Last week I got to go to a tasting of about 50 wines.  The cheapest of the wines being about $40 with many ranging up to about $200.  One of perks of working in the industry, getting to try many wines that I will never be able to afford.

While most of the wines I tried were all very nice, they did not seem to be quite worth the price points.  This tends to be the case with a lot of wines.  There is a point of diminishing return.  Just because you pay more, does not necessarily mean you are getting a far superior wine.  Usually, it just means you are getting a more limited available wine.

I mentioned in my post about Nickel & Nickel about going to tastings with a lot of big wines.  There is a point, where after the 10th big red wine or so, that the differences between the wines become more and more difficult to notice.  What I usually try and do is just taste each wine and see which ones leave a lasting impression on me after I am done.

This particular tasting had some sparkling, whites and then then a table of big California reds and two tables of Italian reds.  People laugh when I say this, but man was that a lot of work tasting through them all!  But alas, I was successful, and after it all there were two real stand outs from this tasting.  The first was an Italian red from Pio Cesare.  Their Il Bricco Barbaresco 2018.  It was awesome, but just didn't seem quite worth the price.  It would have been around $160.  If that price doesn't scare you off, then by all means look for this wine, it was delicious! 

The other wine that blew me away and was my favorite of the tasting was the Brandlin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018.  This wine was big and tannic with a refined elegance and amazingly smooth finish.  This was actually Wine Spectators #81 wine of the year in 2021.  It also got 94-point scores from Wine Enthusiast, Decanter and James "Big Score" Suckling.  

This wine is a little pricier, coming in at $87, but I feel like it is worth every penny!  This wine will age for 10-15 years easily and will only evolve more as the years go by.  Another excellent wine to grab a few bottles and put in your cellar to enjoy every few years.  Or, if you need a great bottle for dinner tonight, just decant it for an hour or two and enjoy!

Brandlin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

-Patrick Mulrooney