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 Adams Ridge Winery.

SUPERIOR WINE ALERT!

We always feature great wines, but today’s wine is incredibly great! Grab some, Operative, before we run out

Savings Alert!

Shipping Included on 6 bottles or more. Enter this coupon code at checkout (discount will be shown before you complete your order): CABSPY

Mission Codename: To the Winecave!

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Investigate rumors of another incredible 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. If the wine is excellent, procure as much as possible for our Operatives

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Adams Ridge Winery

Wine Subject: 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker: Ronald Adams

Backgrounder: 2004 was an incredible year for Cabernet Sauvignon, especially those from the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. Today we send Agent Red to investigate Adams Ridge Winery, a small boutique winery that produces less than 300 cases of Cab each year. Read agent Reds tasting notes and mission report below.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Shiny garnet with concentrated color right out to the glittering edges of the wine, plus a bouncy surface and ultra-fast, ultra-skinny legs that streak down the glass

Smell – High and very bright with deeply perfumed floral cherry, white plum, black currant and creamy milk chocolate-covered cherries

Feel – Round up front, with silky medium tannins that grip the back of the mouth

Taste – Richly layered fruit with concentrated flavors of cherry, dark berry and currant with hints of vanillan and subtle oaky cocoa

Finish – Sweet and bright and lively with silky tannins and long, lingering flavors

Conclusion – This wine really impressed all who tried it during a recent tasting. While the aromatics are very powerful, this wine is a refined and balanced balanced drinker. Coming from a winery with such a deep history in Napa and made from fruit of two of Napa’s most prestigious regions, it is no surprise that this wine is so good. In researching past vintages of this wine and in looking at reviews (past and present), we find that this vintage has been declared the best yet for this wine. I can’t stop raving about this wine and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did!

Mission Report:

Today’s wine is another great find from Wine Spies informant, Mister Brix.

Brix brought me this wine recently and after a quick analysis and detailed tasting, it was clear that I should procure some for our Operatives. I am proud to tell you that I was able to secure a dozen cases of this fantastic wine, so be sure to grab some up before we run out.

Winery owner, Ronald Adams, has worked in the wine industry for the last 27 years. He began in wine cave construction and ended up making incredible wine. Having spent so many years in and around the business, Mr. Adams was able to build a formidable network of his own assets.

When it came time for him to ‘build’ his own wine, all of the magic ingredients where right there at his fingertips; Once his wine cave was ready, he was able to get the finest fruit from the best growers in the finest regions. The rest is recent-history. Today, Adams Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon is in its 3rd vintage – and critics universally agree that this vintage is the best ever for this winery.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The vineyards where this wine comes from is so Top Secret that we can’t show it to you or tell you exactly where it is. We can only tell you that the majority of the juice for this wine comes from the Stag’s Leap District and Rutherford Bench, the former being home to some of the finest Cabs in the world.