If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes even better than that, as is the case with today’s wine from Cedar Mountain Winery.

Mission Codename: The Time Capsule

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Secure a 10 year old Cabernet Sauvignon – by whatever means necessary!

Mission Status: Accomplished

Current Winery: Cedar Mountain Winery

Wine Subject: 1998 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker: Earl Ault

Backgrounder: Our Operatives have been inundating us with requests for a 10 year-old Cabernet Sauvignon. Such a request could prove tricky for a normal wine organization, but not for The Wine Spies. Utilizing our network of assets we were able to come up locate a great Livermore Valley winery called Cedar Mountain, which is surrounded by its 14 acres of estate vineyards. Read Agent Red’s tasting notes and mission report below to see how he was able to procure a few cases for our Operatives. Not an Operative yet? Sign up for free today!

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Dark garnet in color, showing its age a little, with a very springy surface that settles to still very quickly, color right out to the edges and long, thin legs that slowly creep down the glass

Smell – Deeply concentrated aromas of earthen plum, dark berry, tobacco leaf, soft leather, cedar and tar

Feel – Soft and balanced with a roundness up-front, followed by a cool-and-fast feeling across the mid-palate, where soft tannins take gentle hold

Taste – Richly extracted flavors the echo the nose, with oak and sweewood added just under the surface

Finish – Rich, delicious and long, with a mild dryness and sweet oak and smoky plum flavors that linger

Conclusion – If stored properly, Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself to long bottle aging. A ten year-old like this Estate Cab from Cedar Mountain could still be considered somewhat young by some collectors. If you have never had the patience to cellar a wine for 10 years, now is your chance to taste a great wine – without breaking the bank. This wine may not have even reached its peak, but I say that it is drinking beautifully right now. You’ll find a softness in this wine, but still plenty of concentrated aromas and dark, dusky flavors. This wine gets a big Wine Spies recommendation.

Mission Report

Livermore Valley. For those of you familiar with the city of Livermore, wine is not exactly the first thing that springs to mind, right?

What you need to know about Livermore Valley is this: The region is one with a rich wine history that dates back to before the dark days of Prohibition. In fact, the area was one of the largest wine growing regions of its day in America.

In 1889, a wine from Livermore Valley were the first American wines to win International Gold Medals in Paris, predating by almost 100 years The Great Paris Tasting that upset the wine world so.

Today, Livermore Valley is experiencing a revival like no other wine region in the world and we were honored when we were offered todays wine from Cedar Mountain.

It is a rare thing to be able to taste a ten year-old wine of quality – today’s wine is a great example of aged Cab and we encourage you to try some now, and hold some for a little while longer.

Cheers!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Cedar Mountain Estate vineyards can be seen in this satellite photo.