I think I’ve mentioned Chimney Rock before, but never in such an enthusiastic way! I just visited State College, PA (home of the Penn State Nittany Lion) last week. It was my job to peruse the local wine shop for a wine suitable for a tasty filet mignon dinner. The one and only store in the vicinity is what I like to call the North Atherton Wine & Spirits shop. All of these stores are regulated by the PLCB (Penna Liquor Control Board), so not one can be distinguished from the other by name.
This store is located, obviously, on North Atherton: sandwiched between a Hi-Way Pizza and a Red Lobster. Once you walk in, you need to head directly to the back left-hand side of the store. This is where all of the Cabs, Merlots, Syrahs, Pinots, Shirazs and Zinfandels are located. I actually had a hard time deciding what I wanted to buy. They had the big name wineries coupled with the big prices, along with many of the day-to-day wines you can find at the Cheesecake Factory. I thought I would have to bite the bullet and buy a bottle of Nickel and Nickel for an unscenely amount of money, until I looked to the top shelf and saw the recognizable scalloped-edge wine label that Chimney Rock is known for. Even more to my surprise, this 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon was only $45.00. For a Stag’s Leap Cab, that price is a steal!
Note: All Napa Valley wines that say: “Generic Valley Vineyards” 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, it means its 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Only when they give them nifty nicknames like: Elevage, Four Sons or Elizabeth is when you need to ask what the blend consists of. I have never found a wine in Napa Valley that has shown me to the contrary.
I bought the wine along with a Two Hands The Bull and The Bear 2005 Shiraz/Cabernet Blend. Thankfully it was a relatively inexpensive trip to the wine store. I headed back to my Penn State haven in College Heights and immediately opened up the bottle of Chimney Rock. We paired it with filet mignon, garlic mashed potatoes, and mushrooms and greenbeans. It was perfect. There is a reason the Wine Spectator gave it a 90 rating. Its a bold yet smooth Stag’s Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon with hints of tobacco and black fruit, but not over bearing like some others. For that very reason, you probably couldn’t cellar this wine for the normal 10-15 years; instead its better to drink it within the next five years.
The only problem we ran into that night was that we had to open up the bottle of Two Hands once we finished the Chimney Rock, and it just couldn’t compare.
