Ironside Cellars Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – Worthy of a 21 Gun Salute

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93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 1.5% Petit Verdot and 0.5% Malbec from Napa Valley, California.

SRP of $30 and available for as low as $25 (Saturday Splurge). Sample submitted for review.

From the bottle:

“This Cabernet Sauvignon is made from fruit grown in select Napa Valley regions including Coombsville, St Helena, Calistoga and Rutherford. One third of the grapes are harvested from Sugarloaf Vineyard in the southern, cooler end of the valley, which produces Cabernet of greater nuance and expression.

The wine is aged for 28 months in small French oak barrels hand crafted by Tonnelleries Vallaurine, Ermitage and Latour.

Primary aromas of black currants and plums with traces of cedar, tobacco leaf and mint. The wine’s texture is bold but balanced. An intense mouthful of flavor coalesces into a mild, but long-lasting finish of woodsmoke, black pepper and vanilla.

14.1% Alcohol”

Ironside Cellars from 90+ Cellars is a relatively new label launched to highlight great Cabernet Sauvignon from California. While there’s no indication the name was inspired by the “Old Ironsides” nickname, naval and literary buffs will no doubt be reminded of the poem written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. as a tribute to the 18th century, 44-gun frigate the USS Constitution. Interestingly the frigate, which was named by President George Washington, was saved from retirement as a result of Holmes’s poem and is now the oldest commissioned naval ship afloat in the world. (Quite an accomplishment since the boat is wooden hulled and had an expected lifespan of 10 to 15 years when she was built.)

The 2011 Ironside Cellars Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon begins with an excellent aroma of plum and other dark fruit, spice, cocoa, leather, mint, cigar box and more. The wine tastes super silky with more dark fruit and good depth. This is a really tasty Cab with streaks of chocolate and vanilla plus fantastic touches of smoke, mint, black pepper, spice and dried herbs. It ends with a mouth drying, long finish of dark fruit and dark chocolate. Fantastic stuff worthy of a 21 gun salute!

This was the fourth wine sampled from our 90+ Cellars Wine Club shipment. So far we’ve reviewed:

• Lot 11 Monterey Pinot Noir – A Lot To Love
• Lot 100 Collector Series Monster Red Blend – Monstrously Good
• Lot 30 Cotes du Rhone 2012 – Simply Delicious

See a listing of local retailers selling this wine here.