Jordan 2004 Cabernet vs. Farella Park 2005 Cabernet

Ok, so yesterday before we left the store we went down to the Trophy Room to compare some wines.  The wines we compared were the 2004 Jordan Cabernet (an icon in the industry, a California classic, a wine almost every Cab drinker knows) with the new 2005 Farella Park Cabernet.  Now, I'd tried other vintages of the Farella Park before and had had a glass of this same vintage on Thursday so I already knew I loved the Farella Park.  But this was Jordan, a wine I'd never had but had obviously heard a lot about.  To me this seemed like I was going to be comparing my favorite homemade steak with something it just couldn't hope to match up with from the Red River Chophouse.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  I sniffed the Jordan and got a wonderful Cabernet nose; rich hints of earthy Oak with berries of cassis and blackberries.  I then nosed the Farella Park; more cassis but hints of strawberries, just a little smokiness and overall just bigger and with tons more depth than the first wine.  Then I tried the Jordan, it was wonderful; just what a standard cabernet drinker would want from a Cali Cab.  It was flavorful, oaky, hints of wonderful berries and just enough tannin on the finish.  This was really good Cab and I very much enjoyed my first taste.  Moving on to the Farella Park though; like night and day.  Again the Farella park seemed to posess everything the Jordan did but in much higher quantity.  The flavors were bigger, the tannins were stronger (leading me to believe that this wine will only get even more amazing in a few years!), and the overall taste and mouthfeel was just exponentially BETTER than the first wine!  I could barely believe it, I mean the Farella Park is $15 LESS than the Jordan and is flat amazing!  It all becomes a little more reasonable when you consider the types of wine these are; Jordan makes TONS of this wine, cases numbering in the thousands, Tom Farella produced 193 cases of his Cabernet.  It's like comparing a Camero to a Maserati.  Sure the Camero is awesome but it's not handmade like the Maserati.  This is a perfect example of Jordan being a mass consumer wine and Farella Park being a boutique wine, it's almost not fair to the Jordan to compare them. 

Jordan-94pts

Farella Park-96pts

Terrazas Reserva Malbec

This wine is great.  It's yet another spectactular effort from the house of Moet-Hennessy.  They seem to have a gift for finding the best wines especially in South America.  This wine is spicy, which I love, and is very smooth-textured in the mouth.  I picked up the hints of blueberry mentioned in the "official" tasting notes and rather enjoyed this wine all around.  A great buy and a great wine for just about any occassion.

This wine got an 89 from Parker but I give it a 91 for affordability meets quality.

"Give me wine to wash me clean of the weather-stains of care."
Ralph Waldo Emerson