“There are some nice wines here, I’m good with all of em.” Bruce Hansen
For the November Cab challenge, we tried the following wines:
2007 Hansen Cabernet Sauvignon Limited
2007 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection
2007 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve
2007 Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon
XXX~ A mystery wine
2007 Hansen Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
Firstly, the participants evaluated each wine’s nose. The strength of the scent as well as weather or not it was true to varietal character.
Notable remarks were, “#1 is light but nice and soft. #3 is earthy but not my favorite type of earth. #4 has an oaky nose. #5 quaffs of forest floor and #6 is a light but smells of a true Cab nose. Overall, #1(The Hansen Limited) scored the highest ratings in the “Nose” section.
Moving on to rate the palate and mouth feel-from the front-mid-finish, judges evaluated each wine, letting the wine coat all corners of the palate and coming back to each wine after setting favorites aside and re-evaluating each wine several times.
The winning wine was the 2007 Hansen Cab Limited-This glass seemed to go empty repeatedly for some judges. Notes of licorice right away then smoothed over the top of the palate with elegant tannin structure which was holding up rather well for a nine-year bottle of wine.
Robert Parker gave the 2007 Beringer Private Reserve which we tasted a 97-point rating and it was well received by our judges as well coming in at 2nd place. The sweet cab nose was well liked and the rich well balanced body carried through from start to finish. Subtle Christmas spices melded to the fruit forward dark berry flavors.
Taking third place would be the 2007 Hansen Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. Bruce had noted earlier in the day that the Limited was showing more impressively than the Reserve. The smooth tannins of this wine carried throughout the whole taste.
This gathering was the smallest of all the challenges and the most intimate. All the wines were extremely enjoyable and a good time was had by all. See you at the next challenge.
