DATE CONSUMED
Sunday, October 27, 2013
VINTAGE
2008
WINERY/PRODUCER
Caparone
WINE NAME
N/A
TYPE OF WINE
Red
COMPOSITION
100% Nebbiolo
SUBNAME/NICKNAME
N/A
VINEYARD DESIGNATION
Estate Grown
REGION/APPELLATION/A.V.A. (American Viticultural Area)
Paso Robles, California
ALCOHOL CONTENT
13.2%
PRICE PAID
Caparone prices (actually, used to price) all their wines at
$14 a bottle (their wines are now all priced at $16 a bottle; they were priced
at $14 a bottle for YEARS and deservedly increased their prices recently). Because I buy cases and cases of their wine
whenever we’re in Paso, they provide a 20% discount for volume buyers,
resulting in a net price (including sales tax) of $12.04 a bottle, making their
wines one of the best bargains on the planet!
WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED
We bought a few cases of Caparone’s Zinfandel and Italian
varietals on the way back from San Francisco this past May (2013).
BOUQUET
This wine has a very sharp, tart bouquet, exhibiting tons of
savory herbs, earth, and red fruits like raspberries and cherries.
TASTING NOTES
First off: this wine is VERY light colored, almost like a
dark rose. But despite the low alcohol
level and light color, this wine packs a wallop of flavor. When I first tasted this wine about six
years ago, I had no idea how to interpret it; if I remember correctly, my
tasting note on Cellartracker.com started off with something like, “And now for
something completely different.” This
is indeed a “different” wine; most Americans who are used to only drinking
Cabernets and other typical reds will probably be perplexed by this wine’s
uniqueness and complexity.
As the bouquet suggested, this wine does indeed have a
significant tartness, along with prominent tannins. There is an abundance of red fruits like tart/sour cherries and
raspberries, along with acres of savory herbs.
Like all of Caparone’s other wines, this wine reveals incredible
earthiness and terrior. I’ve always
believed that Pinot Noir exhibits its terrior (loosely translated as “a sense
of place” (taking into account soil, weather (temperatures, rainfall, wind,
degrees of slope of the vineyard, etc.)) better than practically any/every
other varietal in the world. But
Caparone’s red wines exhibit their terrior just as well as any/every other
Pinot on the planet. In a discussion I
had with Dave Caparone years ago (owner and winemaker), most of their vineyards
are practically dry-farmed (or close to it; in drought years, they may irrigate
their vineyards a few times a year).
I’ve always found dry-farmed wines to be, generally speaking, very
earthy and a fantastic reflection of their soil, geography, and
topography. This wine is no exception!
Caparone’s wines are also unfined and unfiltered, which I LOVE. I believe that fining and filtering wine
removes potentially significant flavors and elements. Due to mostly dry-farming, unfinning and unfiltering, and having
planted their vineyards decades ago (the roots of the vines have probably
probed dozens and dozens and dozens of feet below the soil’s surface, in search
of moisture and extracting incredible amounts of minerals from that practically
untouched and incredibly fertile subsoil), Caparone’s wines are always
intriguing, always earthy, always complex, always delicious-beyond-belief, and
always a great value. If you’re a
typical American and love Paso Zin Fruit Bombs, look elsewhere. If you truly enjoy interesting, complex,
not-your-ordinary Zin and red Italian varietals, Caparone should be at the top
of your list of wineries to visit. I’m
rather obsessed with their Zin and Italian varietals. They’re one of the wine world’s greatest bargains and if you
enjoy rustic, earthy, spicy, low alcohol, light-bodied, complexly-flavored, and
extraordinarily food-friendly red wines, they’re almost impossible to beat for
the price.
PAIRING SUGGESTIONS
About three or four months ago, we went to my parent’s house
and made lamb shanks and pasta (the sauce was pretty light with not much of a
tomato presence). I brought along a
bottle of this Nebbiolo thinking it would pair well with the lamb shank sauce,
but it really didn’t pair that well.
Because this wine is so tart, earthy, herbaceous, and tannic, it SCREAMS
for pasta with a ragu-like tomato sauce.
Arthur made traditional tomato sauce with his garlicky meatballs and
spicy sausage and this wine went PREFECTLY with the pasta; the wine’s acidity
matched beautifully with the acidity in the tomato sauce. Because this wine is light-bodied and
somewhat Pinot-like, it would also pair well with salmon, duck, and like most
red wines, almost any red meat dish.
But I like to pair this wine with pasta and tomato sauces; it’s a match
made in culinary heaven!
AGING POTENTIAL
This wine is drinking very nicely right now, but because of
its acidity and tannins, it should age gorgeously for another 20+ years. I would LOVE to try this wine in 2025;
unfortunately, I don’t have the patience to let my other bottles sit in the
cellar for another dozen years. Sadly,
I just don’t have that kind of willpower.
If you have some of these bottles in your cellar and have the willpower
and patience to let them age and mature for another dozen years, let me know in
2025 and I’ll make you a deal: bring your 2008 Caparone Nebbiolos over to our
house and we’ll make you a home-cooked meal to DIE FOR to pair with your
bottle(s) of 2008 Caparone Nebbiolo.
SCORE (on a 100-point scale)
89
Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD,
EXCELLENT)
GOOD – EXCELLENT
WINERY WEBSITE
www.caparone.com
