Impenetrable black staining blackness in the glass with an abrupt edge. Massive stewed cherry, banana, and curaçao tropical ripeness, heady with disgustingly dense concentrated vanilla and cassis in the nose, with meaty slabs of wet granite and sweltering dust calving off the majestic core of sweaty blackberry.
This is a label you probably haven’t seen, but the winemaker behind it is a seasoned veteran of the Nor-Cal winemaking scene and this is his personal tour de force among many consulting gigs. It is not difficult to find, and if you drink cabs up in the blingy echelons of concentration and their relative price-points, I urge you to seek it out. It blew my mind and will yours too.
In the mouth, all that dank meaty goodness attacks straight-forwardly and bent on obfuscating also-rans. Gobs of black cherry mingle with bright acidic goodness, while wet leather, cinnamon and brilliant zing dance about alongside. Dry abrasiveness curls in late-middle, and the swelter of tannin grip dries it all out in a perfect candy-sharp finish.
This is dry-farmed Cabernet from the almost ubiquitous zin-land between Lytton Springs and Mazzacco in Dry Creek Valley. Not the headline variety for that spot of real estate, but many of us have tasted actual Cabernet from this area over the years–and it ALWAYS goes well. There are a great number of wonderful cab-pockets down in that area and of course as you head North into Alexander Valley, the Cabernet becomes almost synonymous with the AVA.
2014 MASTRO SCHEIDT Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Signature’ Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County 14.0
Stephen McConnell 