Winemakers can speak at length on the weather, soils, sunlight and other vagaries of the year. From this, most of us glean that vintage matters — that one wine may vary from season to season.
For instance, the award winning 2009 Cache Creek Cabernet Sauvignon presents itself as a stately wine.
On the nose, dark berry jam and and fresh blackberries vie for your attention, in a roomy manse lined with leather and ancient woods. The flavors follow that sophisticated tradition, with dark fruits prominent over wood, softened by hints of vanilla held in a balance that seems to say “everything is in its place.”
The 2009 is a rich and structured wine, one that suggests plush comfort and good order — a presence gained from 22 months in oak, mostly French.
Click over to 2010 and the Cache Creek Cabernet, aged again for 22 month in the same mix of French and American oak feels lively and almost rambunctious, a well-bred youth straining to break the family bonds.
It’s a bright wine on the nose: handfuls of red cherries and juicy strawberry over the more representative dark berries. But it is still a Cab from the same plot of land, leashed to the terroir. And it turns darker, more reserved on the palate as plum and dried fruit emerge behind the breezy, herbal first impression.
It’s a wine fans of the 2009 would say is almost there — maturing and ready, in a year, to step into the family manor. Wood background notes are developing that beautiful vanilla earthtone and tannins are stitching together.
Yet it is a wine you also want to know right now. The 2010 is clearly refined, but also racy. It has a solid foundation but a soft heart. It is fresh and intriguing at the same time.
That’s why so many people buy two bottles — or cases, if the credit line allows: one to put away and one to enjoy right now.
And that’s the difference a year makes.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
