October 4, 2018

Cask & Barrel Cabernet Sauvignon

I’m going to start drinking my heavy winter reds now.  It is October, the Halloween decorations are up (much to my husband’s chagrin).  Beef stew is cooking in my slow cooker and my favorite spooky wine bottles (collected over many years) are lined up atop my wine cabinet.

I’m also going to ignore the outside thermometer that says it is 84. 

I love fall.  I love Halloween, heavier fall wines, stewing pumpkin butter on my stove, the crisp air for my morning walk, and the changing colors.  It is now, and always has been, my favorite season.  (Pumpkin spice aside.  I don not drink pumpkin spice coffee drinks.  I do not eat pumpkin spice pretzels.  Or pumpkin spice hot chocolate.  I will never buy pumpkin spice scented hand soap.  Pumpkin spice is good for two things – pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie.)

Today I’m cleaning out my gardens and flower beds, preparing them for fall plants next week.  Out come the tomato plants and begonias, in go pansies and winter greens.  The action is ritualistic – a reminder that when we fill ourselves with dead and dying plants or people, the people that have fulfilled their purpose in our life and must move on, we won’t have time for new friendships or successes. 

After a long, difficult summer it’s time to also ritualistically let go of the people, places, and things that do not have a place in my life any more.  It’s not a sad moment, it is a moment of gratitude.  The tomato plants provided me with fruit over the summer that made fabulous sandwiches.  The people of my past gave me guidance and friendship that I will forever be grateful for and will always be part of the fabric of my being.

But now, there are new, amazing, wonderful friends waiting for their turn to brighten my life and fill it with sunshine.

Fall is not, as so many believe, a time of death.  It is a time of renewal.  A time to give thanks for what we have and prepare for the blessings to come.

This wine uses something old – bourbon barrels – to make a new wine.  Cabernet Sauvignon aged in bourbon barrels.  Blending California grapes with American oak Kentucky bourbon barrels creates a heavy, earthy wine.  It has smokiness like a leaf pile burning in the fall, but could use some aeration.  It’s a bit young.

Overall, a good wine for a cool, fall evening.