Darioush Napa Valley Cabernet 2005

For Christmas Amy’s brother Scott bought us a bottle of Darioush Napa Valley Cabernet. As Amy wrote previously, Scott put a lot of thought into his gift. As they say in my old neighborhood, he done good.

The color in the glass is a deep, dark purple with brilliant garnet red around the edges that sparkle and entice the drinker to swirl an extra time or two. Eventually swirling gets boring and it is time to stuff your nose in the glass to see what it has to offer. What it offers are big, bold aromas of raspberry, freshly opened vanilla beans, plum, cherry, mocha and nutty oak.

The flavors are wonderful as well. Lots of ripe fruit, mostly raspberry, black cherry, plum, sage, coffee and chocolate with a slight hint of orange peel and cedar. The finish is very long and is redolent with big ripe fruit, milk chocolate and rich coffee flavors, with very gentle suggestions of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon,

This is a very good wine, and a classic example of why Napa Cabernets are held in such high regard. It is a rich, complex fruit bomb that begs to be paired with a thick, juicy, fatty piece of bloody beef.

Darioush Napa Valley Cabernet 2005 is made up of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Malbec and it is aged 22 months in 85% new Taransaud Chateau Traditional French oak barrels from Troncais.

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