2009 Reininger Carmenere

So last night I got back from my wine tasting adventure to Walla Walla, so wouldn't it make sense to immediately taste more wine from there?  Yeah, but whoever accused me of making sense!  Tonight I've decided to taste a wine from one of the few producers that I didn't have an opportunity to visit on my recent trip, Reininger and specifically their 2009 Walla Walla Carmenere.

Well, needless to say, I'm still sort of jet lagged and am fully prepared to eat dinner at 11 pm, so this was an interesting evening.  I came home at about 7:30 and began cooking by first opening a bottle of this wine!  It's a beautiful deep purple color in the glass, and the nose evokes great aromas of anise, sharp spice, cinnamon, and cocoa.  The taste is very fruit forward with some notes of black cherry, plum and cassis that evolves into some lovely baking spice and earthy notes midpalate, including some cedar and limestone.  The finish is quite refined, with ample tannins creating a tight yet well structured long, dry finish that makes this wine excellent for food or for drinking while cooking (I speak from experience!).

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 8.5 with a great change for improvement with a bit of time in the cellar, it was drinking very well now though!  Tonight I paired this wine with a lovely thick cut Angus T-Bone grilled rare, along with some wonderful grilled veggies, including some Walla Walla sweet onions, asparagus and golden beets (which I just learned are good for the body's natural detoxification process, nudge nudge, poke poke!) and a great baked potato.  The wine stood up well to the beef and would be a great pairing to a variety of big dishes like that. Another day of Walla-Yum!