It’s time to start a new theme on Cheap Wine Ratings and next up is Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m sitting here pondering a clever title for the theme and I’m coming up with nothing. I guess I was up too late last night and burned out my creative juices. I went to the UFC fight in Cincinnati last night. Odd, I know… a wine drinker going to a UFC fight. It was great people watching, I’ll give it that.
So I guess I’ll dub the theme Cheap Cabernet Sauvignon. That will keep it direct and to the point. As I have done for previous themes, you’ll be seeing several write ups over the next few weeks all focused on Cabernet Sauvignon. After I’ve gone through a good variety of bottles I’ll put together a summary of the results to give you the top picks for cheap cab.
First up, it’s Twin Fin Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. I’ve written in the past about Twin Fin wines and I really like this company. They are putting out a quality product for “drink it now” consumers. This is a brand to load up your cellar with and age it. This is tasty, fruit-forward wine that has fun marketing around it and easy to open screw top caps.
I know some folks are still prejudiced against screw caps, thinking they are indicative of cheap wine. Well guess what? If you buy a $10 bottle of wine with a cork and a $10 bottle of wine with a screw cap you end up with two cheap bottles of wine. There is nothing more “high-end” about the bottle with the cork. But, the bottle with the cork could get cork taint. That’s not going to happen with the screw cap. That’s the long way to say that that there’s nothing wrong with screw caps.
The grapes for Twin Fin Cabernet predominantly come from Monterey County California. The wine shows chocolate and black berries on the nose. The palate is black currant and plum with a velvety chocolate undertone and hint of vanilla on the finish. It’s not terribly complex, but very enjoyable… especially for $6.99. Cha-ching… I’ll have another please. I gave it an 86.
Wine: Twin Fin
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2004
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86