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 ($58). The volcanic soil is also an influence on this terrific wine from Lake County’s Red Hills. It is aged entirely in Hungarian barrels, so you won’t find the vanilla character often found in French barrels. Malbec, petit sirah, petit verdot and syrah are blended with the cab to produce a complex and lively wine with wild black berries and minerality. It costs more nowadays, thanks to its success and high ratings, but it is still equal to a similar wine at twice the cost. Remembering this from years ago, he picked up a bottle – then came back the next day for another. Tom was vacationing in Colorado recently and was looking for a dinner wine. Obsidian Ridge Volcanic Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 ($38). Petit verdot, malbec and cabernet franc play cameo roles. Sourced from estate vineyards in Napa Valley, this complex wine has cherry aromas with blackberry and plum flavors. Eliminating the filtration gives wine more pure fruit character and this is a good example. Newton Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($59). But for that special occasion, we’re going to bust it open – and save money by not dining out as often. We are delighted when we find a luscious Rioja for less than $20 and a Chilean sauvignon blanc that marries well with food for $15. While there are still bargains to be had in other regions, consumers will have to spend more money to get more quality. Land prices, oak barrels and consumer demand is driving this maddening trend. Frankly, that’s a threshold we haven’t crossed and most likely won’t. The best wines from Napa Valley are easily passing the $200 threshold with the average price now at $108. Unfortunately for consumers, the prices of the best wines are rising as fast as a river in spring. Thankfully, we didn’t favor the Saxum which cost more than $200. We correctly identified the grapes in a blind tasting but thought it was a Chateauneuf du Pape. We were blown away by a 2014 grenache-syrah blend from Law Vineyards. This twisted logic came to mind at a recent tasting of several Rhone-style blends from Paso Robles. But now that we’re in retirement with a manageable nest egg, we can splurge once in a while. In recent weeks, we’ve come across several great wines at $50-$70 a bottle that made us wince at the cash register. But we got a $50 wine with no restaurant markup. Maybe we have to forego the ambience and service of a ritzy restaurant and, okay, we have dishes to wash at the end. So, if we take that $50 we’re willing to spend in a restaurant and buy a great wine from a local retailer, add a couple of filets and light some candles, we have a great dinner with a wine we really like. We can get the same bottle in a retail store for half the price. At a 400 percent markup, you’re buying a very cheap wine at $50. It’s getting harder and harder to find restaurant wine for anything less. When we take our wives out for dinner at a nice restaurant, we select a wine that commonly costs $50 or more. But we think we have a logical reason to spend more on wine – really! See if this works for you. That’s the circuitous route our logic takes on the way to the wine store. But you manage to come up with reasons - the old car is dying and this is my last hurrah, I’ll spend more time on the water than on vacation, a new watch will make me punctual. Surely you know the drill: one part of your brain (or your spouse) is telling you it’s a waste to buy that Corvette, a new boat or an Apple watch. We’re getting old, the world is falling apart and life’s too short to waste on bad wine. It doesn’t take much of an effort for us to justify splurging on an expensive wine once in a while.
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