Adobe Road house spotlight
Official Adobe Road Winery tour of Kevin Buckler's Petaluma riverfront house. Blue Dog is the house Cabernet, Napa polish with Sonoma spice.
2021 Adobe Road Cabernet Sauvignon Blue Dog Napa & Sonoma Counties, USA
Adobe Road Blue Dog Cabernet from Rutherford and Dry Creek, James Suckling 92, a 2021 Napa-Sonoma bottle you can open at seventy-eight dollars.
The 2021 Blue Dog is Cabernet from Rutherford Napa and Dry Creek Sonoma: blue fruit, plum, menthol, sweet oak, sappy earth, and fine tannin, now $78.
Napa polish and Sonoma spice in one Cabernet
Blue Dog is the house Cabernet, not a vineyard-designate puzzle. Rutherford gives polish. Dry Creek gives spice. James Suckling 92. Jeb Dunnuck 91. Spiced dark fruit, plum skin, violet, cedar, wet stone. Full and poised. Seventy-eight dollars.
The house
Kevin and Debra Buckler opened Adobe Road in Petaluma in 2002. Garrett Martin makes the wines.
The wine
Blue Dog Cabernet from Rutherford Napa and Dry Creek Sonoma. House Cabernet, not a Racing Series metal label.
The scores
James Suckling 92. Jeb Dunnuck 91. Spiced dark fruit, plum, cedar, wet stone.
The drinker
Blue fruit and cedar first. Serve near 64 F. Decant 20 minutes. Ribeye or lamb.
Blue fruit and plum, then menthol, cedar, and stone
The 2021 opens on blue fruit, plum, and menthol, then sweet oak, sappy earth, violet, cedar, and wet stone. Full, structured, fine tannin. Napa polish in the mid-palate. Sonoma spice on the close. Better after a short decant.
A concentrated California Cabernet year. This 2021 Blue Dog is open now and still has tannin for a steak.
Blue fruit, plum, menthol, sweet oak, sappy earth, violet, cedar, wet stone.
Full Cabernet, fine tannin, Napa plus Sonoma.
Cedar, stone, length. Serve near 64 F. Decant 20 minutes.
Rutherford polish, Dry Creek spice
Blue Dog is the house Cabernet. Rutherford Napa supplies polish. Dry Creek Sonoma supplies spice. Garrett Martin ages it in French oak in Petaluma. Racing Series attention without the metal label. The brief is a table Cabernet you can decant and pour.
This is the 750ml 2021. The 2018 3.0L Blue Dog is a separate large-format listing.
Decant 20 minutes. Serve near 64 F. Ribeye is the plate.
The Cabernet that carries two counties
Buckler could have bottled a Napa-only Cabernet. Blue Dog keeps Sonoma in the glass.
Kevin Buckler raced at Daytona and Le Mans, then opened Adobe Road in Petaluma in 2002.
Blue Dog is the Cabernet that carries Napa and Sonoma in one bottle. Garrett Martin is in the cellar.
The 2021 is that house Cabernet in a concentrated year: Rutherford, Dry Creek, a table pour.
Ribeye on the board, then lamb
Blue Dog Cabernet wants char and herb. A hard-seared ribeye takes the cedar. Rack of lamb takes the sappy earth.
Two plates. One butter-basted ribeye. One rosemary rack of lamb. Both can take Blue Dog tannin.
Serve near 64 F. Decant 20 minutes. House Cabernet, not a fragile Pinot.
Pan-Seared Ribeye
Char and fat for blue fruit, cedar, and fine Cabernet tannin.
Why it works: The crust meets sweet oak. Beef fat cushions wet-stone structure.
View Recipe for pan-seared steaks (opens in a new tab)
Rosemary Garlic Rack of Lamb
Herb and lamb for menthol, sappy earth, and violet.
Why it works: Rosemary echoes the savory line. Lamb fat rounds 2021 Cabernet.
View Recipe for rosemary garlic rack of lamb (opens in a new tab)Put this 2021 Blue Dog in the cart
Rutherford and Dry Creek, James Suckling 92, Jeb Dunnuck 91. Seventy-eight dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the 750ml Blue Dog Cabernet, not the 3.0L.
