Elevate your next dinner party with the elegant 2005, Provenance Vineyards, Rutherford, Cabernet Sauvignon.

While Provenance is a recent winery, it is no Johnny-come-lately to Napa Valley with Tom Rinaldi at the helm.

Winemaker and general manager, Tom Rinaldi brought to Provenance twenty-two years of experience as the winemaker and founder of Napa’s highly-acclaimed Duckhorn winery.

Rinaldi produced his first Provenance, Rutherford, cabernet sauvignon in 1999. Rutherford, considered by many the best area in Napa for cabernet sauvignon, has a wine history dating to 1838 when George Yount planted vines.

Later, Yount gifted part of the vineyards as a wedding present to Thomas Rutherford; eventually the vineyards were sold to French immigrant Georges de Latour, who would make the famous Rutherford, cabernet sauvignon, Georges de Latour, Private Reserve.

Connoisseurs of cabernet sauvignon from the Rutherford district of Napa Valley claim there is a distinct taste known as Rutherford Dust. This component is a dry, cocoa powder-like texture in the back of the mouth.

More than 75-percent of the grapes for Rinaldi’s 2005, Provenance, Rutherford, cabernet sauvignon come from three Rutherford vineyards. The wine is darkish-red colored; it is aged for 18 months in a mix of new and used French and American oak barrels. With a few swirls of your glass, appealing blackberry, black tea, and milk chocolate-like aromas rise upward.

The 2005, Provenance, Rutherford, cabernet sauvignon has Napa Valley’s modern velvety texture and a medley of black cherry, blackberry, cappuccino, and semi-sweet chocolate flavors balanced with mellow tannins.

The wine reflects Rinaldi’s winemaking skills honed in prior decades where balance and elegance were valued over today’s vogue of ebony-ish, marmalade-flavored, oak-influenced Rutherford and Napa wines.

Pour the 2005, Provenance, Rutherford, cabernet sauvignon with any roasted beef, lamb, or duck dish and watch your guests smile. And if you have any remaining at the end of meal remember that it goes very well with chocolate cake, too.

The 2005 Provenance Rutherford cabernet sauvignon retails for approximately $45 and is also available in half-bottles for approximately $25.