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What We Say 2005 Cardiff Giant - Super Tuscan
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 our good freinds at Sort This Out Cellars.
Mission Codename: A Giant Tuscan
Operative: Agents White & Red
Objective: Determine if the Cardiff Giant is the real deal or just a hoax.
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: Sort This Out Cellars
Wine Subject: 2005 Cardiff Giant – Super Tuscan Inspired Blend
Winemaker: Michael Cobb & Jeff Munsey
Backgrounder:
There is no question that Super Tuscans are among The Wine Spies’ favorite Sangiovese-based wines. This Super Tuscan inspired blend is 85% Sangiovese that is perfectly balanced with the intense fruit qualities of Cabernet Sauvignon, both grown in Napa Valley.
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Dark purple and ruby red with brick colored edges. Excellent clarity and lots of long slender legs when swirled. This wine also shows a thicker viscosity.
Smell – Bold and intense black fruit including currants and blackberries and toasted oak with hints of toasted vanilla. A pair of spice components of pepper and licorice also complement the balanced flavors.
Feel – This full-bodied wine is initially smooth then this wine hits you with firm tannins that are slightly grippy and dry.
Taste – Big and tart fruit flavors of cherries and black currant, spicy pepper and licorice and a hint of oak. The typical zest that we love in Sangiovese shows nicely in this wine.
Finish – Long and bold with lingering fruit and spice.
Conclusion – While the Cardiff Giant may be a hoax, this Sangiovese blend is the real deal. Big, bold and true to its Super Tuscan inspiration. This wine will pair well with your boldest kitchen creations and is perfect for your upcoming BBQ season.
Mission Report:
The Ops Center had been flooded for weeks with reports about the ‘Cardiff Giant’. Most of the internal intelligence staff ignored the reports. “Its just a hoax”, Agent Blush exclaimed. “Don’t you guys know anything?” in her typical, well lets just say ‘condescending’ way…
Rumor had it that a few local California wine makers had rediscovered the wine equivalent of the giant – this time taking the form of a Super Tuscan inspired blend. The original Cardiff Giant, dating back to 1869, turned out to be a hoax. A crude facsimile of the real thing. Would this wine giant turn out to be the real thing? Too often, we were disappointed, hence the skepticism of the staff. Even going as far as not allowing us to pursue it on a formal mission.
Agent Red and I knew better. We knew the guys down at Sort This Out Cellars. We knew their irreverent ways, but more importantly we knew their passion for making great wines. But would the Cardiff Giant live up to the hype?
Working ‘off the reservation’ on this we arranged a meeting with Michael Cobb, one of the winemakers at Sort This Out Cellars who provided us with taste and a sample bottle to take back to the lab for analysis. Only after completing our technical review of the wine, did Red and I come clean to our fellow operatives.
The results spoke for themselves. Cardiff Giant is the real deal. Inspired by its Italian Super Tuscan brethren, this Sangiovese blend lives up to the hype. Bold, bright and intense flavors with that uniquely Tuscan quality that has made Super Tuscans the favorite of so many operatives.
If you love Italian wines, then be sure to put this wine on your list. It belongs in your cellar and perhaps more appropriately on your table, paired with a great meal.
But act fast, be sure to get your personal allocation before P.T. Barnum buys out the lot.
Note About The Label:
Today’s wine is presented in the first of three commemorative labels telling a unique part of the Cardiff Giant story. For more information, be sure to visit the Sort This Out Cellars website.
What the Winery Says
Sort This Out Cellars
Check out The Wine Spies on Wine Library TV
Top Secret Message from Michael Cobb & Jeff Munsey:
Visit us online at www.sortthisoutcellars.com to join our mailing list. We craft small production wines for a new generation of wine drinkers and look forward to sharing a glass with you soon at our Sort This Out Cellars tasting room opening in Santa Barbara County in July 2008. Be the first to know about the exciting things happening at Sort This Out Cellars and join our blog. Visit us at www.sortthisoutcellars.com and select the Blog link. Thank you Agent Red and Agent White for your support, and special thanks to all you field agents who bought Hardways in January.
Now lets get back to the mission.
About This Wine:
Cardiff Giant is a Super Tuscan inspired blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon. This first in a series of 3 collectible bottles, “Come One Come All” is a re-creation of a poster used to spread the word of the Cardiff Giant’s discovery.
The intense bright fruit flavors of the Sangiovese are balanced by the rich dark fruit characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon. French oak aging adds subtle vanilla and toast notes that combine with medium body mouth feel, smooth tannins, and balanced acidity. This Napa Valley wine coats the entire palate, revealing a long enjoyable finish.
Winemaker’s Notes:
The 2005 Cardiff Giant is a blend of 85% Sangiovese and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. The intense bright fruit flavors of the Sangiovese are balanced by the rich dark fruit characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon. French oak aging adds subtle vanilla and toast notes that combine with medium body mouth feel, smooth tannins, and balanced acidity. The wine coats the entire palate, revealing a long enjoyable finish. The 2005 Cardiff Giant will drink enjoyably now through 2012.
A Great American Hoax:
In 1869, workers digging a well on Stubby Newell’s farm in Cardiff, New York, were stunned to unearth a strange figure of mammoth proportion. After careful excavation, the remains of a 10’-4” primordial figure were carefully removed to Newell’s barn. As word spread of the discovery, people traveled from near and far to see for themselves, the remains of what was said to be a race of giants that walked the earth long ago. With the visitors, so came the money. For two bits you could see the colossus with your own eyes. The struggling farmer would eventually make more that $50,000 and catch the attention of P.T. Barnum, who offered to buy the giant for his traveling show.
After further examination of the Cardiff Giant, it was eventually revealed that the primordial man was nothing more that a crudely carved hoax. Conceived by Newell’s cousin, George Hull, the giant was carved from gypsum and buried on Newell’s farm. The contrived discovery of the primordial man would eventually be considered on of the most famous hoaxes in American History.
Our first vintage of Cardiff Giant is commemorated with three unique labels in limited edition. Each of the three labels tells a different part of this uniquely American story. The Cardiff Giant lives on today in our Super Tuscan inspired blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon. Learn more about how we came to make the Cardiff Giant online at www.sortthisoutcellars.com.
About The Winery:
Welcome to Sort This Out Cellars. Home of Good Times and Great Wines! Our winery is the quintessential example of the modern wine industry. We are a small producer of great tasting, fun wines that are reflective of our passion for wine, friends and good times. People always ask us, “Where is your winery?”, “What types of grapes do you grow?”, and the truth is we don’t own our own wine making facility, and we don’t grow any grapes. “How can that be?”, you ask. Well…it’s simple. The wine industry is exploding with micro producers, like us, who make wines in co-operative wine making facilities. We use several of these small co-ops including our main production facility located in, Templeton, California. Considering the cost of land and buildings, not to mention the issues at the city, county, state, and federal level with building a winery, it makes great sense for small wine producers like us to pool our resources and share facilities.
Technical Analysis:
Vintage: 2005
Appellation: Napa Valley
Blend: 85% Sangiovese 15% Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol: 14.5%
Drink: Now through 2012
Retail Price: $42.00
First in a series of 3 collectible bottles
