Wine Recommendation
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Wine Recommendation

Bodegas Aguirre Winery and Vineyards 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Estate (Livermore Valley)

Bodegas Aguirre Winery and Vineyards

2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva, Estate
(Livermore Valley)



Dr. Ricardo Aguirre enjoys making blends most of all. It’s a lot like cooking and he enjoys the freedom and excitement of experimentation: something he doesn’t get to do much in his day job as a heart surgeon. The fruit comes from his estate vineyards, which he tends with great passion, always looking for a way to make the fruit even more intense than a day at the office.

This wine is made in the Bordeaux style: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot & 5% Petite Verdot, Malbec & Cabernet Franc and aged in a good deal of new wood. In fact, the wine sees 60% new French, and spends 26 months in Chalufour and Boswell Medoc new oak, with the remaining 40% in one-year old Medoc barrels.

The nose is lovely, appealingly ripe Livermore Cab with sweet dark fruits, mostly cassis and blackberry. It also gives off the distinct aromas of a cigar lounge, all warm, beckoning and wrapped in the mystery of Fisher Sweets and Macanudo. The flavors, however, are not smoky: instead they run to lush cassis, dark olives, rich chocolate and hints of chervil and pepper. The texture is lovely, the tannins lively and there is a delightful puff of tobacco on the fine, long finish. Made me want to light up one of those old Cubans my grandfather had stashed away. Seemed a fitting way to mark the recent departure of Fidel.

Reviewed May 23, 2008 by Laura Ness.

The Wine

Winery: Bodegas Aguirre Winery and Vineyards
Vineyard: Estate
Vintage: 2004
Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva
Appellation: Livermore Valley
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc
Price: 750ml $34.00

Review Date: 5/23/2008

The Reviewer

Laura Ness

A wine writer and wine judge for major publications and competitions around the country, Laura Ness likens wine to the experience of music. She is always looking for that ubiquitous marriage of rhythm, melody, and flawless execution. What is good music? You know it when you get lost in it. What is good wine? It is music in your mouth.