Wine Weekly

Last-Minute Wine Gifts Under $50

Still need to pick up a nice bottle of wine for a holiday dinner or as a gift? Here are some options, all under fifty bucks.

Sandeman 10 Years Tawny Port
What better drink to enjoy by the fire after a holiday meal than a classic Port? This one has been aged for you — for at least 10 years in oak barrels — and delivers an exquisite array of berry, spice, and nut flavors on a silky texture that keeps going and going in a lush, complex finish. Drink it alone or match it with creamy cheeses, cheesecake, creme brulee.

Montes Montes Napa Angel Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
The Chilean winery’s “Purple Angel” is a scrumptious blend of Malbec and Petit Verdot, but they also produce a similarly Bordeaux-style Cabernet from California’s Napa Valley. Their “Napa Angel” has big ripe tannins and bold, full flavors that would match perfectly with prime rib, venison, and stews. Enjoyable now but will also improve with a few years’ cellaring. Oh, and the lovely angel on the label is fitting for the holiday season. Learn more about Aurelio Montes’ project in California at the Napa Angel website

Under $20

Clos de los Siete
The “flying winemaker” Michel Rolland is known for his wizardry in Bordeaux, and has taken that knowledge international. One of his most recent and most promising projects is “Clos de los Siete”, a blend of Malbec, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon that recalls Rolland’s roots in Bordeaux. Rich, layered, and complex, and at under twenty bucks it drinks like a wine twice its price. If that’s not enough, its label features a gold, seven-pointed star that looks like it belongs at the top of a Christmas tree — though I highly recommend you DO NOT attempt placing a bottle of Clos de los Siete atop one.

Macari Sette 7 NV
Another Bordeaux-style blend that will match well with beef, game, and similarly hearty holiday dishes, this comes from Long Island, New York. Its ripe tannins, black fruits, and earthy nose give this wine a “masculine” character when drunk on its own, but it softens nicely when paired with protein.

Rubicon 2004

Rubicon 2004

If you’re looking for a Jeep review, move on. This is a site for cork dorks.

Last week we learned about Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon Estate, and the one white wine produced there, Blancaneaux. Today we’ll review the flagship wine of the estate, and the wine that gives the estate its name: Rubicon.

The 2004 vintage was one of the ripest ever seen in Napa, which means the wines of that year should be “huge”, or have a high concentration of fruit. It was the earliest harvest since 1994 due to the warmth of the season — which was a fortunate anomaly since there have been more cooler vintages than warm in the last fifteen years.

However, that warmth and ripeness did not equal abundance. In fact, 2004 was a fairly light crop, with not much fruit — it yielded 25% less cases compared to 2003. In contrast, the 2005 vintage was the largest harvest in history, but didn’t have quite the same ripeness (but it was still pretty damn ripe!).

Because of the extreme ripeness and concentration of 2004, winemaker Scott McLeod chose to age the wine in 100% French oak barrels (small ones, called “barriques”). When you have a lot of fruit, you can give it some oak to add vanilla and spice components without worrying about the wine tasting like a tree. McLeod chose French oak because it leaves less of a “stamp” on the wine; American oak barrels tend to impart more “woodiness” to a wine.

Rubicon 2004 Tasting Notes

The nose is full of violets, with blackberry and other black fruits, as well as some vanilla spice.
In the mouth you get ripe black fruit right away: black raspberry, plum, black cherry. There are equally ripe tannins and good acidity holding things together, and an incredibly silky texture. There is lots of complexity, with flavors of rum raisin, sour cherries, vanilla and other spices. Additionally, it has great length (meaning, flavors hang around in the mouth for well over a minute after swallowing), finishing with black fruit and licorice. It’s OK alone, but it’s very big and most valuable with food — I’d drink it with a braise or a stew or a hunk of cheese.

a-10 t-10 b-10 fc-9 v-7 ~ 96 Points

In addition to the 2004, I was able to get a sneak preview of the 2005 out of barrel. It’s huge, with a wide open nose of red and black berry fruits — licorice, violets, boysenberry, earth. Flavors are similar, but this wine was way too young and nowhere near ready to judge. I can tell you it’s going to be a monster. Meantime, there is the 2004 to drink (or cellar).

Winery: Rubicon Estate

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