The Good
Grape
|
Cabernet Sauvignon
|
Year
|
Winery
|
Carson Ridge
|
2015
|
Where
|
Paso Robles, California
|
Grade
|
Tasting Notes
|
Old banana peel within spitting distance; wet cardboard from a broken case of beer; mismanaged hot tub; thick green grass under bare feet on a dark, humid night.
|
10
|
Feel
|
Melting chocolate. This wine was born to be paired with dangerously under-cooked red meat.
|
10
|
The Not Bad
Grape
|
Cabernet Sauvignon
|
Year
|
Winery
|
Murphy Goode
|
2013
|
Where
|
California
|
Grade
|
Tasting Notes
|
A rotting, bitter, corpse-flower smell lingers when you open the bottle to let it breath; but pour a glass later and you have a very mild and gentle wine for a Cab. Like a shy friend with gas, this wine can be ridiculed but should not be rejected. It’s skunk liver cooked by a master chef, smothered in ketchup.
|
8
|
Feel
|
Something tells me this wine will improve with age. There’s a dusty, wispy quality I recognize from stealing sips of expensive wine while busing tables as a teenager.
|
9 |
The Ugly – but Open to Debate. These are just personal opinions after all.
Grape
|
Cabernet Sauvignon
|
Year
|
Winery
|
Carnivor
|
2015
|
Where
|
Modesto, California
|
Grade
|
Tasting Notes
|
Red velvet cake; sewer gases; ashtrays; spoiled milk; college dorm rooms; birch tree cut with a chainsaw. I kind of liked it. But God and the devil do battle in this bottle.
|
4
|
Feel
|
Mild decongestant; lip-numbing sensation of cocaine (so they say).
|
5
|
Grape
|
Cabernet Sauvignon
|
Year
|
Winery
|
Chateau St Jean
|
2012
|
Where
|
Sonoma, California
|
Grade
|
Tasting Notes
|
Licorice; rubber; corn syrup; a sad, wistful hint of character; the most boring chocolate in the box.
|
3
|
Feel
|
Soft, watery, mild; pair with chicken nuggets, Jell-O.
|
3
|