Quick, what do you know about Nick Faldo?  Here’s what I know:  He’s a British golfer.  He’s won 6 majors.  He was the captain of the 2008 European Ryder Cub team (and that it didn’t end well).  He’s a golf broadcaster for CBS.  Some people love him, others, well…not so much.  Apart from that handful of facts, I know very little about the man (I’m relatively new to the game, and Faldo was, well…before my time).  Yeah, in the grand scheme of things I don’t know much of anything about Nick Faldo;  and you can bet your grapes, I had no idea he was in the wine business, at least not until I got an email asking if I’d be interesting in reviewing one of his wines.

Having already established what I know or don’t know about Nick Faldo, let me share with you some of my history with wine.  Back in college I was a regular connoisseur of fine wine, and by that I mean I drank a lot of Gallo out of gallon-sized jugs.  Sometimes I didn’t even use a glass – so you also know I have class.  Because I thought it was important to diversify my interest in wine, I would bring home the occasional box of Franzia (the square box fit easily in my tiny fridge…what do you want from me)?

Over the years I’d like to think my tastes have grown more sophisticated.  I enjoy a nice Merlot with a tender rare steak, or a fruity Riesling with a light chicken dish.  Still, by no means am I a wine expert.  That said, I did take a wine tasting class on my Alaskan cruise last summer (my Twitter profile pic was actually taken at that tasting).  Of course, I tasted a lot of wine that night, so I don’t really remember much of it.

In my defense, I was honest about my general lack of wine knowledge with the people who sent me the wine, so it’s not like they’re expecting an expert review or anything.  Besides, although I’m neither wine expert, nor Faldo expert, I can assure you, I do know a thing or two about getting drunk.

The Wine

Region: Coonawarra, South Australia
Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Here’s what Nick Faldo has to say about it:

Classic golf courses and classic wine are defined by a common ingredient – soil.  When designing a golf course, the nature of the soil substantially determines the character of the course.  It was the ‘red dirt’ of Coonawarra, the famous terra rossa soil, that gained my attention when I first visited this renowned region.  The wines selected for the Nick Faldo Selection – all under the guiding eye of respected Cooonawarraa winemaker Wayne Stehbens – are well balanced with generous fruit flavours and great structure.  Enjoy!

And here are the winemaker’s notes:

Appearance: Deep plum reds with purple tinged edges

Nose: A rich combination of ripe dark berries with subtle sweet oak maturation flavors.  Plums and dusty mulberry fruit with hints of mint are well balanced with light vanilla oak characters.

Palate: Ripe dark berry fruits with sweet oak flavors that are smoothly balanced.  A generous fruit palate of plums and blackberry with hints of vanilla oak flavors.  Soft assertive tannins add to the palate and compliment the long flavors.

The Test

When you get right down to it, tasting wine isn’t a whole lot different than testing a golf club. Sure, you’re not going to hit a golf ball with a wine bottle, and you’re probably not going to taste your new driver, but when all the testing is complete, the final verdict is going to be largely subjective.  While the simple approach would be to simply state that I drank Nick Faldo’s wine and I like Nick Faldo’s wine, within the best of my ability, I attempted to give the wine a thorough tasting.

It’s actually pretty handy that Faldo’s people include some tasting notes on the bottle, since, if nothing else, it turns the wine drinking into a game of let’s see if I can taste…  Fortunately I have literally minutes of formal wine tasting training, so I was able to delve a little deeper than the average golf course schmo.  As most tasters do, I started by observing the color of the wine.  I’d agree that deep plum reds are a fair description of the color, as is that bit about purple tinged edges.  A tip of the glass reveals very little in the way of transparency suggesting a wine with some body to it.  Just like they do on TV, I gave my glass a few swirls revealing the “legs”.  Again, what I observed suggests body.

With eyes as keen like Nick Faldo's, I gave my first glass of Cabernet Sauvignon a thorough examination.

As far as the aromas are concerned…yeah, the dark berries, and plum aromatics were present.  The same holds true for the sweet oak, and that touch of mint they talk about.  I didn’t really get any sense of vanilla (maybe my nose just isn’t ready for that type of subtlety).  This of course leaves us with just the mulberry unaccounted for, and since I honestly couldn’t begin to tell you what a mulberry tastes like (I also have no idea what it looks like either, and wouldn’t stand a chance trying to pick it out of a fruit lineup), I can’t say whether the aromas are there or not.  Mulberry, huh?

So with the swirling and the sniffing mostly out of the way I decided it was high time I actually drink some of Nick Faldo’s Cab.  Again, I deferred to the tasting notes to see if I could actually taste what the bottle says I should (never, I mean never ague with a bottle of wine).  It should come as no surprise that the dark berry aromas carry over to the taste.  The oak carries as over as well, but it subtle-enough and doesn’t overpower the other flavors.  It’s oaky, but doesn’t taste like you’re sucking on a board that’s been dunked in grape juice.  I’ll concede the plums and blackberries too, but still no luck with the vanilla.  As with many reds (at least in my experience), tannins play heavily in the finish, although I found they mellowed a bit as the wine rested.

Final Thoughts

Overall I found Faldo Cabernet Sauvignon to be an enjoyably sweet and fruity (although not light) red.  I figure I must really have enjoyed it because before I knew it half the bottle was gone, and I was the only drinking (not that I’m proud or anything).  I’ve also used the wine as an ingredient in a marinade I threw together for a Saturday night BBQ.  It worked really well on the flank steak I was soaking it in.

Granted, Faldo Cabernet Sauvignon (or any wine for that matter) is a bit of a departure from what we normally review, but give it just a little thought and you can see how a nice bottle of wine is the perfect post round compliment.  Play well; celebrate.  Play poorly; drink until you forget (not that I necessarily recommend that).  Either way, Faldo Cabernet Sauvignon is a great way to relax after a grueling 18, or pretty much any other occasion where a good bottle of wine is warranted.  I’ll definitely be checking out some of the other wines in the Faldo collection.

Faldo Cabernet Sauvignon can be found for around $16 at a wine shop near you.