Honestly, it takes a lot of time to find hidden gems in California these days. Our team has the experience and spent years forming relationships with our winery partners to find the right mix of wines to offer in each quarters wine club.
We tasted a BUNCH of wines for the June selections and we came to a general concensus of these six offerings to represent the Cadet Club in 2022. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did while sampling them. Purchase these wines on our website or join the club to secure this selection.
2020 Sullivan Estate Rose, Rutherford Napa Valley
Why We Love This Wine:
An artist at heart, he began to make wine at home and a new passion began. As his winemaking skills grew, so did his passion for the vine. For the next two decades, he explored California to find the finest area to grow Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1972, the winery was established and Jim moved his family permanently to the Rutherford Estate.
Bringing their artistic vision to the heart of the valley, the Sullivans collaborated with rising star architect John Marsh Davis, chefs and musicians from all over the world to build an Estate that would bring together creative visionaries
Sommelier Tasting Notes:
This vibrant, lively rose is outstanding! With bright generous fruit and long lean acidity, knitted together with a juicy concentrated core, this wine hits all the notes. The play between fresh strawberry and lime zest provides the ultimate quench.
Producer: Sullivan Family Vineyards
Wine Pairing Suggestions:
Enjoy the versatility of this wine by pairing it with a nice light meal or simply on its own.
2017 Idle Cellars Grenache, Kick Ranch Vineyard, Sonoma County
Why We Love This Wine:
“Wrapped in silk pajamas on the fin of a gnarwhal as the glow of the midnight sun radiates the essence of your being.” Idle cellars website. Honestly, we couldn’t pass this wine up with a description like this on their website. The brand is playful. The one thing these guys take seriously is their dedication to making great wines in a more approachable fashion.
Sommelier Tasting Notes:
Herbal notes combined with fruit forward aromatics echo a sense of cinnamon, raspberries, black cherry, anise, and tobacco. Medium tannins and soft acidity create a balanced medium weight in taste. A lighter color plays with the eyes causing a reminiscence of sexy images from days past.
Producer: Idle Cellars
Wine Pairing Suggestions:
Spicier foods pair well with this exotic beauty.
2017 Stanton Barrett Syrah Reserve, Paso Robles California
Why We Love This Wine:
Stanton Barrett Family Wines is built upon a pursuit of life with passion. The simplicity of passion fuels the most complex burning desire that drives the efforts of those here whom strive for excellence without compromise. A daily endeavor with each detail considered, having one goal and expectation in mind that creates an everlasting impression of exquisite pleasure for one’s palate. Also, its very rare with only three barrels produced in 2016.
Sommelier Tasting Notes:
This Syrah is a delightful, full-bodied wine that exemplifies the style. Aged in fine-grained Nadalié Pennsylvania Oak barrels gifts this varietal with soft tannins that cleverly enhance your food pairings. On the palate, dark berries, red berries, plum, and black pepper with soft tannins, minerals, smoke, and a lingering toasted finish.
Producer: Barrett Family Wines
Region: Paso Robles, California
Grape Varietals: Syrah
Wine Pairing Suggestions:
Gamey Meats, slow cooked and braised meats.
2015 Byrd Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendocino California
Why We Love This Wine:
Completely under the radar wine we are lucky to get our hands on. This wine provides extremely high value. When our tasting panel tasted this wine, we had to look at our notes multiple times to make sur we didn’t mix up the wines in the blind tastings.
Sommelier Tasting Notes:
Very deep ruby in color with a reddish rim. Not showing much age. Fruity nose with blueberries, black plums, black cherries, raspberries, earth, light oak, licorice, spices, light herbs, black pepper and pencil lead. Full bodied and elegant, with medium-plus acidity and long legs. Dry on the palate with blueberries, plums, red currants, oak, tobacco, earth, cherries, spices, peppercorn and coffee.
Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.
This is a very tasty Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendocino County in California. Showing nice complexity with a nice mouthfeel. Very enjoyable by itself, as a sipping wine by the porch.
Producer: Byrd Vineyard
Wine Pairing Suggestions:
We paired it with a Charcuterie board of meats and cheeses.
2013 Canihan Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California
Why We Love This Wine:
We are suckers for aged Pinot Noir. Previous club releases featured great wines from the 2012-2015 vintages with “ready to drink” red wines.
The Canihan vineyards are ideally located in Sonoma, on the border of the Sonoma Coast and Carneros Appellations. The vineyards receive the cool evening breezes and frequent fog from the San Francisco Bay that provide perfect grape growing conditions.
It started with a dream in 1920 when a young man named August Siegrist came to America. Born in Switzerland in a village outside of Zurich, August and his mother Anna worked the vineyards as a way of life, and as a way of survival. While working the hillside vineyards planted with Pinot Noir and other cool climate varietals, August cultivated a passion for wine.
Sommelier Tasting Notes:
Red cherry, bright nose and nothing jammy about this Pinot. Cooler climate drives the fruit and refreshing acidity. Clonal selections of Dijon Clones 115, 667 & 777, Swan, Pommard all dry farmed from their estate in Sonoma Coast.
Producer: Canihan Estate
2019 Muscardini Tesoro Red Blend, Sonoma Valley
Why We Love This Wine:
The producers are a small, family run business with a love for food and wine. The entire portfolio highlights wines aimed to please the entire dinner table and offers our wine collectors a wine they’ll be asking “where’s the corkscrew, we need another.”
Sommelier Tasting Notes:
Tesoro (a treasure) is a proprietary blend consisting of 52% Sangiovese, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 22% Syrah. Led by its striking dark crimson hue, this Super Tuscan style wine opens with aromas of ripe berries and black fruits, interwoven with hints of vanilla, caramel, raw tobacco, leather, clove, blood orange peel, and roasted walnuts.
On the palate, the rich and generous flavors of briary blackberry, dark cherry, ripe plum, cassis, and red pear are enhanced with nuances of wild sage, cinnamon, black pepper, dark chocolate, and a kiss of fine oak. As the wine opens in the glass, the smooth velvety texture is balanced with bright acidity, supple tannins, and firm structure.
The result is a stylish proprietary blend that is robust, elegant, and showy in its youth, and strengthened by layers of complexity, natural richness, and backbone that will allow the personality of the wine to expand in the cellar.
Producer: Muscardini Cellars
Winemaker: Michael Muscardini
Wine Pairing Suggestions:
A fantastic wine to pair with a slightly smokey gouda, herbaceous genoa salami, and slow roasted pork shoulder and beef tenderloin. A hearty stew or Osso Buco are some other favorite dishes Michael Muscardini highly recommends pairing this robust blend with.