A little wine – Cakebread Cellars

       One of our reps brought someone from Cakebread Cellars by today. I have been suffering from Cakebread fatigue for the last year. Like Sonoma Cutrer, they have stamped a not entirely undeserved claim to mid range chardonnay superiority. It’s not that I’m tired of being asked if we offer their chard, it’s that I’m tired of the exasperation and surprise on the face of those who reply “but it’s the best.” There are a lot of those people. I’m being a shitfaced snob here because I realize that as a restaurant we want to give people what they want, but I taste 20 – 30 wines a week and have found better, cheaper chards than Cakebread. Cakebread delivers a very nice wine and people have come to accept that the name is synonymous with quality, primarily because of the accolades their high end cabs have garnered. I’m a guy in a tie saying try something you’ve never heard of. Who you gonna trust.
       Anyway, we tried the 06 sauvignon blanc, the 06 Napa chard, and the 04 Napa cab. 
       The sauv. blanc was the winner. It has a little citrus on the nose and nice fruit throughout. I usually feel that California sauv. blanc falls flat. This does not. The chard was as expected: very good, but not up to the hype. The bottle we tasted was a little warm so I’m expecting that it will be crisper when properly chilled. The cab was overly lactic and bound to dissapoint those who have had the Benchland Select.
       I bought the sauv. blanc and the chard. I’m tired of fighting it. I’m also tired of fighting the urge to write “let them drink Cakebread” no matter how corny it sounds, so I did.