Charnu 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon - 2 Pack
$74.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION: Red
PRODUCT: 2 Charnu 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
CT link above
Wow. First time in a long time (or… ever?) that VA isn’t on the list…
… I guess I’m not in for one after all. 
Drinking well now? Hold for another couple of years?
So it tastes of sassafras. What on earth is sassafras?!
Looks like a Napa ripe-styled cab with big new oak, high pH, round tannins and sticky mouth-coating texture. I suspect this will be popular!
From the Charnu website:
This at $75 retail! This may be the equal of many high price, high end wines, but IMO this is not a logical way to define value/QPR.
There’s a winery in Temecula that has a $1.3k library wine. Does that make all Napa wines–which likely are far superior due to a cooler climate, more capital and better experience–great values since all but one or two cost $1.3k? Not in my book. Value shouldn’t be anchored to the outliers IMHO.
I can’t think of any Cab with pretensions to quality being dronkable this young. Even Parker styles need time in bottle to integrate! Hold! (But not longer than 10 years)
EDIT: I read 2009 on my Google phone. Bad eyesight. 2006 is probably drinking fine, with some decanting!
Don’t know why. We can definitely ship to VA. Go for it!
Standard high pH wine question: how is it stabilized? Lots of SO2? Filtration? Velcorin?
You need to keep VA well apart from your wines!
Depends on your preferences.
2006 was a cool year. When we first released it, it was really “tight”. We had to decant it for 3-4 hours for a tasting. It’s really come around, and is approachable now. It’s going to get better for years.
Saw this on their site…they suggest a loophole to get wine if youlive in a state they don’t ship to:
“What about other states? We’re not willing to skirt the laws. If you can’t have the wine shipped to somewhere legal, your best option may be a storage facility such as 55 Degrees in St. Helena (www.fiftyfivedegrees.com). If you rent a locker there, we will deliver your wine to 55 Degrees for free. At that point, it’s yours. You can instruct 55 Degrees to ship your wine to you whenever you like.”
I think you’d be surprised. We try to produce a wine the people who know wine think is elegant. The oak adds to the overall impression, but is not “big”. It is also not “sticky mouthcoating”.
Give it a try before deciding, then let us know.
Oh, and sassafras is the flavor in root beer. I don’t find that, but apparently people with better palates do;)
Sassafras is a tree, whose leaves are often used as a flavoring in the U.S. It’s a common ingredient in old-style root beer, and is often found in gumbo (a Louisiana dish that often contains shellfish (there are several styles).
Sassafras tea is also popular in certain parts of the country.
WD or anyone, green flag for VA or no? It didn’t make the main page list, but…?
Excellent, thank you… love to learn something new! Do you have any favourite Napa winemakers, especially those with wines like yours?
We know being st helena you can’t be far from Rutherford either, with dust…
Am I the only one thinking that this is a no-brainer??
Well, each to his own.
We seem to run into quite a few people who, when the economy was better, used to buy the $125 and up wines (that still exist, by the way). Not that many people can afford to still do that. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve lost the taste for great wine.
We like to think that we’re a value, in the sense that people can get what they used to but for a whole lot less $. But we’re prejudiced.
The Michigan house has a yard full of sassafras trees. When you cut one down, or break the root while pulling it from the ground, there is a strong smell of root beer. In fact, I wish root beer tasted more like these trees smelled.
As for odd tasting notes, I’ve tasted compressed whipped cream in wine before, so … I dunno. I would consider different notes other than cherry, plum, blah blah blah to be a compliment. Unless tasting notes include dung. Then, no.