The Postulate The Second Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive box wine sourced from vineyards in California. The box holds 1 1/2 liters of wine (a regular wine bottle hold 750 ml), so this box is the equivalent of 2 bottles of wine or 4 bucks a bottle. The first thing you need to remember about box wine is, yes it is convenient. yes it is usually bargain priced and yes it keeps the wine a week or two longer than a bottle of wine. But, wine to taste at it’s peak, must interact with air (oxygen) to “open up” and release it’s full flavors and aromas. With box wine, the wine is contained in a bladder that is designed to keep air away from the wine. It is a bit of a paradox, wine needs a short time mixing with air to be at it’s best, but too long of an exposure to air allows the wine to go bad. So, when you push the button on your wine box and pour yourself a glass of wine, you are pouring a glass of wine that has been kept from oxygen and is nowhere near it’s peak flavor. The convenience of box wine applies when you are buying and storing the wine, but you need to wait awhile to drink your wine (unoaked white wine will develop fairly quickly, but oaked red wine may take a half hour or more) unless you swirl the heck out of your glass, buy an aerator or make a point of pouring the wine sufficiently in advance. The Postulate The Second Cabernet was aged “on” French and American oak for 2 months and the alcohol content is 13%.
The color is an opaque blood plasma red. The nose is dark berries, some oak vanilla and a little sweet raspberry. This is a smooth, fruit forward, reasonably dry wine, with more body than you would expect in a $4 a bottle Cabernet Sauvignon. It tastes of ripe blackberry, with dusty dark chocolate on the mid-palate and some tart cranberry on the finish. The tannins do not get in the way and the acidity is balanced. The finish is full and does last awhile.
The Postulate The Second Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 does what it is supposed to do, which is deliver a tasty, if not particularly complex wine, that will do just fine with burgers or pizza (or out on the deck or around the fire-pit). It is more than reasonably priced, it holds 8 full glasses of wine and it will give you a couple of weeks to finish the box. The Postulate the 2nd has smooth enjoyable flavor, nice medium body and it delivers more than you expect in $7.99 for the equivalent of 2 bottles Red wine.
