Rodney Strong Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine

So it starts in Sonoma County, in 1959. Rodney Strong Vineyards says that is the year Rod Strong set up the winery. The grapes for this bottle come from one stretch of that county, Alexander Valley, in the north.

Alexander Valley follows the Russian River and its benchlands for roughly twenty miles, and it stands as its own recognized wine district in northern Sonoma, a more exact origin than Sonoma County or California by themselves. Summers there run warm and dry, softened by cooler Pacific air that works inland along the river. One valley name still spans a good deal of variety, though: a vineyard's height, the direction its slope faces, and its distance from the water all change how warm it gets and how much of that cool air it draws.

Cabernet Sauvignon, the grape here, is a red grape that our grape research places in many regions, one that often makes firmly built wines and joins red blends. For its flavors, regional authorities name black currant, cherry and plum, with noticeable tannin and possible spice from oak, and they note that ripeness, climate and winemaking can shape it into something lean and herbal in style or broad and fruit-led.

We do not have a shopper rating for this wine. As for the price, the same bottle turned up at very different amounts from one store to the next: in our September 2026 checks it was priced anywhere from $23.99 to $33.99 across the eight stores we checked.

The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.