Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/14611
Does a Bear Sip in the Woods? his is a bold move for Cakebread,” Dennis Cakebread points out as he pours us a glass of the winery’s fi rst vintage in distribution of “Dancing Bear Ranch” single-vineyard red blend—79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cab Franc and 17% Merlot—from a 200-acre Napa Valley property that is as rocky as it is diverse. The 30 acres planted to vine vary in elevation, soil type and sun pattern. “T “A single-vineyard wine can be a challenge, but we have options here from which to choose. This is not one fl at site with one type of soil. That would be like creating an orchestra solely with clarinets,” he muses. The Cakebreads took a risk when they started with bare land in 2002 and planted vines, developing this mountain vineyard section by section. But while the $105 (SRP) a bottle doesn’t scare away buyers, it was and is an on- going challenge to scare away grape poaching bears from the site. “We even tried a boom box and that didn’t change anything.” Hence the name Dancing Bear. We got down with this big wine, but it’s more of a mama bear than a testoster- one-fi lled mountain brute. The fruit of the nose is dense and dances into a chorus line of raspberry and mocha latte. Soil and sweet pipe tobacco take a bow at the end, which seems to go on fur-ever. —M.M. Available through Kobrand Dennis Cakebread introduced THE TASTING PANEL to the Cakebread 200 Howell Mountain “Dancing Bear Ranch,” a single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon blend. Imported by Babco imports Manhassat New Jersey ALWAYS ABOUT QUALITY PHOTO: MERIDITH MAY