Wine Review – 2006 Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon

I was tipped off about this wine from my in-laws as they had it with friends at one of the finest steak houses in Atlanta. They let me know how much they loved the wine and how it went so well with their steaks. Within days, I was on a mission to find this wine. After looking in several of my normal wine outlets I finally found it just down the road. Educated Guess is the first line of wines from a young winery in Napa called Roots Run Deep. The 2006 is their second vintage of their cabernet sauvignon and was surprisingly mature for being so young. The grapes came from the Napa Valley area. To be more specific, 85% Rutherford & 15% Yountville/Oakville. It is 85% cabernet sauvignon, 7% merlot, 6% cab franc and 2% petite verdot.

It has a deep dark purple color and looks beautiful in the glass. On the nose you will get big dark fruit aromas and an herbal scent. It has a nice feel in the mouth and you can really taste the black cherry and cassis fruits and the oak from the French oak barrels. It has a slight acidity on the finish but there is not a bite. Actually after the first taste the wine really opened up and the finish really smoothes out, that must be the 7% merlot. This wine became very enjoyable and it went perfectly with our grilled steaks. It retails for around $20 in stores and probably around $55 in restaurants. This cab can be drank now and you won’t be disappointed, but it would only get better with some aging. I think this would be perfect with about another 5-7 years in the bottle.

This wine also has an interesting label and I found this on their website that explains the label: “Our label was designed to tell the story of how you can make an educated guess in winemaking, not to give you nightmares about your high school chemistry class. It shows you actual winemaking formulas that are either induced or naturally occur during a specific winemaking process.”

Cheers!