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Wine Recommendation
D-Cubed Cellars
2004 Zinfandel(Napa Valley)
This is one of the few wineries that has bucked the raison d’être of the Napa Valley where Cabernet is king, and thrown its lot in solely with Zinfandel. But don’t be lulled into thinking that Zin is not where it’s at in Cab country. Because if the variety had the cachet that Cabernet enjoys, it too would command commensurate prices.
Nevertheless, Duane David Dappen (hence D-Cubed) does all right, thank you very much, sticking only with Zin. Hence, he’s making some of the best the valley has to offer.
“Zinfandel has a loose celebratory, raucous feel about it – not the serious, hushed tone of Bordeaux varietals,” is his mantra; and it reflects in this wine.
His 2004, from the Brown, Korte Ranch, and Cypress vineyards in Chiles Valley, St. Helena and Pope Valley, respectively, is a great, great wine; which, at 25 bucks, makes this one of the Napa Valley bargains of the year. Everything is in balance here with beautiful fruit and layers of complexity. Dappen himself doesn’t think the wine will age beyond five years or so, but I think it has the wherewithal to go a great deal farther.
The listed alcohol is 14.7 percent and there were 1,325 cases produced.
Reviewed March 21, 2007 by Alan Goldfarb.
The Wine
Winery: D-Cubed Cellars |
The Reviewer
Alan Goldfarb
Alan Goldfarb has been writing about and reviewing wine for 17 years. His reviews have been published in the St. Helena Star, San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Examiner, Decanter, and Wine Enthusiast, among others. Not once has he used a point system, star system, or an iconic symbol to quantify a wine. What counts in Mr. Goldfarb’s criteria when judging a wine is: how it tastes in the glass; is it well-constructed; its food compatibility; and presence of redeeming regional attributes. |