Open That Bottle Night

February 23rd is the Wall Street Journal's Open That Bottle night. I wasn't going to participate; it's not that I don't have any "that" bottles, it's just that I'll open them on my schedule thank you very much, and most of them aren't ready yet.

But there's one wine that I have been putting off trying; being the cheapskate that I am I was hoping to get a taste of someone else's rather than sacrifice one of my own. It's the 2005 Stefania Uvas Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. Uvas Creek Vineyard is in the Santa Clara Valley AVA, in San Martin. Winemaker Paul Romero has been enthusiastic about the potential of this vineyard for a while, and this is his first release. Uvas is Spanish for grapes, and was named by the early explorers who discovered grape vines growing wild in the area.

I've had a number of Santa Clara Valley AVA wines, but up to now few of them have really fired me up. Cronin made some interesting Merlots in the late 90s from San Ysidro and Martin Ranch are making some quality wines from their estate vineyards including a gold medal winning Syrah, but for the most part they've been fairly uninspiring. However as I said in the introduction, I think all that is about to change in the coming years.

If this is anything to go by, we are in for some treats. It's a rich, full wine with bags of fruit and tannins. I should have decanted it, but I didn't plan ahead and there wasn't time. The only issue was a slight bitterness on the finish, like the pith of an orange, but that became less pronounced as time went on so I'm confident that with bottle age or decanting that will go away. I don't plan to open any more for quite some time. Kudos to Paul and Stef for an excellent maiden release from what was a tricky vintage.

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