I like cab, but I don't seem to drink very much of it. You can get a great cab for $50+, or a bad one for $15, but a good quality cab at a decent price is a rare bird. So at $24 the Liberty School cab is a welcome find. This is a very solid cab with good varietal character in a New World style, but without being overdone. Kelly says "Full, smooth, fruity, with an edge of tannins for balance - blackberries with a bit of menthol or evergreen." I'd score it around 88, which I would say is a 4/5 for value for a cab. Perfect for drinking now with a steak. It would be very interesting to see how it ages. At the price I wouldn't expect much, but it seems to have good structure and plenty of fruit. If it does improve with age it would be great value.
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Hmm..had this on my radar from the festival last year...
ReplyDeleteTry and let us know what you think. Can't go too far wrong at the price.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, I just picked up a bottle of this Liberty School cab on the weekend and tried it last night. I agree that this is a great value for California Cab. I find that Paso Robles is a good producing region of wines without the sticker shock of Napa, and the Hope family, who make this wine, are known as great producers.I have a few of their high end wines like Isosceles (a meritage) in my cellar
ReplyDeleteI found this wine to be very full and dark...the way I like'em. The cork is almost black, and that dark licorice comes through in the wine, as well as blackberries, and some tea and dark chocolate. For this 2007 Cab, I think I agree that I would give it about an 88-89ish. a good find and one that I think will develop over the next maybe 4 years.
I had the 2006 of this Cab last year and found it to be very similar.
I was very anxious to try their 2008 Syrah as well, but it fell short in my opinion and is not very well balanced. It tasted like a cheap Syrah.
I would pass on the Syrah for now. Maybe it just needs time to pull itself together and tame down a bit.