Cosentino Winery
2008 The Poet Meritage Napa Valley
Meritage
California: Napa Valley
Mission Briefing
The Bard's Desire
Cosentino Winery is our best-selling winery of all time (and that’s saying something, as we’ve sold nearly 2500 wines over the past 7 years)!
We love Cosentino wines and we love winemaker Mitch Cosentino, who made today’s delicious, elegant, and delightful treat of a wine.
Today’s 2008 Cosentino Winery The Poet, which is not distributed, sells for upwards of $100 in finer restaurants around the country and we were very lucky to secure a small allocation for you. Please act quickly, as we expect that this wine will sell out before the end of the day.
This remarkable wine, which receives our boldest recommendation, is a beautifully balanced blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Merlot.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Beautiful ruby hues with a slightly darker crimson heart. Spin the wine and it clings to the glass wall. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Cherry, blueberry, cassis, mission fig, mint dark chocolate, cherry cordial, and tobacco. |
| Taste: | Very balanced, soft, and silky on the palate, with delicious flavors of black cherry and dark chocolate. |
| Finish: | Long and elegant with lingering acids that make the mouth water. Black currant and allspice persist along with other black fruit, earth and spice. |
| Pairing: | Enjoy this elegant wine with a perfectly seared, rare filet mignon. |
What the Winery Says
Our 2008 vintage was sourced from vineyards across Napa Valley. The varietal components were hand-sorted and aged separately to ensure that the best flavors and aromas come forward in the final blend. Each varietal aged for 25 months in 100% French oak cooperage prior to blending.
Nicely balanced with smooth tannins, this vintage has low acidity and a silky mouthfeel. Caramel, deep cherry and cigar box on the nose transforms into a palate saturated by notes of cracked black pepper and tempting mocha. Beautifully developed, our 2008 The Poet is ready to drink now.
- Winemaker
- Mitch Cosentino
- Appellation
- Napa Valley, California
- Varietal Composition
- 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot
- Cooperage
- 25 months in 100% French oak
- ABV
- 14.5%
About the Winery
When Cosentino Winery was built in 1990, it was our intention to grow a world class estate Merlot that could not only stand on its own, but one that would have enough depth and character to become a key element in Cosentino’s popular Meritage blends such as “The Poet”.
Our Estate Merlot is grown on 3.5 acres directly behind the Winery and is well regarded as some of the most renowned Merlot produced in Napa Valley. Although the majority of our Estate grown Merlot is harvested and often blended into Cosentino’s most popular Meritage wines, it has historically been produced in limited amounts as “The Estate Merlot”. The Cosentino Estate Merlot is a very rare release and will only be harvested when the conditions for the year are absolutely perfect.
Since 1997 only five vintages have been released: 1997, 1999, 2001, 2001 and the last vintage, 2005, was released to Wine Club in 2009.
Winemaker Marty Petersen
Marty comes from a family with a rich farming history. In 1904, his great-grandfather, Carl Peterson, made his way by ferry to Lodi, an agricultural community at the mouth of the Sacramento River Delta, 60 miles east of San Francisco, where he founded the family ranch.
For more than a century, the Peterson family has farmed 100 acres in the Lodi region, now planted to fine wine grape varietals, as well as Bing cherries. The fourth generation of growers from the family property, Marty grew up in a community of farmers who shared a similar commitment to the land. The childhood friends and family relationships forged over many years are still firmly in place, giving him an insider’s insight—and connections— into this important, emerging winegrowing region.
Marty received his Bachelor of Sciences in Enology from Fresno State University in 2002, giving him expertise on the cellar side and refining his natural farming knowledge. He joined Vintage Wine Estates in 2011 as winemaker for Viansa Sonoma; in May of 2015 he was then appointed winemaker at Cosentino Winery, where he draws on his deep roots in the Lodi region, as well as his knowledge of the Napa and Sonoma appellations, to create uniquely expressive wines of balance and complexity.