Myself and everyone else at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan was having a grand old time tasting wines.  I mean, how could you not, when Roger Louer was there talking about his wines from Napa Valley, Sonoma County and Mendocino County.  We had just had his Roberts + Rogers Louer Family Cabernet Sauvignon (St. Helena) Napa Valley 2012 and then they were going to pour us the latest offering of the same wine.  Definitely not an everyday occurrence in most wine shops, especially in the big box stores.

The Roberts + Rogers Louer Family Cabernet Sauvignon (St. Helena) Napa Valley 2020 had just been released and it was available in normal bottle size, and not in magnums.  Out of eight years of vintages, this would be my sixth, so I was quite happy.  Since, this wine has been produced, it has been rated in the Nineties, by the big boys.  This is all estate grapes from his thirty acres in St. Helena, pure Cabernet Sauvignon and bottled in all new French Oak barrels for two years of aging.  This deep garnet colored wine offered notes of dark fruits and vanilla.  On the palate there were tones of black cherries, blackberries and black currents, with traces of oak/vanilla and velvety tannins right from the get go, and a nice solid finish with terroir, to finish the package.  I would have no problems drinking this wine immediately or being patient and allow it to cellar for at least ten years to really have an awesome wine, and this is probably one of the best values in the valley.

Then immediately following the Louer Family 2020 we tasted the Roberts + Rogers Louer Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena Napa Valley 2018.  Roger Louer has explained that his winemaker that has been with him since the beginning suggested that he needed a “signature” wine.  The first was the 2016, and now onward to the 2018.  Each barrel of the “Louer Family” is tasted, prior to bottling, and a few barrels are put aside after the two years of aging in new French Oak.  It was very interesting to how this limited production wine is even more savory, and it is not just because of the two extra years in the bottle.  This wine has now been made for four vintages to acclaim, because it really is bigger and chewier, as I like to say, as I will never be allowed around the big boys.  It is dearer in price, compared to the Louer Family, but it has to be tasted, to appreciate how those few barrels were recognized for having that something extra.