Full Review

Portola Vineyards

Portola Vineyards
2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz Mountains

Pair this wine with:
Beef Vegetables

Category: Cabernet Sauvignon

Date Tasted:
Country: USA
Alcohol: 14.2%
87 Points
Silver Medal
Highly Recommended
$38

Portola Vineyards
2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz Mountains

Pair this wine with:
Beef Vegetables

Category: Cabernet Sauvignon

Date Tasted:
Country: USA
Alcohol: 14.2%
Garnet color. Aromas and flavors of candy bar milk chocolate, black licorice, stewed plum, and sassafras with a silky, prickly, bone-dry medium-full body and a warming, compelling, medium-long finish displaying impressions of milk chocolate covered cherries, fennel, baking spice, and jelly donut with light oak flavor. A rich and decadent style of Cali Cabernet that will please many consumers.

Tasting Info

Wine Glass Style: Spicy & Complex
Aroma Aroma: candy bar milk chocolate, black licorice, stewed plum, and sassafras
Taste Flavor: Same as aromas with impressions of milk chocolate covered cherries, fennel, baking spice, and jelly donut
Sweetness Sweetness: Bone-Dry
Enjoy Enjoy: Now
Recipes Pairing: Pot Roast, Steak & Potatoes, Beef Stew
Bottom Line Bottom Line: A rich and decadent style of Cali Cabernet that will please many consumers.

The Producer

Portola Vineyards

The Producer
850 Los Trancos Rd
Portola Valley, CA 94028
USA
1 650-906-1059

Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine Glass Cabernet.jpg
Serve in a Cabernet Wine Glass
Cabernet Sauvignon is a variety that is the source of some of the world’s most celebrated and longest-lived reds. Grown in many countries, it is most famous in Bordeaux, where it is the principal grape in red Bordeaux as well as in California – especially Napa Valley- where it is labeled by its varietal name.

Cabernet Sauvignon has aromas and flavors of black currant, cassis, black cherry and sometimes plum (in warmer regions or vintages). Quite rich on the palate, the variety is very tannic, giving its wines a bitter edge in their youth, but also providing the wines with great aging potential, with top flight examples drinking well for as long as four or five decades. Given their richness and flavor profile, wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon need to be paired with rich red meats, such as steaks and roasts as well as game.

Besides France and California, other countries with warm growing regions also excel with Cabernet Sauvignon. These include the Maipo and Colchagua Valleys in Chile as well as the Bolgheri district, situated on the coast of Tuscany.