Beware: The Wine Price May Fool You

I visited a good friend, and Casual Wine member, this weekend. Right as my wife and I arrived, he had opened a bottle of wine he had received as a gift from someone. It was an 2015 Acre Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Vivino had it rated 4.1 but that was for fewer than 10 ratings. It showed an average price of $42.47.

He had tasted it and didn’t really like it. He didn’t want to give me his opinion so he wouldn’t bias me. It was an unfamiliar taste to me. I was expecting a nice, Napa Valley cab and instead got a lot of cherry and a strong chocolate taste. There was something odd about it. It was more acidic going down than I like. There was too much mineral and I usually like that.

When I then read what other people had to say about it, there was mention of fig, red licorice, star anise and banana. I could see why people would say that about this. I could catch hints of all those too.

The thing was, that’s not what I’m looking to find out of a $40+ Napa Cab. It was off what was expected and just not something I like.

I’m not here to bash any wine just for the heck of it. I did want to warn you that price and wine do not correlate. I’ve had some surprisingly good sub-$10 bottles and I’ve had $40+ bottles that I didn’t care for. That’s just the way it goes.

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