Cogdal Vineyards NV Merlot

Happy Friday!  Tonight will be busy as I have theater tickets and I'm trying a new recipe for dinner, but at least I have some time for wine!  Tonight I've decided to open a bottle of Cogdal Vineyards non-vintage Merlot from the shores of Lake Michigan.  I visited this winery located just north of South Haven, Michigan a few years ago and was impressed with a few of their wines.  Although this one is non-vintage, I can confirm that it's been sitting in my cellar for at least 3 years, so let's see how it tastes.

The wine is a lovely garnet color in the glass with nice clarity, just a bit lighter than you'd expect for a Merlot.  The nose is a combination of light floral notes intermingled with hints of leather and tart cherry.  The taste is a rush of cool red fruit, cherry, raspberry and plum that transitions to the faintest hints of vanilla bean before a reprise of tart cherry hits you on the end.  The tannins are evolving, at first subdued and then somewhat sharp as you get the full effect of the pleasant, very dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, which is pretty good for a local wine.  This wine is also quite food friendly, as I could see myself enjoying this with anything from burgers and pizza to tacos and steak.  But tonight, the meal is the star of the show as I was recently inspired by a television show about the food trucks of Austin, Texas which featured Chi'Lantro, a Korean-Mexican fusion that came up with Kimchi Fries late night to satisfy their drunk customers exiting the bar scene.  So tonight I've created a slight variation of Kimchi Tots! This was a sort of hybrid creation similar to how Chi'Lantro came up with their creation, combining a lot of what they had left in the food truck at the end of the night.  For me, I made the tots and simmered some leftover braised short ribs that I shredded with the kimchi, put that over the tots, sprinkled some cheese and sriracha and garnished with some Thai basil.  Voila, a new spicy creation!  Cheers!

2008 L'Ecole No. 41 Seven Hills Estate Walla Walla Merlot

All right!  I am ending Washington wine month with a bang!  Tonight I am enjoying a bottle of wine from one of my absolute favorite winemakers, L'Ecole No. 41, this being the 2008 Seven Hills Estate Merlot.  I recently ordered half a case of this wine with the idea of cellaring a few bottles for a few years, as I expect this one will age well, but what's the fun in that?  I at least have to try a bottle!

This vintage is a blend of 80% Merlot along with 10% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc to provide a little something extra.  The wine is a bright garnet in the glass and exhibits a nose of cedar, leather, red currant and the faintest hint of ginger spice.  The aromas just give you a sense that you're about to experience something wonderful and rich.  The fruit is wonderfully balanced with a layered taste of rich black cherry, blackberry and plum, with a wonderful mineral flavor that strikes you like a breath of fresh fall air on a hillside in Walla Walla.  The tannins are not overbearing, but rather are quite complimentary of the red fruit, allowing for a long, smooth finish.

Overall, this wine is still very young and likely to evolve over the next decade, but still I would give this one a solid 8.5, with potential to go much higher.  The wine is not cheap by any means, but I bought it for about $30, and it certainly compares to many Napa wines selling for quite a bit more.  As for pairings, I think it would go quite well with a nice grilled ribeye, but tonight I am enjoying it with some panko breaded chile lime chicken breast with black beans and rice, as I think it would balance the spicy citrus of the chicken quite well.  So I hope you enjoyed Washington Wine Month, it's always a fun time for me, but now we'll have to see where my thirst takes us next!

2007 Seven Hills McClellan Estate Vineyard Walla Walla Valley Petit Verdot

Another fine wine from our "Best of" wine club tasting, this one from one of my favorite wine regions, the Columbia Valley of Washington State, in particular, Walla Walla!  The 2007 Seven Hills McClellan Estate Vineyard Walla Walla Valley Petit Verdot is a really interesting wine for so many reasons, not the least being a rare single bottling of a varietal that is normally reserved for blending with many of the find Bordeaux style blends the Columbia Valley has become known for.

I'll admit I had my doubts, after all, what can I expect from a full bottle of wine based on a grape that normally doesn't exceed 20% of a blend?  Well, this wine was delicious and interesting in so many unexpected ways!  The color of this wine was a deep purple, almost inky in appearance, suggesting a wine packed with flavors, and it was.  The nose was somewhat floral, with hints of rose, along with an earthy character denoted by aromas of oak, cedar, tobacco and leather.  On my tasting notes I wrote "evolving" but I don't think this wine is evolving in a traditional sense (i.e. this will mature over the next few years), but rather than it was evolving and changing even as it was in my mouth!  At one moment, tart cherry and licorice, then a spicy smoky flavor, then a little sweetness of plum and cassis, amazing how the flavors can exhibit such complexity.  The tannins provided for a velvety mouthfeel and a long, smooth finish.

For pairings, this wine would be perfect with beef or pork tenderloin or a variety of Mediterranean dishes.  I bought this one from Wineshopper.com, and as I recall it was around $20, so not a super bargain, but certainly well worth a double sawbuck.  Overall I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, it's still a little young so there's time for it to mature a little more before I open my next bottle.

2009 Chateau de la Taille Bordeaux

Ahhh...summer time, it's officially here and it's such an awesome time for enjoying the joy of outdoor cooking, or "cookouts" as we used to call them!  Although having my 60,000 BTU Charbroil grill allows me to grill steaks, fish, chops and other sundry items year round, it really comes into its own during the sweltering days of summer.  So today, I am enjoying my grill along with a bottle of 2009 Chateau de la Taille Bordeaux, another bottle from that super vintage (at least as it's been billed) from France.

Now don't get me wrong, the experts who tasted from barrels are probably right on, but given that for us plebians it takes at least 4 or 5 years for a great or even mediocre Bordeaux to be drinkable much less outstanding, it's really an unfair tease in my opinion.  Granted, I did order a case of '09 Margaux on futures and can't wait for it to arrive sometime in 2012, but come on!  We all know the reason we buy great bottles of wine is not to satisfy our squirrel instinct for stocking the cellar, but to enjoy the great wine now! 

Well, fortunately, many of the early 2009 Bordeaux are drinking quite nicely right now.  Could they benefit from time in the cellar, certainly, but that doesn't mean we must opt for future enjoyment over immediate satisfaction.  Such is the case with today's wine, a wonderful blend of 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec (this might be a somewhat familiar blend to those who like me, enjoy the Bordeaux blends of the Pacific Northwest).  I've found in my personal experience, the early releases that have a heavy Merlot emphasis tend to drink much better right now than many other blends, particularly the heartier wines like a recent St. Emilion I purchased and can't imagine opening until 2014.

This wine is a very young wine, with ample fruit.  The nose exhibits some hints of cedar and leather, with a strong body of fruit, ranging from cherry to dark plum.  The taste is quite light right now, and very dry with silky tannins for a long finish.  Unlike some others I've tried, this wine is actually drinking quite nicely right now, though it's certainly worthy of another year or two in the cellar. I've heard some suggest this would be a great wine with lighter fare or perhaps some soft cheeses (but come on, what wine wouldn't go well with a fine brie?), but call me crazy, I'm going to enjoy this bottle with a summer cookout of a prime porterhouse steak, grilled rare (oh yes, cool red center please!), some red, yellow and orange peppers roasted in extra virgin olive oil and some fresh sweet corn grilled in the husk!  Ohhhh my!

This wine is still young, and I would rate it 7.5, certainly with room to grow.  I expecially like it at the bargain price of $9 that I found it for at my favorite local wine merchant, G.B. Russo's!  So crack open a bottle and get grilling!  Salut!

2009 Chateau Peyruchet Bordeaux

I have been such a slacker with my blog, but I can be forgiven right?  After all, it's summer time now, and much easier to enjoy a glass of wine on the patio, far from the computer keyboard!  So a couple weeks ago I was at my favorite wine merchant and all around great Italian grocer, G. B. Russo's & Sons in Grand Rapids and among the delicacies I picked up that day were a few bottles of the 2009 Bordeaux vintage, still rumored to be one of the best vintages of the last three decades.  Now call me skeptical, but they said that all through 2010, and I even ordered a case of Margaux futures based on the excitement, but that was all surpassed this year, when now all of a sudden the 2010 vintage is all the rage.  So what gives?  Are these both awesome vintages, or have the chateaux come up with a genius marketing plan to sell futures based on perpetually more awesome vintages?  You know what they say, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me...

I guess I will reserve judgement until I finally get my case of Margaux and can compare it to some truly spectacular 2005 vintages I have on hand.  In the meantime, of the 2009 Bordeaux I've had the pleasure of tasting, they are all quite good, but nothing that had me dancing a jig and shooting off fireworks.  In fact, since they are all still quite young for Bordeaux, they often left me wanting, knowing that they would be so much the better having been allowed to age another year or five!

Tonight's wine is just such a creature, a nice wine drinking so-so right now, but destined to improve over time.  The 2009 Chateau Peyruchet Bordeaux is a very nice classic blend from the Gironde containing 70% merlot, 15% cabernet sauvignon and 15% cabernet franc, certainly a familiar combination to any fans of the bordeaux blends produced in the Pacific Northwest.  On the nose it exhibits hints of leather and spice, and you just get the overwhelming impression that this wine wants to be truly great when it grows up!  The taste is already quite dry, but the youthful tannins give it a bite, sort of like a really annoying small dog.  But throughout the tasting experience, you just long to forgive the youthful indiscretions of this wine and come back for more when it's had time to mature.  Even so, tonight this wine was ultimately saved by pairing it with the surf and turf I had for dinner, as even the worst wine tastes acceptable with a lobster tail and a NY strip grilled to perfection and paired with some fresh grilled corn on the cob!

For the time being, I would give this one a 7, knowing that in a year or two it could easily be a point or two higher.  And for the price now (I bought this one on sale for $12), it might be worth cellaring a bottle or two to see what happens next.  Salut!

2009 Chateau Sauman Côtes de Bourg

Ahhh...a rainy April Saturday afternoon, a perfect opportunity to uncork a bottle of wine and enjoy the taste of summers gone by! Today I've decided to open a bottle of 2009 Chateau Sauman Côtes de Bourg to capture the taste of the Gironde in the midst of wet grayness.  Well as any wine fan knows, the 2009 vintage of Bordeaux is being celebrated as the best vintage to come along since time immemorial, okay, maybe I exaggerate, but I've heard folks say it surpasses the wonderful 2005 vintage, and is probably the best in the last three decades at least.  All of this may be true, but you know I am only a novice really, and my experience with Bordeaux is that it often takes years or even decades to know the true quality and potential of the finest wines of the region.  Heck, you can't even buy a Margaux two years after the vintage!  So to me it seems just a bit premature for this 2-year-old vintage to be declared the best in a generation.  Call me old fashioned, but I'd at least like to try a few bottles before I declare such stupendous things!

So today I have a bottle of wonder vintage, and for those who know, the Côtes de Bourg is certainly one of the earliest wines to mature, being primarily based on Merlot, with blends of small quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (and even occasionally some Malbec), but certainly not like the blends based predominantly on Cabernet which take several more years to mature.  But given the nature of the wine, it seemed like a good candidate to get an early taste of the wunderkind vintage.  And I must admit, it's pretty darn good!  The wine is definitely still quite young and could benefit from a few more years in the cellar, but it's still drinking quite well now.  The wine itself is a rich garnet color, with a scent of leather, cedar and earth.  The wine itself is quite dry, like a good Bordeaux soldier should be, and it has delicate tastes of berry and a hint of cassis.  This wine would go well with the usual red meats (a nice rare ribeye might fit the bill), but I think it would also accent a variety of seafood dishes given that the small town of Bourg-sur-Gironde where this wine originates has been home to fishermen, sailors and winemakers for the better part of two millenia!

I picked up a bottle of this wine on the recommendation of a colleague who I happened to bump into at our favorite wine merchant, G.B. Russo's and Sons.  Bob mentioned that it could benefit from some aging but was drinking well right now, and right he was.  Overall, I would rate this one a solid 7 with the chance to go higher as the years go by, and since I bought this bottle for only $9.99 it's a tremendous value!  So if you happen to come across it where you live, I highly recommend picking up a bottle!

2005 Pope Valley Eakle Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon

Well this one is a very interesting wine, not at all what I was expecting (you know, Napa Cabs, if you've tasted one you've tasted them all - Just Kidding!  please no hate mail from the Napa fans!).  This wine is very dry, with a very strong presence of oak and tannins which I think will evolve over time, and a nice hint of spice.  This may seem odd, but this wine really does remind me of the taste and finish of many of the fine bordeax that I tasted in Paris in the mid-90s that spawned my ongoing love of red wine.

At any rate, this is the sort of wine that is very easy to drink, oh look at that my glass is empty!  But it's also the kind of wine that won't distract from a meal.  Although this would be great with grilled T-bones, or spicy sausage, it would also go well with many lamb and chicken dishes or even a cedar planked salmon.  For a Napa Valley cab this is a very pleasant surprise for many reasons, not the least of which was the great value right now.  I picked up a few bottles of this wine for Wines Till Sold Out (WTSO), my favorite online source for discounted wines at a crazy price of only $15.99!  Bottom line, I enjoyed this wine very much, and would give it a solid 8.5!