Gallo Family Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Northern Sonoma 2003 Tasting Notes

The blend—83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc—is classic Médoc; the feel, and even the look of the wine brings an evocative image of claret to mind. The $80 wine is a clear, mid-level ruby with violet at the edges. Black fruit predominates on the nose, including the cassis element that is so strongly associated with Cabernet, but at no time does that grape push itself in front of the wine. The fruit aromas are served with toast and a whiff of spicy fruitcake.

The black fruit from the nose remains on the palate, but I also enjoyed a range of red fruit, including some cranberry tang with a deep ripe cherry. Behind all this, and absolutely delightful, is roasted chocolate, a touch of burnt sugar, toasted walnut and a fragrant vanilla. Many of these notes are presumably the result of the 24 months the wine spends in a combination of French, American and European barrels. Like the Cabernet Sauvignon grape itself, the oak contributes but does not overreach. The wine has such an elegant feel of its own, in fact, that individual elements appear only after a little purposive digging.

The wine manages to be bone dry and yet project a number of levels of texture and flavor through to its satisfying finish. Fruit, while never dominating, never gives up. The well integrated tannins can make the same claim. The toast, chocolate, and kernel notes keep the pleasure machine going. All these elements aside, the wine has an arc, a unity, a feel that brings on an experience far more interesting than any of its parts. While the first pour of this wine may lend itself to analysis, the remainder demands experience.