SUPERIOR WINE ALERT!

Today’s wine is a near-perfect and deeply-delicious red blend – from one of our favorite Paso Robles wine producers

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Mission Codename: Cherry on top

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Return to Operative favorite, Trinitas Cellars. This time, retrieve an early stash of their brilliant Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon, their flagship Cabernet – and a wine that we have had our eyes on for some months now

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Trinitas Cellars

Wine Subject: 2006 Trinitas Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon – Oakville – Napa Valley

Winemaker: Kevin Mills

Backgrounder: Napa’s Oakville AVA, centrally located and adjacent to Napa Valley’s famous Rutherford AVA, was established in July 1993. Oakville is considered one of the most diverse AVA’s in the Napa area and grows some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon in California.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Deep burgundy, this wine is deeply concentrated – though its slightly opaque heart and right out to the edge of the glass, where the wine shows off a sudden brilliant purple color. When swirled, the wine shows off a loosely bouncy surface whose core continues to spin for a while, before it leaves behind tight-packed clusters of chubby legs that take a long time to emerge before they move slowly down the glass

Smell – Bold and darkly intense with a big rush of smoky plum, dark cherry, overripe blackberry, darkest chocolate, subtle espresso, dried brown tobacco leaf and soft spicy earth

Feel – Soft and wet, the wine hovers across the front-palate. Then, the wine races across the mid, where it leaves behind dark flavors. A moment later, the wine settles in at the back of the mouth, where it becomes grippy as plush tannins take hold. Then this grippy feeling spreads around the edges of the mouth, drying as it spreads and eventually drying the entire tongue, the cheeks and the lips

Taste -This wine begins dusky, dark and rich with juicy flavors of black currant, smoky plum, licorice, soft tobacco, soft spice, dark black coffee and a hint of kola nut.

Finish – Starts dark and softly smoky and then finishes semi-sweet and smoky-tart with dark fruit flavors that linger with smoke and coffee at the very tail-end

Conclusion – While we have featured other fantastic Trinitas wines here in the past, I have to declare that this wine is my absolute favorite! Rich and dark and classic Napa, this is a bold wine that is everything that I admire about great Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. Long on character, big on flavor and deeply aromatic this wine is also a great pleasure in the mouth, where it shows off a really dynamic and really unique feel. Enjoy with food, as this wine has enough balance and acidity to play well with others. I would, however, recommend that you enjoy with heartier meals. I recommend a delicious grilled tri-tip and veggies.

Mission Report:

Below is a recap of Agent Red’s original mission when he visited Trinitas Cellars:

Located at the southern end of the Napa Valley, nestled behind the Meritage Resort & Spa and buried in and underground cave, lies a remarkable secret: Trinitas Cellars.

Trinitas first came to my attention while on stakeout during a prior mission. I was on a vetting mission and was keeping an eye on a potential new asset. If this person proved to have the connections that she was reported to, I’d be recruiting her by days end.

I had followed her to the Meritage Resort, when she was having what looked to be a poolside meeting with a group I recognized as some heavy-hitters in the biz. These guys are all business and so I knew that my target must have the chops that her dossier suggested.

A waitress offered me a menu but I politely waved it away. Instead, I simply asked her for a glass of their best house Pinot Noir.

The wine arrived. The waitress set it down on the table in front of me. I handed her a $20 and told her to keep the change. I sat and watched my target for some time before finally picking up the wine.

I inhaled deeply – and the hairs on my neck stood up. This, I could tell, was one excellent wine! I spent the next several minutes enraptured by the wine. It was a young wine, I could tell, but it was very impressive.

When I finally looked up, my target was gone! How could I let myself be so distracted? On scanning the area, my eyes came to rest on an anomaly in the landscape; The hill that sat behind me, over my right shoulder, was obviously manmade. I had seen enough ‘hills’ like this to know that it was a wine cave!

I got to my feet and dashed toward the hill. Cleverly concealed as it might have been, I quickly found the entrance. Once inside I made my way through the cavern, eventually finding – a full tasting room!

And there, at the bar, was my target and her cohorts.

The woman behind the bar beamed at me and said, “Welcome to Trinitas Cellars!”

Trinitas, eh? This requires deeper investigation…

Agent Red, out!

Agent White, reporting:

Is Agent Red losing it? Does he need glasses? The sign above the wine cave clearly reads, “Trinitas Cellars”. At least he returned to HQ with samples of that Pinot Noir. The Pinot, of course, turned out to be a 2007 Carneros Pinot Noir from Trinitas – and today we are proud to present you with an opportunity to try this special wine for yourself.

As for Agent Red and his mission worthiness, we are recommending that he be placed under closer scrutiny. His wine-finding skills are still top-notch, but his methods and his reports leave just a tad to be desired!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Trinitas Callears cave tasting room and winery can be seen, behind the Meritage Resport & Spa, in this satellite photo.