Last week, Cheryl Indelicato from DFV Wines was in town for the Cincinnati International Wine Festival and I had a chance to meet up with her for lunch and to taste the lineup in her new brand of wines, Handcraft. I had previously tasted the cabernet sauvignon, but this was an opportunity to revisit it and check out her other wines.
Cheryl is from the third generation of the family that owns DFV Wines and she’s worked at the company for 22 years, yet this brand is her first personal foray into the winemaking process. The majority of the work Cheryl has done at DFV has been on the business side, in marketing, PR, human resources and hospitality. And for her first vintage, I’d say she did a stellar job at creating some damn good wines for the price. Of course, she didn’t do it alone. She partnered with winemaker Alicia Ysais on this project.
In creating this new wine brand, Cheryl had a couple things in mind to make these wines unique. First, she wanted to include some Italian varietals in the blends as a nod to her heritage and to give the wines a unique expression. The red wines have a little sangiovese while the whites have some malvasia bianca. She also wanted to make a wine that particularly appeals to women. Well, let me put a dress on because these wines appeal to me too.
The label on these wines is fun too, where they have a “wine profile ribbon” in the design. All the elements in the graphic represent characteristics of the wine. Some represent flavor characteristics, like the cherries and nutmeg graphics. And some elements represent the care taking of the wine, like the birds which represent the sustainable agriculture on their vineyards.
Spice is the name of the game with this wine. Nutmeg and rose petal aromas give it a unique twist. It also shows some black currant on the nose. The palate offers black currant, cherry and plum flavors up front supported by plenty of chocolate and spice on the mid-palate and into the finish. The acidity is near perfect and the tannins are firm. The finish is long and luscious.
This wine gets a solid thumb’s up. At this price, it’s an outstanding cabernet.
Wine: Handcraft Cabernet Sauvignon
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $12.99
Find Handcraft Cabernet Sauvignon with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
I’ve already bought two bottles of this wine and I’m thinking about when I’m going back for the third! I’ve been trying to “get into” wine and often find the alcohol taste to be off-putting. But this wine tastes smooth and doesn’t bite. If you don’t think you’re a wine person, give this a try before you completely throw in the towel!
Great perspective, Autumn. Thanks for sharing.
I found this a little too fruity but their Petite Sirah for the price is fantastic- plus they had $12 off 4 bottles making each under $8 bucks! Went to their website and was impressed- emailed them that they made a dynamite wine for the price for a California wine. They sent me a hand written note and a very cool portable wine corkscrew- that’s really cool
Yes, their Petite Sirah is a great wine. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Just discovered your website as a result of discovering Handcraft Cabernet at Dewey’s and using Google to learn a little about what I thought was a very good inexpensive wine. Your website (and your review of Handcraft) was one of the sites that Google pointed me to. I would agree, it is a very drinkable wine. I enjoyed it very much.
Hi Mark. Thanks for the comment. I’m glad you found a wine you enjoy and I’m envious of you for going to Dewey’s. I need to get over there!
I am wine drinker, I’ve tasted many wines. Tonight is my first time tasted the HandCraft Cabernet 2011. This is the best wine bottle so far this year, during this year I’ve tasted several expensive wines, myself a club member of several wineries in Livermore. What I Love is the aroma, color and best of all is fruity, smooth tastes. Keep up the good work looking to taste more of Handcraft’s wines.
Hi Annie. Thanks for the feedback on this wine. I’m glad you enjoyed it. They definitely do a nice job with their wines. Cheers!
This wine was recommended and I am glad I was persistent in finding it at my local Harris Teeter – the shelf placement is wrong. Although inexpensive, this is one of the best wine I’ve had, I’m a wine drinker. This wine is luscious and needs to be on the top shelf.