INSIDER'S PICK: 2018 VALRAVN CABERNET SAUVIGNON SONOMA COUNTY $24.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

Cabernet Sauvignon by its nature is a grape that can, and many think should, show a tannic side. Take too much of it away and you loose the structure, intensity and dark fruit that make it possible to be what many consider 'the King of grapes'. Conversely, you may not want SO much of it that the wine looses any ability to enjoy in the shorter term without extra forethought to open the wine in advance and/or decant. Here's one we found that can walk the fine line between those two ideals, keeping classic Cab quality while able to be ready to go on short notice. Sourced from several vineyard areas across Sonoma (including Rockpile, Moon Mountain and the Mayacamas range), this wine pulls a balance of characters from those areas to form a very polished, approachable Cab with lots of intensity for the price range. Big aromas up front of raspberry and blackberry as well as a cool dark note of spice and currants with a touch of new oak present, getting there pretty quickly without much air, though it does get better and more intense with some time. On the palate the tannins don't really hit at first, letting that rich polished fruit come through in waves, but shows up more on the finish and after multiple sip to firm up the mouthfeel. This is an extremely good cookout/grilling wine to pop and enjoy quickly and not sacrifice any quality in the process.

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