Ondine Chattan Cannonball Eleven Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
About the wine
Luxurious, barrel-aged Cabernet from your star of Sonoma
- Rich and velvety, with bottomless depths of flavor, this is one seriously refined Cabernet, with decadent bursts of fruit, like nibbling your way through a bowl of black cherries and blackberries, and a lavish, toasty finish thanks to two years of barrel-aging in French oak.
- For this luxurious Cabernet, Ondine looked to northern Sonoma County, where her long-term relationships with the area’s top growers got her VIP access to hand-picked grapes from four of the most sought-after vineyards.
- This acclaimed Cabernet has earned oodles of 90-point ratings and awards. The only thing is, being a very limited small-lot production, there’s just not much to go around – don’t miss your chance to score a bottle while it lasts. As Ondine says, “Every day is a Cabernet day, so why wait?”
Best before
Cabernet is perhaps the most age-worthy of wines and when it is grown on hillsides (as is this bottling) there is great potential in the structure for increased depth and complexity when cellared. That being said, the juicy, voluptuous fruit is most apparent in the wine in its youth, so depending upon what the Angel desires in a Cab, enjoyment may be preferable in the near vs the short term. This wine will hold up for at least a few years and with time the dark fruit will turn to more of a dried fruit palate and the dusty tannins will evolve to more of a loamy/mineral character with spice and earth notes leading the way and the juiciness becoming more of a fruit leather note. To catch this wine at its peak of crowd-pleasing balance, enjoy it over the next 2 to 3 years.
Serving advice
Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys a good, deep breath upon opening. While there is no need to decant this wine, I do enjoy giving it a healthy swirl in a large-bowl glass (even better with a very thin lip on the glass) as doing so brings the bouquet out and releases so many fabulous aromas. If you are serving with a planned pairing, go ahead and open it 30 minutes before serving or pour and allow to sit for a short while in the glass before taking the first sip. I am a big proponent of 'the day after' enjoyment of wines and with nearly every Cabernet Sauvignon I have had the willpower to hold overnight I have found it improved - anecdotal but certainly worth trying!
Food match
Braised short ribs with mushrooms and tomatoes over polenta is a great comfort food dish to pair with Cabernet Sauvignon. For a vegetarian option, mashed herbed potatoes with mushrooms and shallots is decadent and earthy as well as substantial enough to hold its own against this weighty Cab. Another winner is grilled pork tenderloin over wild rice.
Contains sulphites
Always check the label
USA
Sonoma County
Cabernet Sauvignon
Big Red
14.5% ABV
750ml
Wine profile
Meet the winemaker - Ondine Chattan
Unmistakably one of the North Coast’s top winemaking talents, Ondine Chattan’s worked for wine institutions – famed wineries like Ridge Vineyards, Cline Cellars, and spent decades running famed Healdsburg winery Geyser Peak.
Does Geyser Peak sound familiar? It should – it’s the long-time winemaking home of one legendary Daryl Groom – and it’s where these decades-long colleagues and friends met. They’re still close… in fact, they might collaborate on exclusive wines now and again.*wink.*
Ondine is awestruck by the wine community Angels have built – and she wants to help it grow. “I truly connect to people through the wines I make,” she said. “The stories of the growers, the vineyards, and the process behind the wine are as vital to me as grapes.”
Ratings
67,071
Followers
15,842
