My father's day didn't see me bring out a big gun to drink with the Prime Rib roast that I cooked for my father. Why? The Damn Wine Storage where I house my collection closed early. Oh well! This is why I own so much wine. I can't touch it when I really wanna drink some.
I had bought 2 bottles of Ghost Pines from a local shop because:
(A) I wanted to taste it of course
(B) I needed to make a wine reduction sauce for my Prime Rib
Ghost Pines is produced by Louis Martini Winery. I cannot recall if I have ever had any Louis Martini wines in the past. They make an array of value Cabernet's and Premium Cabernet's plus several other varietals. The Ghost Pines project is new. They source there fruit from both Sonoma and Napa Valley. Blending the wine at 72% Napa County and 28% Sonoma County. Overall the wine did make a great reduction sauce. I infused it with fresh Thyme and Garlic with a half cup of beef stock.
A big success!
But the wine fell short for drinking. As the name indicates!! It did have a bit of spice and vanilla on the nose but not enough fruit on the pallet to keep me interested long. Even allowing the wine to decant for 3 hours did not bring out enough characters to this wine. I paid $19.99 per bottle for this wine. I assume I got what I paid for. In the last several years there haven't been to many GREAT Cabernet's that I have found under $30.00 per bottle.
Maybe my taste buds just won't allow it.
Give them a Try if you dare!
Cheers!
I have tasted this one and had a similar experience. Not bad for $20 but you just can't compare it to some of its more expensive counterparts.
ReplyDeleteThe prime rib sounds delicious!
Cheers!