Big buttery-rich layers of tropical and banana in the nose, decidedly ripe, but with a nice conifer mint and dusty earth SOLID everywhere. It smells quite gorgeous and is thick and blackish-garnet in the glass. The blackberry is a brambly mess, wound impossibly tight and thorny over a mountain stream, splashing petrichor in all directions.
Not quite so charming in the mouth. The extreme ripeness becomes concentrated flab., thick and unctuous, definitely trading in acid and finesse for blockbuster maceration. The cool scrape of tannin is pretty much its only saving grace–and even these are soft and watered with sweetness. There’s more pine-pitch and briar late in the middle, offering a slight olive-branch to the chubby gods ruling the front half. A bit of heat apparent doesn’t actually detract from the wine or take points off–as it offers at least SOMETHING protruding from the flaccidness.
I’m being WAY too hard on this wine. I found it in my cellar and don’t remember where I got it. I suppose it could be a Grocery Outlet thing? Either that or a wine-shop experiment. Bottom line: there’s a price-tag on it stating “$15.99”. And for 16 dollars, boys & girls: this is a bang-for-the-buck gift from HEAVEN. Seriously: start thinking about the Sonoma cabs you can buy for 16 bucks. Washed-out, fruity Souverain’s and Chateau St. Jean’s. Entry-level offerings from Rodney Strong and Francis Ford Coppola. Shit people with mini-vans and bad manicures drink. This wine actually hits at the 30-40-dollar level, and is LIGHT YEARS more interesting than a handful of 60-80$ Napa’s you see stupid people constantly drinking on FB and IG.
2012 CINQUE INSIEME Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Reserve’ Redwood Hill Vyd Sonoma Co. 14.9
Stephen McConnell 