California Wines & Wineries

2019 J-M-L Cabernet Sauvignon from Secret Door – Two Out of Two Christmas Gnomes Recommend It

Posted on November 29, 2023

The Winery

Secret Door is one of the wineries founded by Donald Patz in 2017. The Secret Door is dedicated to making Cabernet Sauvignon from selected vineyards exclusively from the Napa Valley. One of his trademarks is using only 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes with no other grapes blended into the mix. His other brands are 1) Maritana Vineyards making Russian River Valley Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines and 2) Terminim making Mendocino County Marsanne/Roussanne and Syrah wines.

The J-M-L label is dedicated to his partner Jung Min Lee whose caricature is sketched on the label.

The Wine- 2019 J-M-L Cabernet Sauvignon –“Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson

_{Photo ©Michael Kelly}

This wine shows more of the grace and elegance of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines as opposed to the “bold, oaky and with strong tannins”. On the eyes, a deep and dark inky coloration and heavy viscosity.  On the nose, light aromas of black cherries and herbal qualities. On the palate, dry robust flavors await the taster. The black cherries are predominate with a tinge of soft “grandfather easy chair pipe tobacco” with moderate oak and black pepper. The finish had smooth tannins yet enough to provide a little pucker in the back of the mouth and counter balanced with a fresh vanilla flavor. It was an easy choice for the Christmas Gnomes to give this wine the nod of acceptance.

_{Photo ©Michael Kelly}

This wine was chosen with this anonymous quote in mind, “Adventure may hurt you, but monotony will kill you”. As you will read below, Pinot Noir was the obvious choice for the meal, but wanted to experiment with a secondary recommendation of Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.

The Food and Wine Pairing   “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon

_{Photo ©Michael Kelly}

For tonight’s meal a BBQ’ed pork tenderloin with a homemade rub usually calls for a Pinot Noir. It is an obvious choice and one we normally subscribe to. However a dry Cabernet Sauvignon or a mellow Merlot is also considered a secondary choice. The rub consisted of brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Presented with drizzled cherry pepper sauce with was deliciously simpatico with the wine. Accompanied by a Russet potato and roasted halved Brussel sprouts with a glaze of balsamic vinegar reduction.

A very good food and wine pairing meal experiment. Reflectively, while the food and wine were both good, I would opt for the Pinot Noir as the wine of choice going forward with pork tenderloin.

Sláinte,

Michael

https://californiawinesandwineries.com

https://donaldpatzwinegroup.com/