2004 Amelie Cabernet Sauvignon - Merlot (Mankas Hills Vineyard)

Mankas Hills Vineyard has recently been doing a special offer for food bloggers in which they send a bottle of their Amelie 2004 to the blogger. The whole idea is pretty shibby.

Amelie is a a mixture of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and 25% Merlot grapes and pretty darn tasty. After getting together with a few friends from work, we popped it open and gave it a swirl. Hailing from the Suisun Valley, we were intrigued to try a wine from such a close proximity to Sacramento, adding to the excitement as we all raised our glasses. Now, while none of us are wine experts in any sort of way, we do know what we like, so here goes our collective analysis:

The color was that of black cherry and garnet. Definetly eye candy, I can picture this on a magazine cover. The smell was very berry-like, and fruity, it was welcoming from the beginning. It had a strong smokey taste, accompanied by flavors of vanilla, plums, and especially currants. We all loved it! I can see this going very well with a steak dinner type meal, but it was also very excellent with chips and cilantro guacamole. The only downside is that it does have a bit of an alcoholic bite, we were surprised it was only 13%. It is slight though and nothing that would really detract me from buying another bottle.

I'm only recently learning to buy and drink wine (as in a few weeks). I did take quite a few classes on wine back in school at UCD, where the viticulture and enology department rule supreme, funded by the Mondavi empire, so I know about wine, but never put it into practice. It was fun to finally do so, and I'm starting to really enjoy the stuff. However had I had the education or not, you either like a certain wine, or you don't. This, I like. Nuff said.