What We Say 2009 2-4-6 Dry Creek Valley Cab
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Mission Codename: Uncle Ned
Operative: Agent Red
Objective: Send Agent Red back to Peterson Winery the retrieve their 2009 2-4-6 Bradford Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, the successor to the wildly popular 1-2-3 Bradford Cabernet.
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: Peterson Winery
Wine Subject: 2009 “2-4-6 Cab” – Bradford Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker: Jamie Peterson
Backgrounder: Our Operatives know just how much we love Peterson Winery, its people and its fantastic wines. Truly, this winery has become a Wine Spies favorite. The father and son team of Fred and Jamie Peterson have been making wines in the Dry Creek Valley for, well, forever. 100% of today’s wine comes from their own Bradford Mountain Vineyard. Bradford Mountain wines are also among our most popular, with a recent offering becoming our best-selling Zinfandel of all time. Wines from Bradford Mountain are simply stupendous and wines from Peterson Winery are spectacular. This makes today’s wine a wine to pay close attention to – and acquire, immediately.
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Deep, dark garnet with a dense and darkening heart. The color is evenly concentrated, right out to the very edge of the glass, where a band of magenta cuts a fine band around the wine. After a good swirl, the wine settles quickly, leaving behind tall, skinny, tightly-spaced legs that move very slowly downward.
Smell – Dark and lush, with blackberry, cassis, blueberry and nutty toasted oak. These are supported by an under-layer of black cherry, black plum and cocoa powder.
Feel – Crushed velvet on entry, this wine quickly takes on a medium to full-bodied feel as plush, semi-firm tannins drive a mineral-rich dryness around the palate. Bright acids provide a wonderful counterpoint, giving the wine an integrated and balanced overall feel.
Taste – Bright and layered, with a cascade of black and red fruit that are supported by earthen flavors. In front, juicy red cherry, young strawberry and dried cranberry provide an initial tartness. These flavors are followed by blackberry juice, dried dark flower petals, cocoa powder, dried fall leaves and softest spice.
Finish – Initially juicy, with tart red fruit flavors giving way to darker flavors of mixed dark berry and plum. As the fruit gradually fades, cocoa and dark earthy flavors persist, ushering in a subtle hint of spice at the very end.
Conclusion – Today’s budget-minded Cabernet Sauvignon gives more expensive Cabs a real run for their money! Juicy, delicious, and bursting with flavors and lush aromas, this very approachable wine delivers a really balanced drinking experience. Pair as you would any Cabernet. We enjoyed our review bottles with a very rare New York Strip steak, rubbed with garlic, sea salt and pepper. The combination was simply divine.
Please note that this wine drinks well above its price class, earning it our very hearty recommendation!
Mission Report:
WINEMAKER INTERVIEW
AGENT RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.
JAMIE PETERSON: This wine is very exciting for all of us here. It is from the first crop of replanted Cabernet vines from or Estate Bradford Mountain Vineyard after removing the Phylloxera affected vines in 2006. We chose to put the fun, light hearted Cab 2-4-6 label on the bottle to reflect the easy going nature of the wine inside. Very serious in flavor complexity, and overall enjoyability, and never heavy or over extracted. The 2-4-6 of course is simply how many cases we produced of it. Also, it can be a sobriety check to ask how many fingers are being held up on the bottle….
RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?
JAMIE: With this Cabernet, I prefer rich but not heavy food. A pork tenderloin with a herb/spice dry rub, grilled or oven roasted, with a side of potato au gratin. For vegetarian friends, I think it would go great with an eggplant parmesan. The lovely acidity really lends itself to pairing with a wider range of food than many California Cabernet wines.
RED: In your opinion, what makes the Dry Creek Valley so special?
JAMIE: The Dry Creek Valley features and amazing array of soil types and exposures for such a geographically small area, leading to a diverse range of flavors and subtleties in wines, for many different varietals, or even of the same varietal. Also our weather pattern (most years) lends itself to perfectly ripening the many varieties we produce. Warm sunny days followed by cool nights allow grapes to ripen while retaining natural acidity and freshness.
RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?
JAMIE: We’ve recently bottled our 2011 Rose and Sauvignon Blanc, and are starting on 2010 red wines. We’re keeping an eye on 2011 reds and starting to look at blends. The vines are starting to wake up and we’ll be hoping for nice, warm spring weather for their healthy growth.
RED: Thank you, Jamie, as always!
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The location of the Peterson Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.
What the Winery Says
Peterson
![Peterson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/thewinespies-production/uploads/producer/photo/491-1f06495584345fdbf2b7142025a3d5aa2ccfd8a1/square_photo.jpg)
![Peterson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/thewinespies-production/uploads/producer/photo/491-1f06495584345fdbf2b7142025a3d5aa2ccfd8a1/square_photo.jpg)
About This Wine:
Dark attractive aromas offer hints of rich oak, currant, forest floor and creamy mocha. These qualities repeat on the palate, with blackberry, plum, cherry, cedar and a touch of cocoa joining in. A subtle mineral thread weaves through the wine, interlacing the flavors with the finely honed tannins and integrated oak. The smooth entry, a spicy yet juicy texture and overall balance delivers a Cab you’ll find hard to put down.
Jamie’s (Peterson) Vintaged View & Vineyard Notes: Te first and eagerly awaited vintage from our replanted Bradford Mountain Vineyard after removing the 20 year old, Phylloxera affected vines in December 2006.
Young vines are capable of producing some truly delicious and special wines, and the mountain vineyard in 2009 was no exception, but we felt that without the benefit of Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot to blend into the final assemblage, the wine was not quite in line with our Bradford Mountain Vineyard bottlings of past years. Hence we have continued our small-lots label Cabernet for one last vintage.
With ample acidity, balanced tannin, and moderate alcohol, this Cabernet should cellar well for 6-8 years and develop beautiful bottle bouquet to complement the fruit forward quality that makes it so delicious in it’s youth.
About Peterson Winery:
We are located in the Dry Creek Valley, in the northwest region of Sonoma County. Peterson Winery’s new tasting room is now open for wine tasting and sales daily 11am-4:30pm. We often pour our wines at local tasting and charity events as well. Check for upcoming events on the News & Events page.
Our wines are also available for tasting at the “LOCALS” tasting room in Geyserville. See tastelocalwines.com for directions and details. Click on the “Find Us” link for a map to the winery and to LOCALS in Geyserville.
If you have any questions about Peterson Winery or our wines, send us an e-mail at friends@petersonwinery.com and we’ll respond as soon as we can.
We can’t tell our whole story here, but we hope that by looking at a few photos and reading a bit more about us, you’ll find out who we are and why we love to make great wines.
About The Winemaker:
Jamie Peterson – It’s not by coincidence that I’m the winemaker at Peterson Winery. I’ve been helping my father at the winery for the past ten years, back to the days of labeling the bottles by hand. I worked two harvests here at the winery, in 2000 and 2001, and the 2001 harvests Down Under in Australia at Lowe Family Winery, and then in New Zealand, at Ngatarawa Winery. With this solid base of experience, much to my excitement I was given the opportunity of taking over winemaking duties in June 2002, and have been loving it ever since.
Overseeing the quality of the wine from when the grapes come in all the way through to the bottle is my main responsibility and priority. Since it’s just my father and I, this keeps me pretty busy, but when I’m not checking up on barrels or wrestling with the bottling equipment, you can often find me at one the numerous tasting events we attend, whether it is for charity or for the love of wine. In my free time, I’ve started a Peterson Winery softball team with my friends here in Healdsburg. I also enjoy cooking, foraging for local culinary mushrooms, reading, and am a Giants baseball fan. Continuing winemaking tradition of Zero Manipulation.
Technical Analysis:
Varietal Breakdown: 90% Cabernet Sauvignon September 21; 5% Malbec – Bradford Mtn. Vnyd. September 10; 5% Merlot – Bradford Mtn. Vnyd. September 12
Vineyard: Bradford Mountain Vineyard
Appellation: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Alcohol: 14.2%
pH: 3.61
TA: 0.65g/100ml
Barrel Aging: 20 months
Types of Oak: 30% new French oak barrels, 70% 3-6 year-old neutral French and American oak barrels
Bottling Date: June 22, 2011 (unfined & unfiltered)
Production: 246cases
Release Date: January 2012
![Peterson 2009 2-4-6 Dry Creek Valley Cab 750ml Wine Bottle](https://s3.amazonaws.com/thewinespies-production/uploads/product/image/1725-477bac33b5947ba75553115bf2da14f283e0e012/square_product_photo.jpg)
![Peterson 2009 2-4-6 Dry Creek Valley Cab 750ml Wine Bottle](https://s3.amazonaws.com/thewinespies-production/uploads/product/image/1725-477bac33b5947ba75553115bf2da14f283e0e012/square_product_photo.jpg)