2011 Treasure Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2007 Core Elevation Sensation Alta Mesa Vineyard

2004 Château La Vieille Cure

It was a light week, wine wise. My wife was was hurt in a fall so I had to pick up my work around the house. I also didn’t like drinking wine in front of her when she couldn’t enjoy a glass due to the pain killers.

2011 Treasure Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley – $28.49

This is a new purchase from this “négociant’ label. The “winery” buys excess wine from traditional wineries, bottles it, and turns over their inventory fairly quickly. The wineries are generally eager to sell off their unwanted wines so Treasure Hunter gets the juice at a VERY big discount. One of the usual stipulations is that the source of the grapes/wine remains anonymous. In this case, the name of the original winery was “accidently” slipped, so I know who supposedly made the wine, but I’m sworn to secrecy.

Here is the info from Treasure Hunter’s website:

Occasionally we find a wine that is so special, it deserves its own label. This is one of those wines. It is a cult wine from a cult winery it just happens to cost a whole lot less. Lucky you.

If the source is accurate, the winery produces two cabernet sauvignons, the least expensive costs north of $100 a bottle. The other cabernet produced by the winery has a community average cost on Cellar Tracker of well over $300 a bottle.

This wine is available for sell on the Treasure Cellars website for $45.00 a bottle, click here for more info.

My Tasting Note

The wine is a bright ruby red color. The very inviting nose has cassis, dark bittersweet chocolate, dried herbs, eucalyptus, cherries, minerals, cigar box, and some “Rutherford Dust” (if this is from Rutherford). This has medium body, fairly solid tannins, and very good acidity. On the palate big cassis and eucalyptus grab hold eventually allowing cherries, dark chocolate, and some dried herbs enter into the mix. The finish has very good length with a very slight green herbaceous element creeping in on the back end. This is extremely young and has a very bright future. Even at this early stage in its development, the wine has impeccable balance. I’m sure with some cellar time the slight green element will integrate. This rating is totally out the window in another couple years. (92 pts)

2011 Treasure Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2007 Core Elevation Sensation Alta Mesa Vineyard – $27.73

I’ve been a big fan of the wines Dave Corey produces for quite a while. These highly expressive wines are top notch and very reasonably priced. Most of the wines are delicious blends. In this case, Elevation Sensation is a blend of 62% Grenache and 38% Mourvedre from Santa Barbara County. I highly recommend tracking down some Core wines and settling in for a couple hours of pleasure.

My Tasting Note

The wine is a medium to dark ruby red color. The big and flamboyant nose is full of kirsch, minerals, incense, blackberries, eucalyptus, earthy underbrush, dark bittersweet chocolate, and warm baking spices. This has medium to full body, moderate ripe tannins and nice acidity. This is “stacked” on the palate with layers of fruit, spice, minerals, and earthiness that slowly peal away revealing the next layer. The finish has very nice length with some eucalyptus, dark chocolate and cherries closing the show. This is in a prime drinking window now and should hold for a couple of years. (93 pts)

2007 Core Elevation Sensation Alta Mesa Vineyard

2004 Château La Vieille Cure – $15.83

The local wine store brought this in as an e-mail offer to their mailing list. I decided under $16 a bottle for a case was just too hard to pass, so I grabbed a case. My first bottle had something wrong and just tasted horrible. It didn’t have an easily identifiable flaw, it was just bad. I opened a second bottle a couple weeks later, and it was decent. A third bottle about a year ago was pretty much like the first bottle. I don’t know the exact break down of the grapes in this vintage, but this wine has historically been around 74% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon.

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep ruby to purple color. The nose has dried herbs, cigar box, minerals, baking spices, black cherries, a minty note and a fair amount of earthiness. This has medium body, fairly solid tannins, and very good acidity. On the palate the wine is lean and tart with very little fruit and an overload of acidity on the front end, on the back end a touch of fruit makes a brief appearance before being beaten into submission by the overbearing acidity. The finish shows some dried herbs and earthiness. This makes three of four bottles that does not merit a score.

2004 Château La Vieille Cure

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Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines. I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar. I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com. Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear. There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase. I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but my local store is usually VERY competitive. I generally get case discounts, and since I work there part time, I get a 5% discount. Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges. None of the prices include the sales tax.

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.