2003 Simi Cabernet Sauvignon Landslide

Type: Red
Producer: Simi
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vineyard: Landslide
Country: USA
Region: California
SubRegion: Sonoma County
Appellation: Alexander Valley
14.1% alcohol
$26.99 Costco in Indianapolis, Indiana



The Little Wooden Guy is mixed on this one. On one hand, it's pretty much exactly what you would expect from a California Cab, even slightly interesting. On the other hand, at $26 a bottle, why bother?

Night One

Color was surprisingly light for Cabernet, bright ruby but slightly translucent.

The nose was a little hot (no surprise, with more than 14% alcohol. It was also bright and fruity, a mix of black and red fruits, cherries and plums, plus a little vanilla. It differed from most $30 California Cabernets by not having just loads and loads of prototypical blackcurrant.

The palate opens with cherries and blackberries. There is really no mid-palate. Acidity is bright and tannins are soft and leathery, like fine-cut suede. Finish is long.

Night Two

Now, after a night of rest, the nose disappoints, with bloated fruit and extravagant wood. The smell is all cherry pie filling, vanilla and cedar. The palate, too, is big and bloated, with pie filling, pie crust, brown sugar and cedar. There is no mid-palate at all.

This is a very commercial Cabernet, big fruit, big wood, big disappointment. It is a style that appeals to a lot of people (and grocery store buyers). I am just not the target audience.

2004 Couly-Dutheil Chinon La Baronnie Madeleine

Type: Red
Producer: Couly-Dutheil
Variety: Cabernet Franc
Designation: La Baronnie Madeleine
Country: France
Region: Loire Valley
SubRegion: Touraine
Appellation: Chinon

$13.99 at Costco, in Indianapolis, Indiana



The Big Wooden Guy isn't sure if he should drink it or smoke it.

Night One

The classic identifying odor of Cabernet Franc is tobacco leaf. If you can't place that in your library of odor memories, find the nearest Costco and buy a bottle of this wine. The fruit is either non-existent or merely shut down. What you get is wave after wave of tobacco leaf. Smelling this wine is like walking through the back room of a cigar shop on Calle Ocho in Miami or Ybor City near Tampa (and perhaps, when we finally get done with our useless and counter-productive decades-long idiocy with Cuba, Havana).

Tobacco dominates the palate as well as the nose. If you sip some in, breathe in some air, swirl it around and really try, you can find some red fruit, cranberries and red currants. There is even dark chocolate on the mid-palate. However, tobacco is the dominating feature. The finish is medium length, as is the mouth feel. Acids are bright. Tannins make a light backbone, not overpowering but clearly there and wanting more time to integrate.

Night Two

A night made some difference, but I fear not enough. Tobacco still leads the nose. It has added some eucalyptus and menthol, plus a hint of fennel. On the palate, too, tobacco keeps the lead,with the addition of black olives. Now though, the eucalyptus shows up on the mid-palate.

Acidity remains very bright, along with light tannins, offering a good backbone for additional maturity. Will fruit appear later? Perhaps. It is hard to tell if it is merely shut down or non-existent. This wine, though, provides a classroom demonstration of what "tobacco" means in Cab Franc, and for a mere $13 is worth buying two bottles- one for the lesson, and another to see what happens in 2012.