2014 Bordigioni Merlot

Happy Saturday!  I am back!  The past couple months have been a bit off on my wine blogging as I've been involved in a production of the Music Man at Elkhart Civic Theatre, and last weekend we did four performances and now my evenings are back to being my own.  So, you can expect at least a modest increase in my posts.  Tonight I've decided to open a bottle of 2014 Bordigioni Sonoma Valley Merlot which I recently purchased from Wines Till Sold Out.  This wine is primarily Merlot, with about 5% Cabernet Sauvignon blended in.  It's been a very hot day of yard work, so I am looking forward to some relaxation tonight!

The wine is a bright ruby color in the class, with a bit lighter body than you might expect from a Merlot.  The nose is quite fruity, with prominent aromas of blackberry, cherry and currant, with a hint of leather.  The taste is similarly fruit forward, with a rush of blackberry and currant that envelops your palate before transitioning to some notes of white pepper spice and a reprise of red currant.  The finish is quite refined, with well integrated tannins supporting the velvety smooth and very dry finish that lingers for several minutes.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, the looks can be deceiving with the lighter body, but this wine certainly delivers all I would expect from a nice Merlot.  This wine would pair well with a broad range of dishes, from summer barbecue, burgers and brats to pasta, steaks and chops.  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a simple dinner of a rare grilled prime sirloin steak topped with bleu cheese and grilled garlic scapes with some oven roasted Brussels sprouts with artisan bacon and a loaded baked potato.  Cheers!

2015 L'Ecole No. 41 Apogee

Happy Friday!  I have to admit, the past couple weeks it's felt like I've been packing two weeks of work and other activities into every week, and this week is not different.  So, I guess it's time to relax a bit with a nice bottle of wine, and tonight it's a good one.  From a recent wine club shipment from a winery that I first visited way back in the early 2000s, the 2015 L'Ecole No. 41 Apogee.  This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (25%), Malbec (10%) and Cabernet Franc (5%) all from the Pepper Bridge Vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley. So let's see how this one stacks up!

The wine is a deep, inky purple in the glass, with bright ruby along the edges, a not to the heavy Cabernet and Merlot in the blend.  The nose is full of ripe fruit, black cherry, blackberry and currant intermingled with earthy aromas of leather and basalt.  The taste is wonderfully fruit forward with a rush of tart cherry, currant and cassis that gives way to some notes of green grass and Asian spice midpalate.  The tannins are well structured and nicely integrated to form the foundation for the long, smooth and very dry finish that lingers on.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as it's another great Bordeaux style blend from Walla Walla, but it's clearly a second place finisher to my favorite blend, the Perigee. This wine is ideal for big steaks, lamb, or hearty fall dishes, and tonight I am enjoying this with a wonderful Costco dinner I picked up on the drive back from Detroit today - a rare prime filet mignon, big ol' baked potato with sour cream and scallions and some grilled asparagus.  Cheers!

2012 Black Stallion Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Well, lately I must admit I've been on a bit of a Napa Valley kick, enjoying a number of wonderful wines from the superb 2012 and 2013 vintages as I enjoy fond memories of my visit to the region last fall.  And tonight the trend continues as I've decided to open up a bottle of 2012 Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon, a nice wine from a boutique producer located in the Oak Knoll district along the Silverado Trail.

The wine is a lovely deep, inky purple color in the glass with bright ruby along the edges.  The nose provides lovely aromas of black cherry, cassis and leather with some mild hints of cocoa powder and baking spice.  The taste is very nice, with a blast of jammy fruit up front, blackberry, cherry and cassis that transitions nicely to mineral notes midpalate.  The tannins are rounded and supple, providing for a long, smooth and very dry finish.  All in all, a classic Napa Cabernet!

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, it's a very nice wine and it was a good value as I found this at my local market for about $23.  As for pairings, this would be ideal with a variety of grilled meats, hearty stews or roasts, but tonight I am enjoying this wine with a simple rare grilled New York strip, roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli with red peppers.  Cheers!

2013 Ruffino Chianti

Here we are at the second post of my reviews of the Ruffino wines we recently tasted during the Snooth.com virtual tasting, the 2013 Ruffino Chiant!  Although this is my second post, this is actually the first wine we tasted, being the youngest and lightest of the four wines.  This wine is a blend of mainly Sangiovese (70%) with the balance made up of red varietals including Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  So here goes nothing!

The color is a bright ruby in the glass with great clarity.  The nose is chock full of red fruit, raspberries, cherries and plum with a bit of a floral note over the top.  The taste is wonderfully fruity, with some red berries and cherries up front that transition nicely to some hints of spice midpalate,  The typically robust tannins complement the bright acidity of the wine cementing a crisp, dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, it's a very good Chianti at a tremendous value price of around $8.  This wine would be the perfect summer red, light, and perfect for a cool June evening on the patio.  Tonight I am sipping this with some olives and a bit of Podda cheese, enjoying the first of some spring weather, cheers!

2012 Dixie Flyer Vineyards "The Brakeman" Cabernet Sauvignon

Could you imagine my astonishment when I was walking through the Costco wine department and saw this label, the 2012 Dixie Flyer Vineyards "The Brakeman" Cabernet Sauvignon, combining two of my favorite things, wine and trains!  It's a rare occurrence, and this one was even more special as the Dixie Flyer was one of the named passenger trains operated by the Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad which ran behind my house when I was growing up!  The train and railroad are long gone, but the wine is still here, so let's taste!

The Cabernet is from Paso Robles, which in my experience usually has somewhat lighter color and body, with a somewhat more approachable fruit forward taste than your typical big, bold Cabernets.  This characteristic is certainly true of this wine, with a lighter, garnet color with great clarity.  The nose is a playful combination of green grass, blackberry and cotton candy.  The taste is quite nice, some black fruit up front, blackberry and candied plum, that transitions nicely to some mocha and dark chocolate notes midpalate.  The finish is brief, with some very mellow tannins supporting a last bit of fruit that rounds out to be quite dry in the end.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, it's a pleasant, easy drinking everyday wine at a value price (I think I paid around $12 for this at Costco).  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a very un-Cabernet sort of pairing, some baked cod with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus!  With all the fish on sale for lent, I've suddenly found the urge to eat more fish, at least the fruit in this wine really doesn't overpower the more subtle flavors of white fish.  Cheers!

2012 Canoe Ridge Vineyards The Expedition Cabernet Sauvignon

Well I am sure glad the world didn't end with the Mayan calendar, as there are a number of really nice 2012 vintage wines coming out now that we all would have missed!  Tonight's is one such vintage, the 2012 Canoe Ridge Vineyards "The Expedition" Cabernet Sauvignon from the Horse Heaven Hills.  I've tried a few different wines from Canoe Ridge, and they seldom disappoint, so we'll see how this one goes.

The wine is a deep ruby color in the glass, certainly appropriate for a Cabernet from the Columbia Valley.  The nose is quite pleasant with some lovely floral notes atop some rich, ripe fruit notes of plum and red currant and just a bit of smokiness.  The taste is really quite nice, very fruit forward, with flavors of ripe raspberry, blackberry and currant that blast into your psyche.  The rich fruit transitions nicely to some smoky, mineral notes midpalate.  The tannins are remarkably well developed for a wine this young, supporting a long, smooth, very dry finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 8, as it's really drinking well and it was a terrific bargain as I found this one at G.B. Russo's in Grand Rapids for just $15!  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a fall classic dinner of grilled teriyaki pork tenderloin with some cheddar bacon potato casserole and some steamed green beans.  The sweet ripe fruit in this wine is just perfect with a rich pork dish while the acidity offers a nice balance to the cheesy potato casserole, man I have to eat!  Cheers!

2012 Oliver Winery Dry Red Blend

What a day!  Saturdays are always full of chores but today was off the charts!  I started at the local nursery and bought some new hydrangeas and astilbe for the back yard, then went grocery shopping, then mowed the yard, then planted the plants and with all that activity I'm now up to 18,520 steps so far today and I haven't even had a glass of wine!  Well that's about to be corrected as I found a bottle of 2012 Oliver Winery Dry Red Blend at the local supermarket on sale.  Now I must admit I'm a bit skeptical of this as Oliver Winery is based out of Bloomington, Indiana, and I remember when I was in graduate school at Indiana University, the winery was known for white wines and sweet fruit wines, but definitely not the dry reds that I so love.  The interesting thing about this wine was that the grapes were sourced from California, but the wine was made here, so here goes nothing!

The wine is a bit lighter in color but it has nice clarity and a deep ruby at the center of the glass.  The nose is certainly better than I was expecting, some nice blackberry and black currant notes along with some green grass and hint of spice.  The taste is rather fruit forward, but not overpowering, nice fresh dark fruit flavors of blackberry and currant which transitions rather abruptly to some Asian spice and fresh herbs midpalate.  The finish is nice and dry, but it's very short, making it a bit disappointing, but still not a bad effort overall.

I would rate this wine a solid 7, it won't knock your socks off, but it's a pretty decent wine for only $8!  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a rare grilled T-bone, baked potato and some haricots vert, as this wine has enough backbone to pair quite well with beef.  I can't say this will be a go to wine in my house, but I wouldn't have any problem serving this to my guests.  A new perspective on the old home town winery, cheers!

1997 I Balzini White Label Super Tuscan Blend

All right!  It's the first Saturday of the month, and you know what that means, Cellar Saturday!  That day of the month where I raid the cellar for something a little more mature or out of the ordinary to taste and share with all of you.  Tonight it's a relatively recent acquisition, as I just bought a 4-year vertical of this wine from Wines Till Sold Out, and tonight I've opened the oldest, the 1997 I Balzini White Label Super Tuscan, a blend of Sangiovese (50%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (50%), two varietals that I know age quite well.  Given its age, I opened this wine and decanted it about an hour before tasting, so here goes nothing!

The wine is an inky, deep purple color in the glass with some ruby around the edges.  The nose is very earthy, with quite a bit of smoke, oak and cedar over a layer of leather and black pepper.  The taste is surprisingly fruit forward with rich flavors of blackberry and plum at the outset that quickly transitions to some stark mineral notes of limestone and iron midpalate.  The tannins are quite mellow after nearly two decades but they still give nice structure to the smooth and very dry finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 8, as it's drinking quite nicely, but I believe it's somewhat on the downhill side of its life.  As for pairings, it would be very nice with a wide variety of steaks or spicy Italian dishes, but tonight I've gone the other direction and am enjoying it with a grilled wild Alaskan salmon steak served over a bed of baby greens with all sorts of picnic sides, including corn on the cob, cole slaw and potato salad with a bit of fresh dill.  The fruit of the wine and mild acidity offer a great complement to the rich fattiness of the salmon, the perfect summer fare!  Salut!

2010 Michael David Winery Petite Petit

So tonight I am enjoying two lovely wines from Lodi, California for the Snooth.com Lodi virtual tasting (you can check it out here: http://www.snooth.com/virtual-tasting/video/lodi-virtual-tasting-room/) and the second one I am tasting tonight is the 2010 Michael David Winery Petite Petit. This wine is a somewhat interesting blend of Petite Sirah (85%) and Petit Verdot (15%), hence the name!

This wine is a bit darker in color, with a bit of opacity at the center, easing toward some ruby at the edges.  The nose on this one is quite a bit different, with some distinct woodsy notes reflecting the Petite Sirah (which also lends structure and the fantastic deep purple color), some wonderful fresh herb notes accented by anise and black cherry.  The taste of this one is somewhat more fruit forward, reminiscent of the more jammy Lodi zinfandels, with flavors of black cherry and cassis that transition into some flavors of forest floor midpalate.  The finish is quite nice with softer tannins leading to a more subdued, dry finish.

This wine is a very nice example of an interesting blend, that I would rate an 8 overall, as it's also a pretty good value at $18.  Tonight I am enjoying this one with my spicy Thai noodles and it holds up quite well against the Thai spice. It would pair quite nicely with some smoky barbecue, or a nice grilled brat with pickled red cabbage.  Cheers!

2009 Las Rocas Garnacha

Happy Birthday!  No, I'm not doing my best Frosty the Snowman impersonation, but today is my birthday, 12/12/12, and I spent most of the day in New York, but made it home in time for a late dinner and a bottle of wine, and the wine I chose was the 2009 Las Rocas Garnacha.  Now I partly blame my dinner companion last night, as I met a fellow Snooth board member, Greg T. in SoHo at a lovely little French bistro called La Sirene, which is all BYOB, with no corkage!  So Greg brought a lovely 1998 Rioja so I've had Spanish wines on the brain!

This wine comes from Calatayud, which is deep in the interior of Aragon, Spain, and from what I've read, the terrain can be quite intimidating, very rocky, with lots of limestone, and quite arid.  Yet somehow the Garnacha (or Grenache in France and elsewhere) vines took root, producing some of the loveliest wines I've had the pleasure of tasting, and as a bonus, they are seldom priced at a level that would suggest their true quality!

This wine has a lovely deep ruby color in the glass, and a nose that is a wonderful blend of jammy fruit, black cherries, currant, anise and somewhat of a sour twang, suggesting that the sweet fruit might be well balanced by acidity.  The taste is an explosion of fruit in your mouth, with rich ripe berries, yet the acidity of some sour cherry notes really balance the fruit mid-palate.  The finish is quite smooth, yet it has a wonderful woodsy sort of taste on the finish, which again is a surprising counterbalance to the rich fruit.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, particularly given the price, as this was a recent office wine club selection for only $8!  As for pairings, for my birthday, I had a hankering for some Thai food, and there is a new Thai restaurant that someone told me about last week, called Thai Chef, which was right on the way home from the airport!  So I enjoyed this one with some wonderful pad kee mao, and I found the fruit and acidity really played nicely with the spice of the dish, and the fragrant Thai basil!  Not one of my more traditional pairings, but it worked, cheers!

2011 Honoro Vera Garnacha

You know, I just don't drink enough Spanish wines.  I know they are having loads of troubles over there, so I figured they make wonderful wines and I should help out by buying a bottle or two!  In this case, it's the 2011 Honoro Vera Garnacha, which is the Spanish version of Grenache, a grape from the south of France that I've taken quite a fancy to in recent months.  This wine comes from the city of Calatayud, which lies just to the southwest of the French border in the Sistema Iberico mountain range, roughly equidistant from the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.

The wine itself is a very deep purple color in the glass, trending to more ruby color along the edges.  The nose is a very pleasant combination of sweet fruit scents with a combination of strawberries, sweet cherries and plums with just the faintest hint of cedar and spices.  The first taste brings some surprising smokiness and gravel which are enveloped by the fruit flavors, which present themselves as very jammy at first, flavors of ripe cherries and blueberries, which transition to rich plums laced with exotic spices that seem almost Oriental.  The young tannins are surprisingly well integrated leading to a lovely smooth finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 7.5 as it's really a lovely, fruit forward example of the varietal that makes it wonderfully food friendly, plus it was a great value at only $8!  Tonight I am pairing it with some tortilla crusted tilapia, a variety of fingerling potatoes and some steamed asparagus, and I really love the way the fruit in the wine plays off the spice of the fish, very lively!  So try a lovely Spanish red wine if you have the opportunity!

2001 Château Les Gravières Saint Emilion Grand Cru

And for my second official Cellar Saturday, I've decided to open up a wine that has only been in my cellar for less than a month!  Tonight it's a more than decade old Grand Cru Bordeaux, the 2001 Château Les Gravières Saint Emilion.  Now unlike many Bordeaux blends, this one is 100% Merlot, though I'll admit I've always found something about French Merlot that seems to make it better than anywhere else.

The wine itself has a lovely deep purple to ruby coloration.  The nose is a wonderful blend of rich red fruit, leather and smoke.  The taste is remarkably fruit forward, with wonderful ripe plum, red berries and cassis that creates a seeming jolt of sweet fruit flavor that quickly transitions to black pepper and musty oak.  The tannins are quite supple, offering a very smooth, dry finish.  Given it's age, this wine is probably now entering its prime years for drinking, so it's a good thing I opened it!

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, mainly since I love classic Bordeaux and this is definitely in that realm.  The nose, the color, the taste, all remind me of the wonderful wines I drank the last time I was in France.  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a rare grilled ribeye, haricots vert almondine and some roasted red potatoes.  I bought this wine recently from Wines Till Sold Out for only $30, and I am just amazed sometimes at what wonderful wines they can find for bargain prices that really give you a chance to taste something out of the ordinary!

2005 Vitanza Chianti Colli Senesi

Another hot summer day, and since I just went to the gym I figure I should reward myself with a lovely porterhouse, and what could go better with a nice steak than a nice bottle of Chianti?  So tonight I've opened a bottle of the July selection from my office wine club, the 2005 Vitanza Chianti Colli Senesi.  Now you might be asking what makes this wine different from the typical Chianti, and that's a good question.  This wine is produced from grapes grown in the hills outside of Siena, so it tends to be a little more rustic, but definitely the genuine article, not unlike the people there!  The vineyards there are somewhat lower yielding, and the Sangiovese grapes grow in smaller bunches, resulting in more concentrated fruit flavors and higher tannins.

The wine itself has a deep ruby hue, with lighter red along the edges.  The nose presents a wonderful combination of leather, cherry, licorice and a bit of earthy spice.  The wine is wonderfully fruit forward with concentrated flavors of ripe plum and cherry, giving way to a bit of rustic earthiness and smoke midpalate.  The well structured tannins provide for a long, silky dry finish that's perfect for drinking at sunset, but still won't detract from a great meal!

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, particularly given the bargain price of only $10 (thank you G.B. Russo!).  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with the aforementioned porterhouse along with a few sweet potato fries to round things out, a perfect dinner that is just a small reminder of the Bistecca a la Toscana that is so wonderful just outside of Florence!  Though admittedly mine was a tenth as thick as the genuine article. Cin cin!

2008 Maggio Old Vine Zinfandel

Oh how I love me a good Zin!  And as I've said many times, I'm a firm believer that the best Zins come from Lodi, and tonight we have the pleasure of tasting one! I remember when I first tried a glass of nice Lodi zinfandel I was quite skeptical, given the experience of "white zinfandel" in the 1990s, but my fears were certainly misplaced as a good red zin has a richness of fruit and wonderful tannins that make it a special wine!

For tonight's pleasure, I've not tried a wine from this maker, but I saw this wine on a recent trip to the World Market, and thought I'd give it a try, after all, old vine zin from Lodi, where's the risk in that?  The wine itself is a deep purple hue with bright ruby around the edges.  The nose exudes licorice, leather and baking spice, with a good bit of red fruit character.  The wine is somewhat fruit forward, but not as jammy as some zins, the rich ripe plum and red berries give way to cedar and smoke mid-palate.  The tannins are nicely structured giving the wine a nice tart finish.  I've read some reviews that complain about the finish being too short, but I didn't experience that at all.  It wasn't an exceptionally long finish, but certainly adequate given the structure of the wine.

Overall, I would rate this one a solid 7.5, especially given the price point at $8!  Tonight I am pairing this wine with a bit of Italian, some rigatoni with some spicy red sauce, as I find that a little spice in the pasta sauce plays very nicely against the fruit of a nice zin.  Cheers!

2008 Bonizio Sangiovese di Maremma

Tonight I'm enjoying a bottle of my office wine club's latest selection, the 2008 Bonizio Sangiovese di Maremma!  You know how much I love wine and my wine club buddies, so this is bound to be something fun.  Now many of you are probably already quite familiar with the Sangiovese grape, the foundational grape in so many wonderful wines of Tuscany, from classic Chianti to the king of the hill, Brunello di Montalcino.  Well, unlike a typical Sangiovese, the Sangiovese di Maremma comes from the southern and western section of the region, where a combination of the warmer climate and red soil provides for a more robust varietal.

Unlike a typical Tuscan Sangiovese, this wine is somewhat more fuller bodied, presenting a deep, brooding garnet color in the glass.  The nose is an interesting combination of ripe plum and sour cherry with hints of smoky herbs and anise.  The taste is somewhat fruit forward, with ripe berries, black cherry and cassis, yielding to licorice midpalate and finishing with bright tannins for a nice bit of tartness at the end (however, it's essential to note that letting this wine breathe a bit will diminish the tartness of the tannins significantly, leaving you with a smooth, almost creamy finish).

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 7, it's very pleasant for what it is, and an unbeatable bargain at only $8!  Though I'll have to give a downgrade for not having a natural cork, but I can overlook that on occasion.  Tonight I am pairing it with a little linguine with some Italian sausage and arrabbiata sauce.  The initial fruit and hint of sweetness plays wonderfully against the spice of the red sauce, so well I have an urge for a second helping!

Forgeron Walldeaux Smithie

So I have arrived safe and sound from my grand adventure to the west!  I traveled from my home in Michigan to Missouri, then across the Oregon Trail (in general terms) to Pendleton, Oregon and Walla Walla, Washington, home to some of the most wonderful wines around today in my opinion.  Of course I stopped for wine all along the way, so we will have much to discuss over the coming months as we explore wines ranging from the classics of the Columbia Valley, to the emerging Snake River Valley of Idaho, even to the unusual Norton grapes of Missouri.  But enough forward-looking thoughts, let's get down to tonight's wine!

Forgeron Cellars was the third winery I visited on my day of tasting around Walla Walla, and it was a very nice surprise.  Marie-Eve Gilla is the part owner and winemaker at Forgeron, and she employs her background in French wines to make complex, food-friendly wines that really exemplify the wine potential of Washington state.  Using grapes sourced not only from the Walla Walla Valley, but also from the Columbia and Yakima Valleys, she crafts some wonderful wines that really reflect the tradition of Bordeaux style blends that made Walla Walla famous, but she also employs grape varieties like Barbera and Primitivo that many others have yet to try.

The Walldeaux Smithie is the non-vintage, everyday red blend offered by Forgeron, and what makes this wine interesting is that it is not only a blend of different grape varieties, but also different vintages (in this case 2007, 2008 an 2009) to provide a most interesting everyday table wine.  This current release is a blend of Merlot (25%), Cabernet Sauvignon (25%), Syrah (16%), Zinfandel (16%), Petit Verdot (8%), Cabernet Franc (4%), Primitivo (4%) and Pinot Noir (2%), so you can see this is just about a kitchen sink sort of blend!  The color in the glass is a deep ruby, and the nose carries aromas of leather, licorice, cherry that are practically begging you to take a deep sip!  The wine itself is very fruit forward, with rich bright flavors of red berry, which gives way to notes of spice and fresh herbs midpalate, while the nicely structured tannins lend a smooth, dry finish. 

This is the perfect sort of wine to enjoy with a meal, or simply enjoy on a summer evening as I'm doing tonight.  Of course these are food friendly wines, so I'm also having a glass with my dinner of wasabi marinaded grilled pork tenderloin and steamed asparagus, as the spice of the wasabi plays well against the fruit of the wine.  Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, a wonderful everyday wine for $18 (since I bought it from the winery, I'm not sure how widely available it is outside the Northwest, but you can order it here: http://forgeroncellars.com/wines/walldeaux-smithie). Santé!

2008 Valley of the Moon Zinfandel

I love vacations, you can drink as much wine as you like, and never have to worry about the alarm clock disturbing your malolactic slumber!  So, since I'm on vacation, we'll have plenty of time to explore some wonderful wines, and tonight we have a 2008 Valley of the Moon Zinfandel!  You know how I love Zins, and this one has a cool label to add to the mystique of the wine. 

This particular Zin is from Sonoma, which produces some very nice wines and this one is no exception.  The color is a bright ruby in the glass, and the nose is rich with ample red fruit, with hints of blackberry, plum offset by a bit of leather and cedar.  The taste is somewhat fruit forward, with a bit of berry and black currant, which quickly gives way to a bit of jammy sweetness mid-palate, that finishes with a bit of vanilla and spice.

Overall, this one has a little more fruit than I'm used to, but that's what makes this wine the perfect accompaniment to my thick rare ribeye and grilled savory veggies, like peppers, onions, leeks and asparagus.  I tried this one at a tasting at my favorite local wine merchant, G.B. Russo's and it was great, so how could I resist buying a bottle for only $12?  I would rate this wine a solid 8, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a wonderful easy drinking wine as the summer nights heat up!

2009 Chateau Arnaud Saint-Estephe

I know I've been letting you down this month, letting work get in the way of important wine drinking, but that's all in the past now, as I am ready to get serious about my wine drinking for the rest of the month!  So tonight we are starting off with another of those "legendary" Bordeaux from the 2009 vintage, the Chateau Arnaud Saint-Estephe.  Most Bordeaux today seem to be from the other areas of the region, like Margaux, Medoc, Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, but there seem to be some areas that have almost been forgotten, like Saint-Julien and Saint-Estephe which comes from one of the northernmost areas of the left bank of the Gironde.

Popular or forgotten, I'll still enjoy them and tonight's example is no exception.  This wine is a full-bodied blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (30%) and Cabernet Franc (10%), with deep ruby color in the glass, with a classic, almost inky appearance at the first pour.  The nose is packed with red fruit and currants, with hints of leather, wood and mint.  There is a good bit of rich fruit on the first taste, with some savory herbs mid-palate, and well structured tannins for a smooth dry finish.

You know I love me some Bordeaux, and this one packs a nice punch!  Overall I would rate this one a solid 8 with some room to improve with a little maturity.  This one was another great wine I bought from my favorite online wine merchant, Wines Till Sold Out, and though a little pricier than usual, I still felt it was a great deal for only $21.  Tonight I am pairing it with a rare New York strip, a baked potato and some steamed veggies, a classic American meal meets France!

2010 14 Hands Hot to Trot Columbia Valley Red

So yes, I know it's March Madness, and the day before St. Patrick's Day (not a stellar wine holiday I must say), but you know what?  It's still March and that means it's still Washington Wine Month!  So I went out today to a local merchant near my office called Grand Central Market to find an interesting bottle, as I recall last year they had a nice selection of Washington Wines.  Well in the last year, they've remodeled the store and drastically cut down the size of their wine selection, but fortunately they still had a selection of 6 or 7 Washington reds, so I wasn't disappointed.

There was a nice bottle of Powers Cabernet, and some Columbia Crest which I've never been all that impressed with.  In the end it came down to two, one was a red blend from the Mt. Rainier area, which I'm not as familiar with, and it had a screw cap (you know how I am not a fan of screw caps!). Then there was a familiar label of the 14 Hands Winery, I've had their Cabernet a few times and it always was a nice everyday drinking wine, at a very good price.  This bottle was a red blend that I wasn't familiar with, but I trust the winery, and I do love nice red blends, so what the heck, give it a try.

The wine is a blend, primarily of Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a few other varietals added for good measure.  The wine itself has a garnet color with very little opacity, suggesting a lighter style wine, which is perfect on what ended up being a record 80-degree day!  The nose had hints of leather, vanilla and candied apple, with a bit of a smoky edge to it.  The taste is very fruit forward, with plenty of ripe cherries, plums and blackberry, and a bit of sweetness that gets right to the edge of too sweet, but then pulls you back with the mellow tannins that are just enough to give you that twang back from the brink of sweet preserves.  The tannins are also just enough to give the wine a clean, crisp finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a 7, given that it's still pretty young and likely to develop further over the next year or two, and the price isn't bad either, I found this bottle for $11.  I had a glass tonight with some simple pasta and red sauce, but I don't really envision this to be a food wine, rather it's an ideal wine for enjoying a glass or three on the patio on a mild spring or summer evening, watching the sun set and putting a relaxing finish on a hard day.  Speaking of which, it's time for me to relax and watch some hoops!

2009 Pasqua Valpolicella Ripasso

So I was down in Atlanta for a few days for a conference and I made many new friends and overall it was a lovely time.  But since I came a day early for a special session, I was on my own the first night, so not surprisingly with a Trader Joe's nearby I stopped on the way back from dinner and picked up a bottle of wine to enjoy in my room (the hotel's selections were pretty bland).  So I picked up a bottle of 2009 Pasqua Valpolicalla Ripasso to enjoy (what better complement for my earlier Amarone selection?)

First a note to Trader Joe's - I've been a huge fan of yours since the early days when I shopped at the store in Beaverton, Ore. not far from my house in 1999, and followed you to Issaquah, Washington, then Chicago, and now various locations in Detroit/Ann Arbor, so no one can accuse me of being a fair weather fan.  But on this instance at your store in Buckhead, I bought the aforementioned bottle of wine, which had a price tag on the shelf of only $8.99, but unfortunately when the cashier scanned it, it rang up at $9.99.  Now I'm more than happy to contribute an extra dollar to your efforts if you ask, but I get a little peeved when prices don't agree (after all, in Michigan, we have a law that would have required you to start handing me cash if that happened here).  But what gets me more peeved is when one of your associates tells me that the price on the register is right and the shelf tag is wrong, like I have mobile access to your pricing mainframe or have psychic powers that enable me to pick which items in your store I'm about to be overcharged for - here's a hint, I have neither of those, but as a customer when you put a price on the shelf, that's the price - PERIOD.  Don't try to give me a song and dance because you can't update your shelf tags in a timely manner.  I've never had this sort of experience at any of your stores, and I can only hope this was an isolated incident.  Now back to the wine.

The Valpolicella Ripasso, is made from the same grapes as Amarone, which are partially dried to make the wonderfully concentrated flavors of Amarone, but in the end there is usually something left over, so on the second pressing (ripasso!) they make another wine which is somewhat of a baby Amarone which usually is available for less than half the price of an Amarone.  I drank this one over a couple days, and I'll admit it was a bit young, so it probably wasn't as expressive as it could have been.  It was relatively light, with a bright magenta color and a nose of cherries, currants, herbs and a somewhat floral note.  The wine was very fruit forward, as could be expected for such a young wine, with taste of grape jam and a bit of lavender mid palate, and unfortunately the finish was pretty flat.

Overall I would rate this one a solid 7, it was good for what it was, and a nice value at $9, but I think there are a number of better examples out there for not a lot more cash.