Criterion Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

This cabernet sauvignon from the winery Criterion Cellars, sources the grapes for this wine from the famed Chalk Hill region of Sonoma County. The Chalk Hill region is very well known for producing wines that are dense, rich, expressive wines. It was the advertising of this region on the label that attracted me to try this wine. The wine pours a deep, dark purple in the glass. The aromas are light but show notes of cassis. Upon first taste, I was not very happy. The flavors were tight with a strong astringency. I decided to leave it in the decanter a while longer to see if something changed. After almost an hour decanting, this wine is still very tight. It puckers the mouth and has nothing to offer. A complete and total waste of my money. Very disappointing.

Addendum: Next evening…tried a sample from the decanter…although I would still not rate this wine very highly, it had opened up and was not the tight astringent bomb it had been the night before. Some wines simply need more time to develop their characteristics. My rating below shows the before and after tasting.

Rating 4 (6.4)