Familia Traversa Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
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Wilfred
Wong
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Intense ruby color with violet tones. A fresh herbal aroma with hints of green pepper and spice notes makes a seductive nose. Elegant structure, fleshy and complex flavor. Ideal to accompany semi-hard cheeses, red meats, game roasts, and casserole meals.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Familia Traversa Cabernet Sauvignon is rustic and authentic. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers aromas and flavors of savory spices, tangy red and black fruits, and rocks-in-the-desert. Try it with grilled lamb kebabs. (Tasted: July 27, San Francisco, CA)
With over 240 hectares of vineyards, Familia Traversa is not a small operation, but it operates like one. Founded in 1956, the 4th generation of the Traversa family is intimately involved in every aspect of vineyard management and winemaking.
The family operates the finca sustainably on all levels, from producing 75% of their own energy needs from rooftop solar, to green-cover in the vineyards eliminating the need for herbicides, to recycling the pomace left from winemaking which replaces chemical fertilizers. Even their state of the art farm equipment was selected for its fuel efficiency which also lowers the amount of exhaust fumes in the vineyards.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Considered one of the most environmentally sustainable countries in the world, Uruguay is also the fourth largest wine producing country in South America. But in contrast to its neighbors (Chile, Argentina and even Brazil) Uruguay keeps more in step with its European progenitors where land small holdings are most common. Most Uruguayan farms are tiny (averaging only about five hectares) and family-run, many dating back multiple generations. At this size, growers either make small amounts of wine for local consumption or sell grapes to a nearby winery. In all of Uruguay there are close to 3,500 growers but fewer than 300 wineries.
On these small plots of land, manual tending and harvesting, as well as low yields are favored; this small agricultural country has never had a need for large-scale chemical fertilizers or insecticides. Their thriving meat industry also follows the same standards: hormones have been banned since 1968 and today all Uruguayan beef is organic and grass-fed.
Uruguay’s best vineyards are on the Atlantic coast, in Canelones and Maldonado (where cooling breezes lessen humidity) or found hugging its border with Argentina. With a climate similar to Bordeaux and soils clay-rich and calcareous, Uruguay is perfect for Tannat, a thick-skinned, red variety native to Southwest, France. A great Tannat from Uruguay will have no lack of rich red and black fruit, lots of sweet spice and a hefty structure. Sometimes winemakers blend Merlot or Pinot noir with Tannat to soften up its rough edges.
The best Uruguayan whites include Sauvignon blanc and Albarino.