Monday, November 28, 2011

Organics On Wine & Spirits List of Year's Best Cabernets and Cab Blends


Frog's Leap's 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (92 points)
Wine & Spirits Best Cabernets of the Year
Ahead of Staglin Family (91 pts.,/$185) and Ridge
At $45 ($40 online) a W&S BEST BUY
Is this the Olympics of California wine?


Each year, we wait to see who will get the best cabernet ratings in various competitions. In this case, it's the Wine & Spirits year's best rankings.


The overall ratings game is not quite as exciting since Parker stopped tasting California wines himself for the Wine Advocate, but it's still a tiny thrill to see where the organically grown wineries wind up on this and other year's best lists. 


Here are the organically grown ones from the Wine & Spirits list.


CABERNETS

94 Points


• Spottswoode
2007 St. Helena Napa Valley, $136

92 Points

• Frog's Leap
2008 Napa Valley Cabernet, $45
Best Buy
(Not 100% certified grapes as Williams buys grapes from "practicing organic" growers)

91 Points

• Rubicon Estate
2007 Rutherford Napa Valley Cask Cabernet Sauvignon, $75

• Staglin Family
2008 Rutherford Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, $185

90 Points

• Chappellet
2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, $135
(midway in the 3-year transition to certified organic)

• Peju
2007 Rutherford Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, $105

CABERNET BLENDS

For comparison's sake, the top wine was Ridge Montebello (95 pts./$146) while Rothschild-owned Dominus 2008 Napa Valley ($149) came in at 93 pts.

93 Points

• Benziger
2008 Sonoma Mountain Tribute, $80
100% biodynamic
79% Cabernet Sauvignon with Cab Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot

• Rubicon Estate
2008 Rutherford Napa Valley Rubicon, $200

• Volker Eisele
2007 Napa Valley Terzetto, $75

91 Points

• Joseph Phelps
2007 Napa Valley Insignia, $225
100% biodynamic grapes (even though they don't like to advertise this, they are)

90 Points

• Rubicon Estate
2007 Rutherford Napa Valley Rubicon, $145

1 comment:

  1. Just a FYI you should be a bit more careful about how you specifically have your "organic wineries" listed. The idea is great, and the way you have it mapped out is really user friendly. However, a number of these wineries only have a couple "organic" wines. Landmark, for instance, only has one, and their largest production wines (like "Overlook" are not certified, nor do all the grapes come from their estate.

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