Wine reviews
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Passionnement is a relatively small cuvée of 250 cases from Oakville. Sweet tannin, a seamless entry on the palate, an opaque ruby/purple color and a big kiss of crème de cassis, blackberry, scorched earth and burning embers is followed by a wine with a long finish, moderate tannin and surprising intensity and power for a 2014. Drink it over the next 30 years.-RP Luc Morlet (whose brother Nicolas Morlet is winemaker at Peter Michael) continues to fine-tune his beautiful historic stone winery on Rt. 29, just to the north of the Culinary Institute of America. His newest lineup of wines continues his production of three cuvées of Chardonnay, three cuvées of Pinot Noir, a Syrah, a Sauvignon/Semillon Blanc, five Bordeaux-inspired Cabernet Sauvignons and a Cabernet Franc. All of the Chardonnays are based around the Old Wente clone that is so popular with the top Chardonnay winemakers. Rumor has it that it probably came from the great Grand Cru vineyard known as Corton-Charlemagne in Burgundy in the 1930s, but no one has the evidence to prove it.