Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

So, I’ve finally managed to come up for air from my WSET exam. If there is one thing that I’ve learned from taking this class it is exactly how little I know about wine. Actually, let me rephrase that. It’s not that I know little about wine, I do know a lot. No, the thing that I learned in that I don’t know what I don’t know. We very often take for granted the way things are done here in the United States. We tend to make things simple. Hey that bottle of wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon or it’s a Chardonnay. So, at some point, I will have to break down the various regions of the world and how they approach wine. Not today, as I have some blind tastings to get you all caught up on, but soon.

Speaking of blind tastings, I never knew how incredibly infuriating they can be as one tries to build up a catalog of wines in the memory banks that one can use as reference during a blind tasting. There are so many subtle little differences from one wine to the next, from one grape to the next, that I am truly in awe of people that can nail a wine blind. That being said, I’m going to practice like crazy in order to become on of those people. But while I’m on my way there, you will find that I may guess wildly different from the actual wine. Remember, I don’t have millions of wines in my memory bank available for reference yet. The key word being yet.

However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not on the right track. Take for instance this Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon. As I went through my tasting note, I became pretty certain that it was either a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot. However, it was well put together and a bit on the softer side so I decided on a Merlot based blend and called it a right bank Bordeaux. It was a logically sound conclusion however, not exactly right. If I had more right bank Bordeaux’s in my memory banks I would have realized that this one wasn’t quite intense enough to be from there. However, that being said, this turned out a be a surprisingly good wine for ever day quaffing given the price point.

Tasting Notes:

This is a clear, medium(+) intense, ruby colored wine with legs. It has a clean, developing, medium(+) intense nose displaying aromas of black currant and plum. It is a dry wine that has medium(+) acidity, medium alcohol, Medium(+) tannins and medium(+) body. It has medium(+) intense flavors of black currant, plum and green pepper with a medium long finish. It is a good wine that is ready to drink now but will improve in the bottle.