IS THE WINE WORTH THE MONEY?

Recanati Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

By Adam Neustadter

Issue of Sept. 12, 2008

Drinking wine and writing this article is usually a win-win situation. I get to drink a wine of my choice and you get to save yourself the painstaking agony of wondering to yourself, “Can I tell my friends how much I spent on this bottle without them laughing at me?” Boy, do we work great together. On that note, let’s get to work (hiccup)! When I opened this wine and took my first whiff, the aromas were pleasantly soft. Slight fruit and oak well balanced; however, just a little too much green earthiness that seems to throw it off. Oddly enough, the tannins are surprisingly soft for a wine this young, but, the acidity is too harsh. Fortunately for the wine, the acid blows off after a short while as the green vegetal flavors come out. Definite notes of peppers on the nose. As the wine airs out a little longer, the peppers on the nose fade and pleasant and expected bright, berry, fruit comes out as the oak and tannins take their place in appropriate proportions. At some point the wine hit a “dumb” stage, at which there was an offensive alcoholic bite to it. This quickly fades, though, and the wine continues to develop nicely as the oak becomes more mature. Almost reminds me of a French style with soft fruit and increased structure on the back end, as opposed to a California fruit forward wine. As usual, we have to end with the ever important question, “is the wine worth the money?” If you can find this for under $15, then the answer is yes. If you start getting closer to the $20 mark, that yes becomes a maybe. If you see it for more than that, the second bottle better be half price. If you do choose to pay more, you might as well make the check out to charity.

Always remember that “drinking wine is like shopping with a no limit card. You could stop, but you know you really don’t want to.”