An unexpected house guest doesn’t over stay its welcome and leaves on a high note….

So I’m not too proud to admit, I’m a California wine bigot. I go out of my way to avoid California wine. Not that I don’t think they make great wines, but I’ve been jaded by a family uncle who lives and dies by California wine. So given the choice to buy a California wine, or live eternity without wine, I usually choose the latter. So you can imagine my scorn with after recently hosting an early Thanksgiving party with friends, I discovered an unopened bottle of red wine from Sonoma California amongst the left overs.

So it got buried my wine racks to start the process of collecting house dust, never to be drunk. However, after cramming five days of work into three, cleaning the house for the expected real Thanksgiving guests, and starting a fajita dinner, it made an appearance as the wine pairing for dinner. It sat in the decanter while I chopped and made the fajitas and guacamole. With dinner all prepared it was time to swallow my pride and try the beast from out west.

The bottle: “The Path.”
The grape: Cab Sav.
The vintage: 2009.

The nose of the wine was very intense. It was dark plum nose with black currant and cooking spices. The wine showed big red fruit characteristics, deepening layers with mild acidity and very smooth through the finish. Unlike most California wines that exhibit a bit too much oak, this showed none at all an almost pure wine. I would bet it was aged in used oak barrels to bring forth the fruit flavors and just add the proper amount of body.

Although it wasn’t the perfect pairing with our slightly spicy dinner, it showed well enough to compliment the flavors like a good wine will. This single experience won’t soften my general feelings towards CA wine, maybe because I believe there is enough good wine on this side of the Mississippi river to keep me happy for a life time, but it is nice to know that if ever on the left coast and wine tasting, there should be at least a few wines that will make me smile.



***Update…. After writing this I did a search online and could find little about this wine. The make of the wine is the same make of the smoking loon series wine but this particular bottle is very mysterious. I’d appreciate any comments on where I could find more information about it.*******