Introducing College Uncorked!

Hey y'all!

We're Alejandra and Paul, two Wine and Viticulture students at Cal Poly here to help you wade through the sea of inexpensive wine.

Wine can be delicious, but delicious wine can get reeeaal expensive. And if you're anything like us, you can't afford to be dropping a bunch of cash on wine every week. So you aim for the $5-15 price point (we won't talk about boxed wines... yet), and it's pretty hit or miss. You go to the store, and the only thing you really have to go off of are the backs of bottles. Not very helpful (just look at the "Winemaker's Notes" on our first bottle down there. What you need are honest reviews. Not snobby or esoteric tasting notes. So we'll be here every week, drinking cheap wine and avoiding our homework to help you class up your Netflix "date" night without breaking the bank.

For our first ever Monday post, and with Valentines Day just around the corner, we picked a perfect wine for you to enjoy with your significant... self.  Ringing in at just $9.99, today we tasted 2012 Caretaker Cabernet from Paso Robles, CA. Pleasant aromas of dark fruit with a little bit of spice; pair this slightly over-tannic wine with caramel milk chocolate squares and loneliness to cut the bitterness. Full tasting notes continued on the next page.

Cheers,
A&P




2012 Caretaker Cabernet Sauvingnon (clones 7&8)
13.5% Alcohol by Volume
$9.99 at Trader Joe's
Paired with Ghirardelli caramel milk chocolate squares

(Sensory based on the 2014 Court deductive tasting grid)

Sight
Slightly cloudy, bright ruby color, medium concentration. Some rim variation but color holds fairly well. No sediment.

Nose
Clean nose, moderate bouquet intensity. Overtones of black cherry, boysenberry, currant.
Light black pepper spice. Hints of herbaceous and vegetal stem aromas as it opened up a little bit.

Palate
Off-dry, tannic and a bit harsh. Medium acid, med-low alcohol, and lean body. The tannins are pretty overpowering, not very balanced at opening. After sitting the tannins mellowed considerably (or maybe that was just the first glass kicking in!)

Flavors
What jumped out at us initially were the dark fruit flavors- dried cherry, fresh blackberry. There was a decent balance in flavors, with a little bit of dustiness in the back of the mouth. All in-all, not too complex with a long finish, and pretty drinkable.

Solid 7/10 once you get past the tannins.