Although I was apprehensive, I really liked this one. Tonight's wine is a 2007 Clos de los Siete, a blend of Malbec (48%) Merlot (28%) Cabernet Sauvignon (12%) and Syrah (12%) from Argentina ($15 at LA Wine Company - I also saw it for $16 at Beverage Warehouse). According to the label, Clos de los Siete is an "oasis comprised of seven vineyards in the foothills of the Andes, south of Mendoza."
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Argentinean Clos
Although I was apprehensive, I really liked this one. Tonight's wine is a 2007 Clos de los Siete, a blend of Malbec (48%) Merlot (28%) Cabernet Sauvignon (12%) and Syrah (12%) from Argentina ($15 at LA Wine Company - I also saw it for $16 at Beverage Warehouse). According to the label, Clos de los Siete is an "oasis comprised of seven vineyards in the foothills of the Andes, south of Mendoza."
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Just Added - An Email Tool
I swear I liked this wine before...
So, sometime last year, I tried this wine. It was mentioned on a conversation thread about wines people liked priced under $10. I found it at Beverages and More for $10. Drank it, liked it. Even bought some for my parents who also liked it.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Return of the King
Yeah, I just had to dork out a bit there - a little Lord of the Rings reference for my geek readers. Tonight we tried the 2007 King's Ridge Pinot Noir. $13 at the LA Wine Company. A while back I reviewed the Cab/Syrah blend which was not fantastic. But, in doing a little poking around on the web, I had learned that the pinot noir was the best liked of their wines.
Monday, January 19, 2009
An upcoming event - RSVP ASAP!
Sokol Blosser Winery has a long history in
An RSVP is required by Tuesday, January 20 -- contact mirandaa@terlatowines.com or call (707) 251-9818.
So come on out! Hope to see you there.
And even more shiraz
This evening was another visit to Australia. We are drinking a 2005 Heartland Shiraz, $14 at the Wine House. Heartland makes another wine we often drink (but haven't blogged about) called Stickleback - it's a tasty wine for about $10. Someday, I'll blog on that one. Anyhow, Heartland is made by Ben Glaetzer, a well known wine producer in Australia who makes wines like the well respected AMON-Ra. This wine comes from the Limestone coast and Langhorne Creek in South Australia and is 100% Shiraz.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
GSM Tastyness
Tonight's wine is a 2005 Cape Barren GSM (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre) from the McLaren Vale of Australia. Wow, what a huge difference between this and the last wine from the McLaren Vale, the d'Arenberg (see last post.) Obviously, this is a blend, but it still is a much more tasty. Although, this wasn't an amazing wine, it was a really solid effort. I'm always curious what the "critics" say about wines - I make an effort to try the wine, make my decision about what I think, then see what they say. This wine got 90-91 scores - pretty solid scores. Especially at $13 at the Wine House. And looking it up told me it was 50% grenache, 40% syrah, 10% mourvedre.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
d'Arenberg Dud
Tonight's wine is a 2005 d'Arenberg d'Arry's Original Shiraz (50%) Grenache (50%) blend from the McLaren Vale of Australia. From LA Wine Company for $12. Now, d'Arenberg is a major Australian wine maker, making plenty of wines in a wide range of prices. Their most famous (and pricey) is The Dead Arm, which we've never had, but have two bottles sitting in our wine closet. Some day...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
To Portugal via Oregon
Tonight, we return to Portugal, with a 2006 Restoration Old Vine Red, from the Alentejano Region of Portugal, a new area to me. To paraphrase their website, it is produced from three traditional “old world” grape varieties: Tina Roriz (aka Tempranillo) gives bright fruit and structure, Trincadeira Preta supplies beautiful aromas, and Alicante Bouschet (an offspring of Grenache) gives tannin and backbone. This was another grab at Cost Plus for $10.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Douro Dance
During a recent visit to Cost Plus, I just grabbed some various wines that seemed interesting. One of them was a 2005 Aveleda Charamba red wine from the Duoro region of Portugal. According to the label, "charamba" is the traditional Portuguese dance from the 19th century.
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Bear from France
Ok, the winter break is over. Back to work... and, more importantly, wine!
Tonight's wine is from France, specifically from Minervois. We got this in a relatively new restaurant/wine bar in Glendale called Palate. They have a wonderful tapas menu with some great wines. Great food and an excellent wine list with a broad range of types and prices. Only complaints would be smaller portions than I'd like for the prices, and an odd decor. After dinner, we wandered into the wine shop/wine bar in the back which is a whole different world where they sell many of the wines on their menu. Next time, I'd like to spend all our time back there.
Anyhow, one of the wines we got from the wine shop was a 2006 Luc Lapeyre Minervois called "L'Amourier", a blend of Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre. Couldn't find any info about the blend percentages on the web. According to Silverlake Wines, the wine maker is called "The Bear." Apparently, Luc "The Bear" Lapeyre lives and makes wine in Minervois, a small appelation in the Languedoc region of France. As I write this, the palate website is down so I don't recall how much I paid, but at Silverlake, they list it at $16.50 - That sounds about right.
Our overall impression was... ok. Very soft wine. Not a big, smack you in the mouth blend. It was much better with food, as is the norm with french wines. It had a mild version of the earthy syrah funk which I've noticed in hot weather syrahs. Soft tannin, silky, medium length. Nothing wrong with it but didn't excite us.
Happy New Year to y'all! I promise to drink and post more now that the holidays are over.