Sunday lunch and Levendi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ’05

Levendi Cabernet 05

When I was in Sonoma, Ca, Levendi Winery and The Wine Spies got together and had a bash for us bloggers after the WBConference. One of our going away gifts was a half bottle of the Levendi Napa Valley 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon to try at home.

Ele pouring away...

I brought mine home to see what my English friends would think of it. In England, the opportunity to try good California cab doesn’t really come along often so I had a bunch of willing testers. I went over to my friend Ele’s house for a bit of Sunday lunch and the Levendi cab.

Here are my thoughts, as well as the others. A savoury nose, not very fruity but what I could detect were black stewed fruits,prunes, blackcurrant jam, bit of spiciness, words like dark and harsh were thrown about but I think that was because of the alcoholic content. A surprisingly medium bodied wine on the palate with more of the black fruits, particularly blackcurrant and very ripe plums, soft tannins which was again a surprise. I think everyone was expecting a monster of a wine when in reality, it was more like a pussycat. Having said that though, it did have a nice acidic balance which meant the wine went really well with the mature English cheddar Ele had on hand. The cheese made the fruit a bit brighter on the palate, a nice foil.

Rachel said she thought it was light, not heavy, black grapey, she liked it, ok with cheeses, food didn’t really make a difference for her, it was still good. She’d drink it again, it had an inviting quality.

checking out the "label"

Juliene thought it tasted much better then it smelled, a surprisingly soft wine, quite medium bodied, plenty of fruity goodness, an easy going wine, nothing too complex. She also thought it went well with food.  

Sophie was the naysayer of the bunch, she couldn’t really get a handle on the aromas and she thought it was too acidic, very intersting. She did however, think that it greatly improved when adding food into the mix.  I think she’s a Rhone girl so we took what she thought with a pinch of salt.

The Winesleuth at work

Everyone loved the bottle design and would buy it based just on that. As the evening wore on, we came back to sample the wine and found it evolved very nicely. A soft, juicy wine, perfect for a dinner (or lunch) party. Overall, those of us on this side of the Atlantic would definitely recommend it!

 

2 Comments

  1. I’m sure it was a sell out!!

  2. It was a pleasure to meet you at our party! Thanks so much for attending. This wine goes on sale on The Wine Spies tomorrow, November 6th, for those interested in trying it. I hope to connect with you again, soon.

    – Agent Red

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