Classic Wines

Video Transcript: Battle of the Big Reds - California Cabernet Showdown

Brian Freedman: Welcome to the classicwines.com Cabernet Showdown, I am your host, Brian Freedman. Today we are going to be talking about California Cab, but maybe in a little bit of a different context than you might be used to.

California Cab is really one of the wines that the United States is best known for and most widely respected for, quite honestly, but the truth is, there are few wines that go better with a good barbecued burger in the summertime than a great California Cab.

So let's talk today about these two. Wine number one is the Joel Gott 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, appellation California, and wine number two is the Michael Pozzan Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 from Napa Valley. Grapes for this one are coming from Napa Valley, whereas the grapes for the Joel Gott can come from anywhere in California, hence the appellation.

So let's give the Joel Gott a little taste here. Now, let's talk for a second about what makes Cabernet such a great pairing partner for burgers. The truth is that cotton-mouth, Sunday morning mouth, whatever you want to call it, that you get after you drink a good Cab, that's the tannins talking. Tannins are counterbalanced by fat and protein; fat and protein is counterbalanced by tannins. So you want to drink more Cab, you want to eat more burger, join them together, it's a match made in heaven.

So give this a smell. Little bit smoky, there is not a whole, whole lot going on there, quite honestly. Again, some of that tell-tale graphite that we tend to look for in a Cab, but it's a very subtle wine. This isn't one of those that will eat you over the head with its bright massive California fruit character. It's a little more subtle than what I was expecting.

Well, first what I am struck by is the excellent balance between the acid and the tannin here; one is not totally overwhelming the other.

What I am also struck by here is this really, really nice finish, that reminds of nothing so much as a chocolate dipped strawberry. I love that sort of deep, almost bittersweet chocolate character here. I think that would really work beautifully with some charring on the outside of a burger.

Wine number two, this is the Michael Pozzan Annabella 2006. Now in theory, you would think that the smaller the appellation, the higher the quality, because basically the fruit comes from a smaller area, maybe there is a little more control over it or maybe not. Let's see what this one is showing us.

Certainly brighter fruit on this one. The alcohol seems a little more prominent. The finish here is a bit longer. It's not quite as chocolaty, it's a little more mineral.

I have to tell you, I think this one might be slightly better, the Annabella, might be slightly better with the food. I think there is an iron like character there, that minerality that would really work well with the burger, but at the same time, I think the Joel Gott would be just as enjoyable on its own.

So again, for one of the few times here on the Classic Wines Showdown, we have a draw. The bottom-line perhaps for this one is that if you have a good burger and you have a decent bottle of California Cab; and both of these are better than decent, you are going to be doing okay in the pairing department.

So remember, both of these wines are available on classicwines.com. From all of us here, I am your host Brian Freedman; we will double fist it, cheers.