Blind Tasting - 2009 Snap Dragon Cabernet Sauvignon

Tonight's wine was our first Blind Tasting of 2012 (technically a double blind as we didn't know the grape or the country).  Snap Dragon is a very nice smelling wine that had a medium to dark look to it in the glass.  It smelled familiar but we could not pick out anything that nailed down the grape.  In fact, there were several smells that threw us off, such as butterscotch and coffee.  It was a fruit forward nose and was a bit jammy which pointed toward Syrah/Shiraz or even Pinotage but there was not enough residual sugar on the palate to make that guess stick.
 
It definitely smelled New World to us, which meant more oak on the nose and even a little spice/hotness.  So, that pushed us (sticking to the Pinotage idea towards South Africa - which was wrong).  Second guessing on that, it did have a California kind of feel to it but it was a little light in colour for us to settle on Cabernet Sauvignon (which it was).  So, after all of that we got close on the New World, guessing California on the second try, and fumbling our way to Cab Sauv after that.

Overall, it is a nice drinking wine which would be drinkable with or without food.  The nose, once you know where it is from, makes sense as California but it still has that coffee/chocolate thing going on which while familiar as Cab still pushed us in the wrong direction.

Nice wine and not a typical Cali Cab nose or taste.  At $13 - $14, try it.

Keep on drinking!

Chris & Shannon