A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide To $10 Wines - A Fox Brook Cabernet Sauvignon

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In this article I taste an inexpensive California wine from a company located in the famous Sonoma County north of San Francisco. Cabernet Sauvignon is perhaps California's signature red grape, found in many wines that break the $100 barrier, often many times over. Literally hundreds of wineries are located in this county. Don't expect a great wine at a bargain price. Actually by surfing the web I saw several places offered this wine for a few dollars. So perhaps I overpaid.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed Fox Brook Cabernet Sauvignon, California, 2005 12.6% alcohol about $7

Let's start by quoting the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Medium dark red; aromas of ripe cassis, black cherry and plum, with a hint of leather; dry, full bodied, with ripe black cherry, blueberry, chocolate and toasty oak flavors; long finish. Serving Suggestion: Filet mignon, marinated flank steak, roast lamb or pepper steak. And now for my reactions.

The first meal consisted of beef stew with couscous. The wine was pleasantly tannic and lightly acidic. It was mouth filling with just a touch of oak. There was some pepper. This Cab was moderately long but not very subtle.

I then tasted this wine with commercially barbecued chicken thighs with the paprika covered skin on. The sides were couscous and green beans in a tomato sauce. The wine was round and tasted very plummy. It was moderately acidic with light tannins. This Cabernet Sauvignon was refreshing and fairly long. The wine and food pairing was a relative success even though it flies in the face of that old-fashioned and simplistic rule; white wine with white meat. (I don't think that I would have enjoyed this wine with a light-herbal chicken.)

My final food pairing involved pot roast, cooked with potatoes, carrots, and onions. The wine was moderately acidic with pleasant tannins. It tasted of plums and black cherries and was rather short. There was a taste of tobacco. When I perked up the meat by adding a jalapeno pepper-based condiment the wine followed, it wasn't at all overwhelmed. After adding the pepper, I got the taste of chocolate.

I ended the bottle with two local cheeses. In the presence of a nutty, mild Provolone the wine was fruity and somewhat thin and short. Perhaps surprisingly I tasted a bit of bubble gum. (Maybe I'm getting ready for the Beaujolais Nouveau season that's just around the corner.) The next cheese was a more concentrated Asiago. The wine started out flat but became better over a short period of time. There was a bit of black cherry and the bubble gum was gone.

Final verdict. I'd buy this wine again, especially if offered at bargain basement prices. But I won't tell my wine loving friends that I am serving a Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It is and it isn't.