Typical Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons will set you back $50 or more. The well-known brands are even higher, often over $100. There have always been inexpensive Cabernets, but these wines generally share few of the rich, layered flavors and seductive aromas of really fine Cabernet.
Do Fine Inexpensive Cabernet Sauvignons Really Exist?
There are many Cabernets in the $20 range and some are pretty good values, but once you’ve experienced a high end Napa Valley Cabernet or a First Growth Bordeaux, aged appropriately, your wine world may never be quite the same.
We think we’ve found an inexpensive Cabernet Sauvignon that may cause you to re-think your notion about the value of spending a lot of money.
Head-to-Head: Paso Robles vs. Napa Valley and Bordeaux
A formal blind tasting was held recently, pitting four Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignons against BV Private Reserve and Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron, all wines in current release. The results were very surprising.
All four of the Paso Robles Cabernets showed admirable, ready-to-drink characteristics. In blind tasting, the Napa Valley Cabernet (BV Private Reserve) and the Bordeaux (Pichon-Longueville) were the least attractive. They offered very little aroma, and while acid balance was very good, the flavors were too tightly wound and ungiving to justify their high price. If this tasting were to be postponed ten years using the same wines, the result would very likely be quite the opposite.
Bordeaux Cabernets are known to go through a closed stage in their early development. Certain Napa Valley Cabernets, also. During this stage the wines exhibit none of the characteristics that have won them such high esteem in the wine world.
So if you are thinking to splurge on a great traditionally-made Cabernet Sauvignon, plan on putting it away for at least ten years. You may then be richly rewarded. If you can’t wait, then opt for Cabernets made in a ready-to-drink style. That would include pretty much all Cabernets in the under $40 range.
A Fine Paso Robles Cabernet For Under $20
One particular Cabernet Sauvignon comes to mind. It’s the product of a tiny Paso Robles winery that just doesn’t seem to know how to make ordinary wine. The Mitchella 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon is simply the finest under-$20 Cabernet Sauvignon we have found. It’s richly flavored of plums and blackberries with a note of chocolate. Easy drinking, but nicely textured. And you can obtain this marvel online for $18! Highly recommended. There are only 90 cases of this wine and you aren’t likely to find it on your supermarket shelves. We think this wine is a good example of the quality you can find in small production wineries where just a few people work hard to craft the best products possible vs. large producers whose operation may be influenced more by profit motives than winemaking passion.
