Low end of the Mondavi wines, ... but am pleasantly surprised - 2005 Mondavi Woodbridge, Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine was given to me, and has rested in my closet for a year and a half at least; it’s a large bottle, twice the size of a normal bottle, being 1.5 liters (750ml bottles are priced at around $7.99 in most stores - in 2008).

This is the low end of the Mondavi wines, the Woodbridge, so I didn’t expect much from it, but am pleasantly surprised. Although light and not very concentrated, it features the herbal flavors that you sometimes find in Cabernet, rather than the fruit flavors. I taste dill, and sweet soft tannin. Tannin is found in the skin of apples, and also in tea; it can be bitter and astringent when unbalanced, and is often what people don’t like about big red wines. But in this wine, it’s a compliment. I can smell in this wine grapes other than Cabernet, as it only has to be 3/4 Cabernet, by law. I believe it may be mixed with Grenache, or other lesser known grapes, so the taste is not pure cabernet, but pleasant, none the less.

Drank with chicken stuffed with spinach and gorgonzola, green beans sautéed with onion and garlic, salad of watercress with garlic, lemon, orange, dulse, and onions. With dinner, the wine was subdued, not powerful enough to compete with the gorgonzola cheese in the chicken, and the raw garlic, onion, and lemon in the salad, but complimented the green beans, which had a touch of dill in them.

Overall, a light, but flavorful, wine.