It was 11pm on a Thursday. It was just another typical day at work. Thursday is our truck delivery day and I had just helped put away 300 cases of wine and I was exhausted. I had purchased a bottle of the 2008 Chateau Cabrieres Red Chateauneuf Du Pape (New House of the Pope) for review. The 2007 was amazing and rated 90 points by Wine Spectator and I am a huge fan of the importer of this wine, Jonathan Shiekman from Margate Wines and Spirits. I turned on SFL television, Channel 435 on my Comcast Cable as usual when I get home, to watch a full hour of my favorite re-runs, two episodes of Seinfeld and one episode of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. I had some Artisan Cheeses that I purchased as well from work and I thought I would try one with some sliced salami while watching my shows to unwind. During a commercial break, I decided to pop open the Chateau Cabrieres and pour it through my Aerator just to evaluate the wine so I could inform my guests on our busy weekends.

 Since my divorce 4 years ago, my friends told me I would fall in love again "when I least expect it". That phrase goes in one ear and out the other; however, although I don’t think they were talking about wine, they were right! I took that glass of wine and swirled it in the glass and took one sniff and out of nowhere I could hear Robert Goulet singing "Some Enchanted Evening". I had butterflies in my stomach. I was numb. This was love at first sniff!

 I got these amazing aromas of scorched earth meets charcoal briquettes, black licorice and beautiful floral, tar, and black fruit notes. I took a sip and huge flavors started dancing all over my palate. The fruit was so well extracted and the finish had a hint of freshly ground black pepper. I ran to the patio door and went into the backyard at 1am and I walked around the neighborhood of Pembroke Pines, looking for some wild boar that I could hunt down and have with this amazing wine. I had no luck, only a couple of rabid ducks in the lake and a spider. Back to reality, I finished the whole bottle of this wine with the cheese and salami (It ain't wild boar but it would have to do). I ran to the kitchen to check my receipt hoping in a state of exhaustion, I didn't accidentally charge $100 on my credit card. This wine was only $24.99 on sale from $29.99. The next day I double checked thinking this had to be a mistake. Lo and behold, it's the right price. Chateau Cabrieres has been around since 1344 (my new favorite year). It is a vineyard full of stones which get very hot during the day and reflect the heat back to the vines in the evening which is responsible for those amazing extracted flavors I tasted the night before. Thank you Jonathon Shiekman for importing this wine and thank you ABC Fine Wines and Spirits for carrying this Chateauneuf Du Pape which I am calling "The Best Chateauneuf Du Pape value on the planet earth!” To my guests: let's just keep the secret about the price between us. What happens at ABC stays at ABC!

 Guest blogger Larry Baker is the wine consultant at our Pembroke Pines store. You can read more of his writings at www.larrythewineguy.net.