Romeo Vineyards
2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
California: Napa Valley
Mission Briefing
Always and Forever
We are pleased to return, today, to Romeo Vineyards. Last year, we showcased their 2002 Sempre Vive Cabernet Sauvignon. It became our most popular Library wine of 2012, winning a 2012 Wine Spies Wine Intrigue Award for Best Library Selection.
We have gotten so many requests for another of their Sempre Vive wines that we sent Agent Red back for a newer vintage. He scored big, today, by securing for you their 2008 Sempre Vive Cabernet Sauvignon. This delicious Napa Valley gem is an incredible wine.
This wine is an incredible value and we offer it to you with our heartiest recommendation.
Decant this wine for at least 30 minutes and you will be handsomely rewarded; the wine becomes softer, more elegant and far more flavorful than it does on opening.
Drinking beautifully, now, this is one wine that we encourage you to stock up on. We can easily predict that it will continue to evolve for the next decade or more.
Please note: This special offer is expected to sell out.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Beautiful dark ruby red, with perfectly even coloration from the edge of the wine through its slightly darker heart. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Lush and sweet and spicy all at once, this wine is beautifully balanced on the nose. Aromas of spiced black cherry, blackberry, blueberry, vanilla, cassis, nasturtium flower, berry bramble, dried fall leaves and soft cedar all play together beautifully. |
| Taste: | Balanced and delicious with flavors of blackberry juice, mixed berry compote, plum, black cherry, black pepper, black tea, wild strawberry, toasty oak and dried violets. |
| Finish: | Extra long, with bright fruits yielding to darker fruits, spice and dried flowers. As flavors dwindle, the wine leave behind a delightfully dry and slightly chewy feel. |
| Pairing: | Enjoy this wine with a wide variety of rich foods, including a pepper crusted t-bone steak or a juicy Rime Rib. |
What the Winery Says
- Tasting Notes
- The nose has violets and lavender, with black cherry fruit. Palate is ripe, smooth and velvety with a lovely texture of milk chocolate and cherry fruit. Good depth, but almost perceivable tannin.
- Harvest Notes
- 2008 made great wines, but not many grapes were harvested. Late rains, late frosts, and hot spells made it tough to be a grape grower. This wine is mostly from their old vines, still on AXR1 and they can hit full balance and maturity at lower brix than the new generation of clones and rootstalks.
- Blend
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Malbec
- Vineyards
- Calistoga
- Vine Ages
- 37 years old
- Harvest Dates
- October. 1st, 21st, 2008
- Alcohol
- 13.85%
- Wine Maker
- Alison Green Doran
- Production
- 317 cases
About the Winery
The small Romeo family vineyard in Calistoga has some of the oldest Cabernet vines in the Napa Valley It was purchased in 1996 by Frank and Eugenia ‘Gena’ Romeo. Motivated by a desire to create and live a lifestyle that represented the Romeo family’s entrepreneurial spirit, they began their journey to craft a legendary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Frank and Eugenia Romeo are deeply committed to protecting and preserving the natural state of their vineyard.
As a result, the artisan wines produced from the old vines, dating back to early seventies, reflect the unique and inspiring way in which the Romeo family lives – Sempre Vive!
Winemaker Alison Green Doran
Alison Green Doran was drawn into winemaking in 1973. Her father, Oil man and long time Alexander Valley vineyard owner, Russell Green, had bought the Simi Winery in 1969, and brought in Mary Ann Graff, the first woman winemaker anywhere to be hired from outside a family, as well as Andre Tchelistcheff, who had been the winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyards for 35 years, as consultants soon after. By working as a harvest intern beside Andre and Mary Ann for 6 months at Simi in 1973, Alison found both her life’s work and her mentors.
Andre found her a 5 month “cellar rat” position in Alsace for the crush of 1975, and then an enologist position with a start-up winery in Paso Robles. After finishing her Fermentation Science degree at UC Davis, she began working for the Firestone Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley in 1976. Starting as lab technician, she worked her way to bottling supervisor and then to cellar master, and finally in 1981, to winemaker. The fourth woman winemaker ever.
The Firestone Winery created many award winning wines during her tenure and Alison became well acquainted with how to extract maximum potential for wine quality from a vineyard site. Now a winemaking consultant with many clients in Napa, she has also started her own family label; Hoot Owl Creek Vineyards.
Vineyard Notes
Romeo Vineyards produces elegant and enduring wines from forty-two year old vines, which reside south of a nine acre reservoir in Calistoga, California. Our vines lie sandwiched between two forested knolls, leading to the geographical conditions that create hot days and cool nights and an extremely long hang time in our Calistoga vineyard. This allows our grapes to develop full flavors, deep color and intense complexity.
Our thick, gnarled old vines produce from their hearts.