This Appassimento method red wine impressed us on day one, and it continued to shine 5 days later!
Name: La Penna
Vintage: 2012
Producer: Cave Spring Vineyard
Region/Country: Beamsville Bench, Niagara, Ontario, Canada
Grape Varietal(s): Cabernet Franc
Alcohol Level: 17% (at this alcohol level, La Penna approaches some fortified wines)
Consumed: At home
Recommended By: At the winery.
Cost: $49.95 CAD (cost of the current vintage)
For the more detailed wine review, read on…
Bottle Presentation
The classic Cave Spring signature, clean style with the hawk on the bottle. It links to the name of the wine, La Penna, which means feather in Italian.
Appearance
Medium garnet.
Nose
Clean, pronounced intensity nose, with raisin, fig, prune, marzipan, hazelnut, sarsaparilla, anise, vanilla, almond, coconut, charred cedar, minced meat pie, mint, menthol, balsamic vinegar. We’d consider this a fully developed wine.
Palate
Dry, full-bodied, high acidity, high tannins, and high alcohol. Pronounced flavour intensity with notes of blackberry, anise, black cherry, raisin, vanilla, coconut, balsamic glaze, mint, menthol, sarsaparilla, and white pepper.
Finish
A long finish. Consider it a gift that keeps on giving!
Overall Impressions
This 2012 La Penna is nothing short of a very good wine with mainly tertiary notes. We opened the wine about an hour before tasting it, and we were rewarded with its a great complexity and intensity. Though the alcohol is very high (into the fortified wine percentages), it’s well integrated into the wine, so not overbearing. That is quite a feat, so congratulations to the Cave Spring winemaking team.
Given these characteristics, this wine is well worth pouring now, as opposed to cellaring it. We can’t see it improving with age, although, as noted, it has staying power.
The 2012 La Penna will reward those who were patient enough to wait until now to enjoy it. Not a sipping wine, this offering needed hearty and flavourful food to match its bold, powerful character. The 2012 La Penna was sweet and spicy with our Filets Mignons and grilled vegetables. It got better as it warmed up a little, that is, once it exceeded the recommended serving temperature of 15-18°C for this type of wine.
Because we didn’t finish the wine (we couldn’t believe it, either), we pumped the air out of the bottle and stored it in the fridge to enjoy later. This turned out to be five days later… Imagine our surprise when the 2012 La Penna had turned into more of a sipping wine, to be enjoyed on its own like a nice Port! It became wonderfully smooth, like a balsamic reduction or glaze.
All that to say, drink this 2012 La Penna now!
Ratings
Overall Rating: 93/10
E-Wine rating: 3/5. We’d purchase another bottle of 2012 La Penna from Cave Spring as it is drinking well right now. We would, of course, let it warm to room temperature (we hear the wine snobs gasp right now) and then enjoy some then and there while leaving the rest for a few days later. Who knew?
Value: 3/5.