2006 Eagles Trace Napa Valley Merlot

So tonight I just got back home from visiting my uncle just south of Chicago and now it's time to relax as I begin to cook my Sunday dinner.  And to accompany my cooking exploits I've decided to open a bottle of 2006 Eagles Trace Napa Valley Merlot. As you know by now, I am an ardent fan Merlot and Napa produces some very nice ones. 

This wine is a lovely bright ruby in the glass with great clarity. The nose is a lovely combination of black currant, dark chocolate and ripe plum.  The taste is wonderfully complex with blackberry, wild herbs, and oak swirling around a base of delicate minerality. The tannins are well integrated creating a wonderfully opulent mouthfeel and a long, smooth finish. 

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 8, as it's a great example of a lovely Merlot at a wonderful value as I bought a 4-pack vertical of the 2006 and 2007 vintages from Wines Till Sold Out for just $90!  Tonight I am enjoying this wine as I make one of my favorite winter dishes, seafood Newburg, with fresh clams, mussels, shrimp and bay scallops in a rich sherry cream sauce served over flaky pastry puffs.  The complex flavors of this wine really provide a nice counterbalance to the richness of the dish.  So yummy!!!

2010 Maison Nicolas Perrin Syrah Viognier

Tonight's wine is an interesting one that I picked up yesterday at G.B. Russo's and it's interesting for a number of reasons, not least of which is the lesson in bureaucracy I received, though it's that bureaucratic effect that led to my getting this wine at a bargain price!  The winemaker, Nicolas Perrin wanted to make a wine in the style of a Hermitage in the northern Rhone, but at a price that would make it much more approachable to young people (as opposed to $300 a bottle!).  So he came up with a blend of 97% Syrah and 3% Viognier sourced from the northern Rhone.  Unfortunately when it came time to bottle the wine, the French authorities would not allow him to classify it as anything but a "Vin de Table" which was the lowest classification and only allows you to state on the label the producer and that it comes from France.  Then, as he tried to export it to the United States, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives would not allow him to state a vintage on a "Vin de Table" so he ended up with the very basic label we see before us.  But by 2012, the French had changed their rules creating the "Vin de France" category which allowed a vintage to be added, so now he is changing the label and liquidating all the wine in the old labels, voila!  A bargain!

The wine itself is very dark ruby with a tinge if India ink.  The nose is very rustic, with aromas of peat moss, forest floor and wild herbs, over just a hint of fresh cut grass.  Now keep in mind this wine needs some time to breathe, so you might consider decanting or letting it breathe for an hour or more as I have this evening.  The wine has a very rustic taste up front, with wild herbs, grass and great minerality at the outset, with very mild red fruit that expresses itself nicely midpalate.  The finish is very smooth, as the tannins accent the mineral characteristics and make for a very smooth finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, as it's not a wine for everyone, but for those who really appreciate the great mineral character and terroir that can be expressed in a wine from the Rhone valley.  As I mentioned earlier, it was also a great bargain at only $8!  The wine would pair well with richer dishes as a nice contrast for heavy cream sauces or sweeter dishes.  Tonight I am pairing this wine with some maple and bourbon glazed roast pork tenderloin, some baby potatoes with butter and parsley and some baby carrots from my garden.  Bon Appetit!

2007 Saviez Vineyards Napa Valley Zinfandel

Well, you know I love a good Zin, especially in summer when it's time for barbecue or other outdoor cooking events, and the bottle I opened this evening has developed somewhat of a cult following among my fellow office wine club members.  We were first turned on to this wine quite by accident when we ordered a case for a wine club selection of the 2004 vintage and it wasn't a huge hit among the broad group, but there were about 4 or 5 of us that just could not get enough of this wine!  So we ordered again when the '05 and '06 vintages came out, and then we were saddened to learn when WTSO offered the '07 vintage that the winery had gotten into financial trouble and was auctioned off by the bank!  Holy Grapes of Wrath!  We had 4 good vintages of this wine to enjoy, though I've only previously reviewed the '04 (see here: 2005 Saviez Zinfandel).

This wine has a super, deep ruby color in the glass, with the slighted bit of purple around the edges.  The nose oozes (hmm...oozing nose, better get that checked out) with rich fruit, black currant, plum, and jammy blackberry along with lovely aromas of leather, tobacco and cedar.  It's the sort of wine that gives your brain a slap in the head to make sure it's ready for what's about to be unleashed.  The wine itself is very fruit forward and almost jammy in the concentrated fruit, giving way to a lovely bit of green grass, wild herbs and chocolate midpalate.  The finish is wonderfully long and smooth, as the tannins provide a nice structure and balance for the initial wave of fruit.  This really is the sort of wine I could just sip all day long...do I have to work tomorrow?

Overall, I think this wine is even better than the '04 and '05 vintages I've tasted before, so I would rate this one a solid 8.5, even though this one was probably the most expensive at $18.  Tonight I am enjoying this with a nice rare Angus T-bone, some grilled corn and steamed heirloom carrots, which ironically is very similar to what I paired with the '05!  We got this one from WTSO, and they warned then that this might be the last of it, so if you can find it anywhere, grab a bottle!