The Amateur Wino

Last night my husband sent me the following text message “can you please stop at the store and pick up a decent wine”.  This actually made me chuckle, 1. because we have hundreds of dollars of “decent wine” in our wine fridge, and 2. because we were having Turkey Burgers for dinner…. I had to wonder what ”decent wine” pairing did he have in mind for our gourmet meal of turkey burgers and baked beans?

At any rate, like a good wife… ok, ok like a good wino…. I dutifully stopped at the store for some wine to go with dinner.  After searching the isle for something new I came across a bottle of 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Two Vines label of Columbia Crest located in Paterson, Washington.  I was curious about the wine for two reasons, 1. somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered a review about the Two Vines product, and 2. I recently read an article discussing wines from Washington and their surprising caliber.  So, always up for research, I picked up the bottle for around $7 on sale and took it home to my waiting wino husband.

Needless to say after he eagerly approached the bottle he was a little less than enthused to discover that I had brought home a $7 wine from Washington, as this was not his idea of a “decent” everyday drinking wine.  I explained to him why I chose that particular wine and being the good sport…. ok the good wino… that he is, he proceeded to open the bottle and decant the wine.

About 30 minutes later we took our first sip and were both pleasantly surprised by the flavor of this wine.  Being that it was a Cabernet it was definitely NOT destined to be a subtle wine, but so many times we have come across a Cab that has disappointed us in it’s ability to stand up and yell out “look at me… I’m WINE”.  Rather, Columbia Crest’s Two Vines Cab was a strong, dare I say, “robust”, speciman.  Neither did it fall flat in taste like so many “bargain” wines do. 

Before writing this post, I read an additional review of this same wine posted earlier this year on another blog site that, ahem… shall remain nameless.  In it, the reviewer states great disappointment with this wine due to it’s high tannic content and lack of “fruit in the mouth”.  Ok… to each wino his own opinion.  However, here is an important note: 

Firstly… if you are going to drink an unknown (even if only unknown to you) “bargain” wine, especially a Cabernet, you might want to start with decanting it.  This will mellow out strong tannic characteristics, but only to a degree, see Cabernet is typically tannic.  Perhaps it is due to it’s thick skin, where so much of a grapes tannins live.  But if you like a dry wine, as my hubby and I do, tannins aren’t necessarily a bad thing.  Just be sure to let your Cab age well, or decant it for a while before drinking.

Secondly, and again… I AM an amateur here, but in my opinion if you are looking for fruit flavors from a wine, Cabernet is not the way to go.  Cabs tend to be characterized with green pepper and tobacco flavors, and yes in some instances they can be full of fruit.  However, the younger they are, the more the tannins will win out over that fruit flavor.

So dear reader it’s really up to you.  Don’t take my word for it, and don’t take so-in-so’s word for it either.  The point is… (now that I’ve finished my cabernet ranting) drink what YOU like, but don’t let a wines region sway you from discounting it altogether.  You might just find a bargain wine, suitable for pairing with Turkey Burgers!

 Until next time….. Happy Tasting!