July 17, 2014 – Wine: 2005 Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon

Wines evolve and go through good phases and locked-down phases.  When this wine was young, it featured the best attributes of the 2005 vintage:  tasty red fruits, plush tannins, and great balance.  I would even recommend it to friends and family looking for a Cabernet in this wine’s price-range.  So, I clung to a few half-bottles and forgot to open them.  Tonight I opened the first of two remaining bottles and was disappointed by how I seemed to have missed the boat.  Sure, many of my other 2005 Cabernets are starting to fade, but they still possess some of their original wow! factor that had attracted me to the wines.  But this wine has evolved beyond that point to where it is simply a nice wine with nothing remarkable about it.  I did decant for an hour before drinking, which should have helped (perhaps it needed more air time).  On the very even palette I noticed red and black fruits backed by minerals, all tightly woven so that no one flavor stood out.  The balance was great, but that’s about it.  I wonder how the last bottle will evolve.

2005 Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon