We had the good fortune to win one of the silent auction lots at the fund raiser we just attended.  I have to admit, that I was not aware of the winery, and I did not even “Google” them to check it out.  All of the other wine lots that I had bid on, I was not as fortunate, not that we needed more wine at the house, but that was not the point.  What intrigued me was that the fancy wooden presentation case held three bottles, yet only two bottles were in the auction lot.  The immediate questions that struck me were:  “what was the third bottle?” and “did the consigner taste the first bottle and decide that he did not like the wine?”

After winning the lot and taking it home I looked up the winery which is in Napa Valley.  The winery was started in 1998, and the first planting was in 2000.  The first harvest was 2003, with a following harvest in 2004.  The first wines were released in 2006.  The varietals planted were Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.  It appears from the plantings that the winery was going after a Bordeaux style wine, but since they were not calling any of the wines a Meritage, they had not joined the society to use that designation.   Also from studying the postings of the winery, I am surmising that the missing bottle was a Felicity Malbec either 2006 or 2007.

The first bottle that I researched was the Sodaro Felicity 2006.  This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.  From the winery’s timeline this was the first use of the Cabernet Franc harvest.  The wine had received a “91” from the Wine Spectator.  This wine had a total of 1,350 cases in production.

The other bottle was a Sodaro Estate Blend 2007 which was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot.  I could not find a Wine Spectator rating, though I did find other ratings listed from an “89” to a “94” which made me happy.  This particular wine was only had a much smaller production of 487 cases.

I must say that so far from my research, I would venture to say, that it sounds like my winning bid is positive.  I can not answer my one question, as to whether the consigner liked the wine or not, time will tell when the bottles are actually opened up and tried.  When that occurs, I will write about these wines again.