One of the deepest, darkest-colored wine I’ve ever seen, this carnivor loved the Carnivor this weekend. We pulled the cork last night and started working through it with some well-seasoned steaks, as the day was unseasonably temperate here for December and begged for some outdoor grilling. That was a vintage Cabernet Sauvignon meal, and I polished off the bottle tonight with some pasta and chicken. Also pretty damn good.

2012 Carnivor Cabernet Sauvignon, California, USA.

Seriously, this wine isn’t red in the glass. It’s nearly purple. It’s got a fantastic bouquet for an affordable California cab. It’s virtually opaque in the glass, not even a little translucency as you swirl the 2012 vintage around. I’d more appropriately describe the 2012 Carnivor’s color by referencing the elevators of blood at the end of Kubrick’s The Shining–to the delight of the winemaker I’m sure. And it’s packed with dark fruits…cherry, most certainly, blackberry, maybe even one of those exotic type brambleberry deals…but all well balanced and with a smooth, easy finish.

At first the bottle/label design seemed familiar to me, but I’m thinking now I’m mistaken. My wife picked out this winner and, though it reminded me of a Vampire-themed wine I’d bought for a neighborhood Halloween party some years ago (not 2014), this is actually the first bottle of Carnivor I’ve had the pleasure of consuming. It’s an excellent buy for the money, and we’ll surely have others to write about in future posts for Note. Hoping you’ll enjoy it too.