2004 Raymond Burr Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

Mission Codename: A Wine in the Sun

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Send Agent Red back to Raymond Burr winery, to retrieve their stellar Cabernet Sauvignon – before it goes on lock-down!

Mission Status: Accomplished

Current Winery: Raymond Burr Vineyards

Wine Subject: 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker: John Quinones

Backgrounder: Our Operatives know that we are huge fans of Raymond Burr wines. We have featured two of their wines previously, but today’s is the best of the bunch! This 2004 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, a multi-medal winner (it just took GOLD at the 2008 San Diego International Wine Competition), is fragrant, balanced, big and richly delicious. When our friends at Raymond Burr offered our Operatives a chance to pick up this gem of a wine, we were thrilled. Read Agent Red’s tasting notes and click the big blue button to grab some of this special wine – before we run out

Wine Spies Tasting Profile, by Agent Red:

Look – Deep ruby to burgundy in color with great clarity and concentrated color to the edge of the glass, the wine has a fast-moving surface and thinny-thin closely-space legs that move slowly down the glass

Smell – Bright and juicy aromatics with big cherry, black cherry, currant, dried edible flowers, toasty oak, blackberry and a hints of dark chocolate and espresso

Feel – Smooth, cool and wet up-front, then the wine gets bright on the palate with an explosion of tender flavors and delicate tannins

Taste – Incredibly delicious and bright with flavors of sweet cherry, currant, blackberry, oak and gourmet fruit jam

Finish – Long and lingering with flavors that change and move after you swallow, leaving behind a very slight dryness and mouth-watering flavors and soft tannins

Conclusion – Like all of the Raymond Burr I have tried so far, this wine shows the care and expertise and stellar fruit that make Burr wines so wonderful. Their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon is taking awards and getting a great deal of attention and its no wonder; This wine is perfectly balanced with layered flavors, deep aromas, a bright mouth-feel and a finish that makes to keep sipping! Drink now or hold for a couple of years. Heck, do both!

Mission Report:

Now that we are great friends with the folks at Raymond Burr Vineyards, additional surveillance or infiltration is not necessary. Now that they have been recruited into The Wine Spies Network, they contact us through back-channels when they have a special allocation of our Operatives..

No new mission report today, so please read below for a recap of our initial mission to Raymond Burr Vineyards.

Please note that we enjoyed today’s featured Cabernet Sauvignon even more than the Cabernet Franc that we featured previously

Prior Mission Recap:

Ask anyone to describe Raymond Burr in a single word and, resoundingly, you will likely hear, Classy.

The veteran actor, for whom today’s winery was honorarily named, was also a cultivator of orchids, a war hero, a philanthropist and more. Most of all, he was cherished and loved by his close friends, who say that his warmth, humor and compassion made him a remarkable man.

When I was given the mission – finally – to seek out a new Cabernet Franc, I riffled through my mental Rolodex and recalled hearing great things about a Cab Franc from Raymond Burr Winery. In fact, it was in the most unusual way that I had come to hear of the wine in the first place.

On returning from a mission to Latin America, our flight got in to Miami too late to make our connecting flight back to California. the airline put us up in a swanky hotel and the next morning we found ourselves in a shuttle back to the Airport. I struck up a conversation with a young couple who were also on our inbound flight and, as always, I steered the conversation toward wine. We compared tastes in varietals and found that Cab Franc wines were among our very favorites. We traded recommendations and they assured me that Raymond Burr had a wine that I would be sure to love.

Now that I was finally assigned a Cab Franc mission I knew just where to go, so I called proprietor and long time companion to Mr. Burr, Robert Benevides. I used the direct approach and told him that I was very interested in sampling his wine and, if they passed the test, feature his Cabernet Franc here for our Operatives to enjoy.

I enjoyed this exceptional wine more with each sip. With enough time to stretch out in the air, the wine really opens up and loses the rough edges present on opening. For best results, decant the wine for a few hours – and enjoy at cellar temperature.

Aromas, flavors, acid and mouth-feel are all in harmony here and the finish is really very unique. If you love incredible Cabernet Franc, look no further Operative, its right here.

Finally, I remember hearing a story about Mr. Burr that sums up his life and his wines: While working with Errol Flynn, Flynn told Mr. Burr that if he died with ten dollars in his pocket he hadn’t done a good job. This inspired Mr. Burr to always share his wealth with all. His legacy lives on in today’s wine from Mr. Burr’s namesake winery.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Raymond Burr Vineyards can be seen in this satellite photo.