Wine of the Month May 2008
Kuleto Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley, 2003
Sorry to all the readers for the 3 month delay since the last wine of the month. The truth is, there have not been very many affordable wines to get excited about as of late. There are plenty of good red wines out there, but the terrible exchange rate for the U.S. Dollar has left foreign wines at least 50% more expensive than they were a few years ago, and the top vinters in California have been jacking up their prices by huge increments the last few years. Two to three years ago, I could walk into any wine shop and leave with a top notch California cabernet for under $25 dollars. Now most of the good ones are upwards of $50 dollars. Wine appreciation is becoming a major investment, unfortunately.
Readers of this site have seen me give many kind reviews to the cabernets from Kuleto Estate Winery in Napa Valley over the last few years. The wine typically sells for $40 or more at local retailers. It seems they usually have it at the local Harvest Ranch Markets, and I have often times picked up a bottle of this wonderful cabernet sauvignon at Harvest Ranch when picking up some premium meats from their meat counter. Well, as luck would have it, last Saturday I had to get some new tires on my car. I stopped at the Discount Tire Center in Solana Beach, and while I was waiting for my tires to be installed, I walked next door to the Solana Beach Beverages and More outlet. While perusing the cabernet aisle, I spotted the 2003 Kuleto Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon "on sale" for only $19.99 (regular Bevmo Price $40)! What a phenomenal deal, I thought to myself. They had a strange label affixed to the bottom of the normal label, and the new label said "Lone Acre". I had no idea what this meant. Were they offering a new cab, or was this just a re-branding of their traditional cab? I did not know, but I bought a bottle for $19.99 and took it home. What did I have to lose, I thought.....Well, I drank it a few days later, and what a treat it was. It would have been worth the $40 retail price, but for $20, I can tell you right now that you will not find a better cabernet anywhere. I will be back later this week to buy several bottles, and I suggest all readers do the same. For those unfamilar with Kuleto, they are an estate winery above St. Helena in Napa Valley, and their cabernets are all grown and produced on site, with their own estate grown fruit. I have always preferred estate cabs, since they seem to be more consistent from one year to the next, as opposed to wineries that are just buying grapes from different growers every year.
The 2003 Kuleto Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ("Lone Acre") has beautiful deep purple coloring, and a heady bouquet that jumps from the glass. Smokey cedar, espresso beans, dark chocolate, and mixed black fruits compete for attention on the nose. Loads of crushed black and blue fruits saturate the palate, and the wine finishes long and with silky fine tannin. I bet that if this wine was slipped into a blind tasting of $50-80 dollar cabs, it would compete well. For $19.99, it is a "show stealer". I drank the wine with a nicely grilled Tri-tip steak roast, and the pairning was outstanding.
So what exactly is the Kuleto Estate Napa Valley"Lone Acre" Cabernet? I can not say for sure if it is any different than their regular Napa Valley cab. Kuleto grows and produces all their cabernets on the Kuleto Estate grounds, and this wine is similarly designated. Their web-site makes no mention of the "Lone Acre" cab to distinguish it from their regular Napa cab. I do know that Mr. James Laube from Wine Spectator had given the 2003 Kuleto cab a luke-warm review. Perhaps this killed demand in the marketplace, and Kuleto had to re-brand the wine and sell it at a discount. Perhaps this is a new caberenet from a new part of their vineyard. I'm tempted to contact Kuleto to find out the real story, but it really is not importatnt. The important reality is that the wine is excellent, and a tremendous value at this price. It is also worthwhile for readers to recognize that the scores assigned to wines in Wine Spectator Magazine are based on a single person's review after a single brief sniff and taste of the wine. It is shameful that so many wine consumers are afraid to try a wine that has received a mediocre review from a single human being. Would we not view a great piece of art or listen to a great piece of music because a single art or music critic didn't care for it? Would we base our movie going habits on the review of a single movie critic? If the answer is no, then why on this Earth would a rational human being base his or her wine purchasing habits on the opinion of a single reviewer? Whether we like it or not, the folks who write reviews for Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate can single handedly kill the entire world wide market for a given wine in any given vintage. So please take this opportunity to try this wine for yourself and decide for yourself if your "palate" is aligned with Mr. Laube or not, at least with respect to this wine. Incidentally, he gave poor ratings to most of the wines he reviewed from the 2003 vintage, although my impression is that the 2003 vintage was really rather good. Many other wine writers have had similar sentiments.
I feel comfortable enough in my own wine tasting that I am proud to publish good reviews for all the world to see of wines that one of the major professional critics have dismissed. Personally, I am somewhat happy about the less than stellar reviews alot of my favorites have received the last year or two. Such reviews typically push prices down, and with the inflation in wine prices that we have seen in recent years, any downward pressure on wine prices has to be a good thing for all of us consumers!
So go check your local Bevmo (Beverages and More), and grab a bottle of the 2003 Kuleto Napa Valley cab for $19.99 before it's too late. Once word get's out, you'll be stuck paying $40 or more for it again!
4 stars. Readers may click here to be directed to the Kuleto Estate website.
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