2006 Stefania Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Cruz Mountains

For a long time, this has been my favorite wine in the Stefania lineup, however, now that I have tried the 2007, I am not sure that that may still be the case.  As I write this now, it is really hard to say, but I think we will have to taste the two side by side here in the next few months so that I can really make a good decision!

Again, this was popped and poured tonight, along with all the other wines in the lineup that we drank tonight.  Nice garnet color in the glass like always, and a gorgeous nose of currants, cassis, and jammy cherry and raspberry.  Secondary hints of menthal, mocha and spice round out the nose.

On the palate, more cassis and creamy fruits dominate, with hints of vanilla.  Tons of black and blue fruit seemed to dominate the palate, with a smooth finish and well integrated tannins.  As always, this was a fabulous bottle, and worthy of 92 points!  Can't wait to open one of these again soon!  Cheers!

2006 Stefania Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Cruz Mountains

How many times can F. Scott and Zelda possibly drink and write about Paul and Stefania Romero's wines of Stefania? Well, unfortunately for you all, you are going to have to keep reading about them until we finally run out of them, but I don't see that happening for quite sometime. You all know how much of wine lovers we are, and how we like to drink many different varietals of wines from a whole plethora of producers. Who might the number one producer in our cellar be? You guessed it, Stefania, for good reason! Paul and Stef are crafting incredible wines, at incredible prices, that really suit our palates! A quick Grape Stories report reveals that we have 116 bottles of Stefania in our cellar, making up almost 16% of our total inventory! I think that those numbers speak wonders for what Paul and Stef are doing with their fruit! This happens to be the third bottle of this particular wine that we have opened, and has showed the best yet out of all of them. This wine was open for about 2 hours prior to consumption, and the nose revealed nice sweet and dark berries, with hints of mint, eucalyptus, tobacco, and currants, with a bit of cedar and and cassis. On the palate, this is where the wine really shines, and I would put this wine up against many cabernet in the $60-$100 price range. Awesome full bodied creamy feel of dark cherry, cassis, currants, blackberry, and spice, with a good acidity, and nice soft tannins. I am actually pretty surprised at just how soft the tannins are on this wine as it is so young, yet I do believe that this wine will age easily or another 10 years, and get better as it goes. Regardless, I do not think that extended aging is necessary for this wine as it is drinking so well now. I also do not believe that this wine needs to be decanted, and is just as good popped and poured. Even so, this wine does benefit with air, and only gets better with more time to open up. In short, what is there to say other than awesome! At $32, this is an incredible QPR, and such a pleasant wine to open and share with friends! Kudos to Paul and Stef on taking such pride in such affordable wines! 93 points! Cheers! -F. Scott