Everyone’s formative wines are different–and a lot of it is a generational thing. I kinda am jealous of the current generation of kids who can quite easily jump in almost geekily at the forefront of all these new California and international producers, but for most of us Gen-Xer’s–and old Millennials and boomers also–a lot of these old supermarket standbys are some of our early dabbling into top-shelf wine. I’m not talking about life-changing wines, that “ah-hah” moment wine, that desert-island wine–I’m talking about wines we started moving into after discovering the lower shelves and Trader-Joe’s offerings were not really cutting it. Some of these wines we carry on into wine-adulthood (that’s a polite way of saying *wine-snobbery*), partly on romance, partly because they managed to cling to an edge on the first tier of actual quality.
For me, two of these wines were definitely BV Ruth and Beringer KV. Possibly two of the first single-AVA wines I purchased, I still buy these wines today, even though my palate has *probably* *technically* *moved on*. I know for a fact there are people following who are, like, Dude. WTF. Sorry. Don’t follow me. Go ahead: use it as an asterisk against my taste. I don’t give a shit. I will keep a stiff vertical of both these wines and eagerly visit them on a regular basis. Besides, wines like this are such a litmus to ‘wine-marketing’, ‘palate preferences’, ‘state-of-the-industry’, and on and on. If you can’t drink a 12YO perfectly-aged $17.99 Sonoma dinger from Rite Aid, I literally don’t ever want to have wine with you.
This wine is holding up quite nicely and I am glad I have more. Dare I say head-and-shoulders above the 2010 BV Ruth from the other night? Black dark ruby–touch of garnet at the edge. Beautiful spicy nose, just crankin the rough sex and Mexican leather furniture and probably rough sex ON Mexican leather furniture. A brilliant nose, studded with kid-skin and the supplest of sweaty Dr. Pepper cherry. Still edgily gilded with eucalyptus and mint, chaparral and fines herbes. Bold and stately on the tongue, not relaxing a bit: polishing in SUCH tiny increments. The remaining smoky tannin and the rooty, muddy berry align perfectly with both the acid and alcohol. I mean–this wine is absolutely flippin gorgeous.
Wonder how many cases of this they make haha?
2007 BERINGER Cabernet Sauvignon Knight’s Valley Sonoma 14.3
Stephen McConnell 