Vintage Report: 2020 Cali Cab

I write about wine because I can't help it. I have to talk about this, and my voice is just too monotone to hear everyday. Not for you, for me. I can barely stand it. But reading my work lets me channel other voices. Today, in my head, I sound like Barry Gordy. Yesterday, it was the Indian guy from House. That one perk would be enough. But every now and then, I'm fortunate enough to get something even more tangible than that: alcohol. Unlike most wine publications, I don't solicit samples, but I do gladly accept them. And in the interest of objectivity, I either cook with them or stick them in the back of my cellar and pull them months later, once I've forgotten whether or not I paid for them. It's not Pricewaterhouse, but it works for me. So it was with great surprise today that I pulled back the brown paper bag I'd been pouring wine from this morning (oaky Australian grenache, I'd guessed) to reveal my first taste of the new vintage: 2020 Brentwood L.A. AVA California Cabernet. Sent from one of California's most respected cult wineries, this release is part of a new futures series soon hitting stores. "In anticipation of a warm year, plus the high probability of nuclear fallout and a renewed Republican government, we've gone ahead and selected our 2020 grapes. They clock in at more than 26 brix (a high sugar content in today's terms), but I should point out that one brix in the year 2020 represents 10 brix today. This is due to inflation." More to come...