Cheap & Cheerful - 2020 Ocnautic Cabernet Sauvignon

Do you remember Merlot? In the 90s, it was billed as the softer alternative to Cabernet, with more fruit and less tannins. After a minute of fame, California Merlot was exposed as really just an uninteresting wine, as producers were trying to make the grape into a wine that was contrary to its own existence. ‘Sideways’ put the final nail in the Merlot coffin, and sales plummeted.  Since then, however, California Cabernet Sauvignon has been on a journey, transforming itself from old school, stately, much aging required wines, crafted to compete with Bordeaux, to the current generation of bold, fruit forward and accessible wines designed to be consumed at release. One could suggest that today’s Cab tastes like Merlot was supposed to taste and never did. (I mean that as a compliment)

Ocnautic is from Paso Robles, which is halfway between LA and San Francisco, and benefits from the Southern California sunshine and the Northern California nights. This combination both accelerates and restrains ripening, which allows the subsequent wine to be bold, yet soft; fruity, yet not sweet; fresh, yet not thin. It’s a wine successfully designed to be easy, both to on the wallet and at the table. (PW)