Another One for the Wine Cellar

We're huge fans of Cakebread. Not only do they make fabulous red wines, but we've really come to love their chardonnays, as well. But ... given the hefty price tag that comes with the name Cakebread, we aren't able to keep a lot on hand. It's what you call our "very special occasion" wine.

Anywho, when we were in Napa last fall, our hotel concierge recommended Groth. Number one, it's across the highway from the Cakebread vineyards (and we were looking to hit certain vineyards & wanted other recommendations along the route those would take us). Number two, given that fact (the across-the-road thing), their wines are touted to be equally as good (b/c of identical growing conditions) ... with a much smaller price tag. Unfortunately, we ran out of time in the valley to visit Groth. And thus we went home without even a taste.

Ever since then, Derek has been on the hunt to find Groth and hasn't had great success. That is, until recently when he noticed our neighborhood Tom Thumb was carrying the cab. Ouch. It has a pretty price tag in the grocery store at $50 a bottle if you're lucky enough to find it on special like we did (might be better in a wine store? or from the vineyard?), but that's still not as stiff as Cakebread which averages at least $95 retail. Anyway, he finally talked me into buying a bottle - '05 Cabarnet Sauvignon. And last night, we finally got around to opening it. Wow. This is a nice wine. I think it could use at least another year in the cellar to be stellar. But it was still a nice drink even now. It's very fruit-forward, which we tend to like, with terrific depth. I wouldn't necessarily put it in the same league as the Cakebread cab, but it definitely has potential. (For the oenophiles, here are more tasting notes direct from the vineyard.)