This is another one from the liquidation table. I don't tend to drink a lot of cab. (I think that might be because a lot of good cab comes from California and I tend to find US wine overpriced - but that's for another post.) In any event, I'm always on the lookout for good value cab and since the Stefani worked out pretty well, I thought I'd go back for the Frei Ranch.
To begin I should point out that Wine Spectator totally trashed this vintage of the Frei Ranch. It gave a score of 79, citing "wet cement" on the finish. No doubt that's why so much is still available on liquidation. Maybe there is bottle variation, but there is no way the bottle we had warrants a 79 - no wet cement at all.
Another point is that right now this wine needs to breathe for an hour so. It was quite harsh out of the bottle, but smoothed out considerably with some air.
With all that said, I thought this wine was pretty good, but for me it didn't have great balance or mouthfeel. There was some reasonable fruit in the middle but nothing outstanding. I'll give it an 86.
Kelly liked it quite a lot better. There's a pattern developing here - we generally agree quite closely on our scores, except about cab. So if you like cab, her scores might mean more to you than mine. Here's her note:
"Mostly stewed dark fruit on nose - cherries, plums, raisins - and also cedar and menthol; same flavours are soft on palate, with slightly sweet edge, followed by cedar and firm tannins. Long. I guessed this wine was Italian, and definitely wouldn't have thought it was a cab. I'd be interested to know what someone who likes French wines would say about this. The stewed fruit reminds me a bit of the Coudoulet de Beaucastel."
Kelly gave it an 88.5 - she didn't want to give it an 89 because she definitely likes the Stefani better, but she thought it's better than an 88 - this is our score compression problem again.
How will it develop? We had the '96 Frei Ranch cab a couple of years ago when it was about 9-10 years old and we loved it - much better than the 87 that WS gave to it. Will this one improve as well? Your guess is as good as mine - if it does, it will be a real bargain at $22.
Day 2 update: We had this wine again last night (Sat) after it spent a few days in the half bottle. Kelly thought it had suffered a bit, but I liked it much better this time - a solid 89. I'm not sure what's going on, but at the price I'll pick up a couple more.
Price: $22.29
Value: 3/5
Score: 86/89(N) - 88.5(K)
Alcohol: 14.5%
Tasted: Oct 2008
ANBL UPC: 085000223055
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