Our favorite wine of the year (so far)

review by Dan Dunn

It was somewhere around hour seven of the Academy Awards telecast that the urge to drink took hold. The inexplicably obligatory annual dance number had just ended and I craved something extraordinarily delicious in the hopes of countering the awful taste that the breakdance tribute to "The Hurt Locker" had left in my mouth. So I opened a bottle of wine that has bedazzled even the most finicky of critics -- a 2006 Cardinale from Napa. Indeed, the vintage was recently awarded an almost unheard of 100 point rating from Wine Enthusiast, the first wine of 2010 to be honored so. Robert Parker weighed in with a 94.

Quite simply, the '06 Cardinale is perfect. Yes, perfect. As in, I could not imagine a more rewarding wine-drinking experience. Hyperbole, you say? Nope. Hyperbole don't hunt here, my friends. I will admit, though, that my palate is decidedly California-centric. That said, I haven't been this blown away by anything since the last time I saw Radiohead in concert (in California, no less)... and I frickin' loves me some Radiohead. In this case, however, the rock star is winemaker Chris Carpenter, who I'll be sitting down with for a liquid lunch later this month... and you can expect video and a full report about that meeting.

The Cardinale is imbued with bold fruit flavor, but it's not at all intrusively big and fruity. You'll taste the earth,  too, and no I don't mean a mouthful of dirt. I'm talking about the ESSENCE of the land in the vineyards along the Mayacamas and Vaca ranges that ring the Napa Valley. You want to call it minerality, go ahead. I like earth better. Oh, and the chocolate. That's there, too, nestled between hints of black cherry and smoke. The only disappointing aspect to drinking the wine was that I didn't have a plate of prime rib to go along with it. Okay, so I was also disappointed that Wylie Stateman didn't win the Oscar for sound editing for "Inglourious Basterds," but don't get me started on that.

Some pertinent details: The '06 Cardinale is comprised of 86% cabernet sauvignon and 14% merlot. The grapes were gently crushed (in much the same way Jen Aniston must have been after she read John Mayer's controversial Playboy interview) and fermented in semi-open topped stainless steel tanks that allow for lower alcohol conversion. As a result, Carpenter and his team were able to prolong the harvest to ensure full ripeness, which is pretty damn clever of him, doncha think? The juice was bottled in September 2008 and spent 19 months in new French oak. It was fined with egg whites and bottled unfiltered. Just over 1,500 cases were produced.

Oh, but there's one detail that may bum some of you out -- a bottle of the most perfect wine of the year so far will set you back $200. Not exactly chump change, it it? Ah, but if you really want some, let me know. I'll talk to Chris Carpenter and see if he'll cut you a deal.

And I'll be damned if I'm gonna let those pompous blowhards over at Wine Enthusiast have the upper hand in the Cardinale lovefest, so I'm awarding it our first ever....

101 POINT SCORE!!!!

(just kidding about the Wine Enthusiast critics... they're not that pompous)