The Seventy-Five Wine Company - 2008 "The Sum" cabernet sauvignon / syrah (United States)

Today's wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon / Syrah blend from California-based The Seventy-Five Wine Company, as distributed by Tuck Beckstoffer Wines. It's called "The Sum."

This was, of course, another purchase from Charles Bissell. I've had it for probably 5 years now, it being one of the special "cellarable" bottles that I have. Most red wines can safely cellar for at least a year or two, but some are meant to be left for longer. Fewer still need aging time before they can be properly enjoyed. This one, I was told, was a particularly good year for the grapes (well, formerly grapes) inside and so that it would cellar. So, I bought it in 2010 and popped it into my cellar.

Let's talk grapes. This wine is made from two varietals of grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Cabernet Sauvignon itself is a hybrid of two grapes: cabernet franc (a dark-colored grape) and sauvignon blanc (a light-green colored grape.) The resulting mixture has been called "the king of grapes" and is one of the most frequently-planted grapes in the world. Syrah, on the other hand, is also a hybrid grape, but a much older one. It's a hybrid of Mondeuse blanche and Dureza, two grapes from southern France that had almost dwindled out of existence, but have made a resurgence thanks to DNA profiling that revealed them to the parents of ultra-popular Syrah.

The wine pours nicely and opens up to the air. It's got some interesting fruit / berry smells wafting up from the glass, with a tinge of alcohol smell as well. After the requisite time to open up, I dove right in.

I was definitely expecting a big berry taste, since the wine is billed as a big-and-bold California red, but was instead met with a much more muted and polished taste. The tannin and strength I was made to expect ended up being softened, most likely with age, and instead came through as clean fruit flavors on the tongue. The aftertaste was of slight alcohol but not unpleasant.

One thing I liked very much was softness of the wine. It's a little more mellow than I was expecting, and that's not a bad thing, at all, since I find sometimes the boldness of a wine (the tannic output or "heft") can really distract from the flavors or from what you're serving. So this wine was a great success, and it really just goes to show you how cellaring can make a difference. What ought to be a "big and bold" California red ends up mellowing out to something much softer but still full of flavor.