Rodney Strong Vineyards in Sonoma County is a producer whose core releases you can find on the shelf of any decent wine shop in the United States. Many of their releases are ubiquitous in their availability. And that’s a good thing for wine consumers looking for solid go to wines that deliver consistent quality vintage after vintage. It also makes them a go to choice when you want to step things up and spend a few extra bucks on a bottle of wine for a particular occasion or to age gracefully in your cellar. With all that they do well, I believe the winemaking team at Rodney Strong Vineyards has a particularly deft hand when it comes to Cabernet Sauvignon. Today I’ll look at the current release of the reserve Cabernet from Alexander Valley.
The Rodney Strong 2007 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was produced using fruit sourced in Alexander Valley. This wine is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Select blocks of fruit from each vineyard were chosen. Fruit was hand picked and each lot was fermented and barreled separately. After approximately 6 months the best lots were chosen for blending. Once the blend was complete the wine was returned to barrel for approximately 14 months. In total the wine was barrel aged for 20 months in 100% French oak. This offering has a suggested retail price of $45.
Blackberry, cedar and vanilla bean aromas fill the nose of this Cabernet which simply explodes from the glass with brooding intensity. Cassis, blueberry and continued blackberry are all apparent throughout the powerful palate of this wine. Loads of spice notes show up as well. Dark, dusty baker’s chocolate, espresso bean and a earth notes are all part of the finish which has terrific length. This wine has firm gripping tannins and excellent acidity.
If you plan to enjoy this Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Rodney Strong Vineyards over the next couple of years I highly recommend decanting it for a couple of hours. That will allow it to open up and really spread its wings. If you have some patience you could lay this wine down for 5 or 6 years to let it really come in to it's own; it’ll drink even better in the 5 or so years after that. This is another fine example of the good work being done by the folks at Rodney Strong Vineyards.