2024 Cadre Beautiful Stranger

With the temperatures soaring shockingly high this month, I couldn’t wait to open a bottle of something chilled, and loaded with citrus and minerality.

That it came bearing a beguiling name just sealed the deal.

I’m talking about a sample bottle I received of the 2024 Cadre Beautiful Stranger of which you’ll definitely want to make its acquaintance.

It’s a blend of 60 percent Gruner Veltliner, 30 percent Sauvignon Blanc, and 10 percent Albarino grapes harvested from the San Luis Obispo Coast and Edna Valley.

Cadre Wines was founded in 2020 by third-generation vintner John Niven and his wife, Lucy, who took out a second mortgage to do so. His grandfather Jack Niven planted the historic Paragon Vineyard in the Edna Valley AVA in 1973, one of the first vineyards in that region that pioneered the production of cool-climate varietals.

Now, John and Lucy Niven have followed in those footsteps, making it their mission to produce unoaked, cool-climate aromatic white from California’s coolest grape-growing region with their vineyards planted just two miles from the Pacific Ocean.

If Beautiful Stranger is any indication, they are succeeding.

This blend boasts white flowers, salinity and green herbs on the nose, with lemon and grapefruit on the palate with a back note of flintiness and subtle greenness.

It held its weight with a dinner of tagliatelle with smoked sardines and herbs, too.

Find the wine on the Cadre site, K&L Wine Merchants, and City Vino.

Cheers: With a score of 94 points from Wine Enthusiast, this wine is a relative bargain at $30 (or less on some retail sites) to enjoy all spring and summer.

2021 Oleandri Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

When my husband, aka Meat Boy, was jonesing for a juicy, grilled, dry-aged steak with baked potato heaped with sour cream, I had a hunch that a bottle of 2021 Oleandri Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Napa Valley would be fabulous with it.

That proved spot-on as this wine ($135), of which I received a sample. It’s a muscular wine yet one with finesse. With structured, smooth tannins, it was able to stand up to the robust beef without being too astringent. Deep garnet in color, its dark cherry, dark plum, and dark currant fruitiness was balanced by notes of black tea, dark chocolate, and baking spices. Its long finish lingered as long as the rich meaty flavor of the beef, too.

An exacting blend of 94.375 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 4 percent Petit Verdot, 1 percent Malbec, 0.375 percent Cabernet Franc, and 0.25 percent Merlot, it is aged 22 months in new and neutral French oak barrels.

Oleandri Winery owner Fred D’Amato and winemaker Patrick Saboe sourced the grapes from the Howell Mountain AVA.

D’Amato comes by his passion naturally as his grandfathers bottled California reds, and championed Italian reds and whites in the 1970s. Saboe worked as a server at the acclaimed Slightly North of Broad restaurant in Charleston, SC, when he became enthralled with the thought of making his own wine after honeymooning in California’s Wine Country. He studied viticulture and enology at the University of California at Davis before eventually becoming assistant winemaker at Keller Estate in Petaluma.

The wine is available on the Oleandri site.

Cheers: Even with 92 points from Wine Advocate and Wine Enthusiast, it’s not an inexpensive purchase. But if you’re looking for a special red wine for upcoming Father’s Day, this one is sure to please.