The first thing I want to make absolutely clear, I AM NOT A WINE SNOB. I drink more margaritas than wine lately and even though I can still appreciate the perfect great wine with the right bite, it is still all a bit of a hill of beans to me.
No doubt, almost all one’s wine purchases come down to a person’s taste and more likely, their wallet. Thus many of the guiding reasons when it comes to buying any bottle given the complexities of wine, the continued news demanding one compare it to being the nectar to the Gods, it probably ends up being a simply matter of dollars and sense. This desire to taste perfection fills nearly every winery here daily with hundreds of tourists and their attempt to prove they have the best whatever. No matter what reason for their visit, it is what drives a good portion of our economy, employs thousand and is the spirit for every fund raising event held here.
Then why should I being such the skeptic portray myself so when living here, continuing to enjoy the bounties of the local beauty which is a daily event. It is because being a true local, I continually seek to find the perfect $10 bottle of heavenly red nectar, possibly a totally antiquated illusion. Yet I still imbibe and long for that perfect sip. Granted this is a twenty plus year old fantasy which still guides me in my efforts to find the perfect wine far south of $100+ per bottle, the new perceived norm for what a great bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet should cost. I cannot tell you how many disappointments of such I have tried.
Thus when reading Odette Estate’s 2012 Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon achieved a 100 point rating in the latest Robert Parker in Wine Advocate, I was truly impressed. But when going to their website to price a bottle of this perfection to only to find you need to register to do so, I chose another path. I Googled it and the first one on the search list was being sold by the Bounty Hunter in Napa, one of my favorite go to joints, for $500 per bottle. A tad beyond my comfort level and far beyond my budget.
Here is an excerpt from 7×7, my favorite San Francisco emag about Odette.
One of the Stag’s Leap’s youngest wineries, Odette Estate hit its stride in February with the must-anticipated release of the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, which netted a perfect 100-point score from . As a part of the PlumpJack Group (from partners Gordon Getty, Gavin Newsom, and John Conover), Odette’s tasting room also features wines from PlumpJack labels Adaptation and Cade, where Odette winemaker Jeff Owens cut his teeth as the assistant winemaker. White wine lovers will fall for the delicate yet substantial 2012 Adaptation Chardonnay and so-drinkable 2013 Cade Estate Sauvignon Blanc.
I love the fact that any winery here gets a perfect score be it in The Wine Spectator or Robert Parker, but maybe there is a limit as to what such is worth. Would love to hear from you as to what you think. The one thing certain, if I do find the perfect $20 bottle of Cabernet, hopefully less, after I have bought as many as I can I will gladly share the info with you. Till then στην υγειά σας, that’s to your health in Greek, cheers cvc
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