Good morning all,

Simon’s Wine of the Week is The Federalist Cabernet Sauvignon

Sometimes you don’t want subtlety. Sometimes elegance isn’t enough. Sometimes you need something big, bold and in your face. Sometimes you need California. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some beautifully restrained, refined, and sophisticated wines made in The Golden State. I have a thing for Russian River Pinot Noir, and you don’t get more refined and sophisticated than that. But if you want to throw caution to the wind and crave something so full-bodied it’s wearing an inflatable sumo wrestler suit then a Californian Cabernet is the way to go.

Cabernet Sauvignon should need no introduction; it’s the world’s most planted grape variety and makes some of the greatest wines in the world. In Bordeaux it is the main component of the sort of wines that wine lovers slobber over: Chateau Lafite, Chateau Margaux, Chateaux Latour, all of them use Cabernet Sauvignon as the backbone for their Grand Vin. Outside of France it is grown all over the world with particularly good examples from Stellenbosch in South Africa, Coonawarra and Margaret River in Australia, and Maipo in Chile.

It’s in California that it really shines though, with the region of Napa as the jewel in the crown. It was the wines of Napa that shocked the wine world in the famous ‘Judgment of Paris’ wine tasting in 1976, when they found themselves up against some of the greatest names in French Cabernet. These New World upstarts famously gave their Gallic cousins a right old spanking and walked off with the top prizes, something the French have never forgiven them for, and the Californians never fail to remind them of.

Whilst I love a bit of Napa Cabernet it has become so famous and sought after that the prices have gone through the roof, so it is good to know that there are plenty of other great Cabernet growing regions in California, without the crazy price tag.

This week’s wine hails from Lodi, possibly the most misunderstood region in California. It is famous for producing a good whack of the bulk wine of the state and has the misconception that it is too hot for great wine. Poppycock I say! Because Lodi may be the largest wine producing region in the whole of the USA, and I guarantee that the cheap white Zinfandel you find hiding at the bottom of the supermarket shelves is made from grapes grown there, it also has a couple of secret weapons.

First is the Sacremento-San Joaquin Delta, a web of rivers that bring breezes from the coast that cool the vineyards. If you are going to make great wine in a warm region you need these sorts of breezes to stop the grapes ripening too much and keep the acidity to balance the fruit and alcohol. And second is the plethora of old vines. Some of the oldest vines in the world are planted in Lodi, and these old vines give their grapes a level of concentration that other regions can only dream of.

So, to the wine. As you may have guessed The Federalist is a beast. Whilst it is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, like a great Bordeaux wine there is a small amount of other grape varieties in there to add balance, but Cabernet is still the dominant one. On the nose it is incredibly intense and powerful with blackcurrant, black cherry, and blueberry fruit overlaid with lots of lovely, sweet spice, vanilla and cedar from 15 months in oak. Hold on to your hats when you taste it because it is a giant, a concentrated mix of more black fruit, more oak notes, plus a distinct smoky edge and a finish of chocolate and coffee. Drink slowly.

Whilst it is not cheap I think this is incredible value compared to other Californian Cabernet at the same quality. Definitely worth trying a bottle.

Have a great week all,

Simon