Mrs alphageek purchased Robert Mondavi Private Selection Aged in Bourbon Barrels for me. I decided that the connection to a bourbon barrel makes enough of a connection to make the wine eligible for an appearance here on the web site.

The trend is to insert a product such as beer or coffee into a used bourbon barrel to try to capitalize on the booming popularity of bourbon, in this case wine. This marketing strategy worked. After all, you are reading the review right here. When the alphageek moved here, the local distillery used to give away the bourbon barrels. People used the barrels as planters. The distilleries probably like being able to make a little money off of the barrels these days.

This is a Cabernet Sauvignon. You might think that the alphageek would know all about wine types. You would be wrong. I can tell you with authority that the wine is made from grapes and that the wine is red. Oh, there is a fermentation step in there too.

Nose: the wine carries a hint of oak. The rest of the scent seems to be a combination of leather and tobacco.

Pop: There is a bitter bite to the red wine up front.

Taste: I get a hint of bourbon in the wine, but nothing like I get when drinking my favorite bourbon barrel aged beers. The taste is not exciting.

Finish: The wine goes down smoothly, begging for another sip.

While not bad, the wine is not great either. This might be why I don’t drink wine very often. I can’t help but think this bourbon barrel could have been put to better use aging another product. I would drink the wine again, but my preference would be to move on to something else.