2004 Pepperwood Grove Cabernet Sauvignon - $9.99

June 22, 2006

Background: The Pepperwood Grove line of wines is part of the Three Loose Screws label produced by Don Sebastiani & Sons. The Don Sebastiani & Sons winery was started in 2001 by Don Sebastiani and his two sons, Donny and August. Don Sebastiani is the youngest son of August Sebastiani who started the Sebastiani winery in 1904. Don ran the Sebastiani winery from 1986 to 2000 when he decided to step down as CEO and start a new winery with his sons. There must have been a family feud of sorts, because the original Sebastiani winery is currently run by Mary Ann Sebastiani Cuneo and her husband, Richard A. Cuneo. Mary Ann is the daughter of August Sebastiani and the brother of Don Sebastiani. Something must have happened for Don to decide to leave the family business and start his own winery, which competes with his sister's winery. What drama! Anyway, more about the Pepperwood Grove label. The wines are priced around $10 and have a peppery flavor, hence the name. The label design is inspired by the beautiful swirls of the bristle cone tree.

My Tasting Notes: I've had this wine several times in the past and served it at dinner parties. It's a great wine for those that don't drink wine very often. The wine has a faint nose of ripe berries and is fruit forward on the palate. Medium to full bodied with subtle flavors of black berries, cherries, French oak, and figs. The tannins are supple, but provide enough structure for heavier meals. This particular bottle, my fourth in the last few weeks, was a little bitter. I suspect the bitterness came from chilling the bottle for 20 minutes, because once it warmed up, the bitterness disappeared. So, I would recommend not chilling this wine.

The Meal: Medium-rare New York strip steak, steamed broccoli, and tabouli salad. First let me say that tabouli salad and steak do not work together. The wine only made the tabouli salad even worse, so we ditched the tabouli salad and just had the steak and broccoli. The Pepperwood Cabernet Sauvignon was a good match with the steak. 

My Score: 84

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