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."

I was apprehensive because this wine has been heavily advertised lately in several of the places I buy wine - obviously, it was recently released and they have a big marketing push.  Seems, very often, these wines are over-hyped.  Not true in this case.

This wine is really nice - totally in the flavor profile we love.  Dark color (it's young)- medium to dark fruit on the nose, a little oak and spice.  Taste is very dry, dark fruit, a little spice, medium acidity, medium to heavy tannin (but not obnoxious to me), well balanced - simply very pleasing.  14.5% alcohol, but I didn't peg it that high.

Scores I've seen go from 89-91.  Various places I've looked say it is "tightly wound" - perhaps, but it is very drinkable now, surprising for a 2007.  Highly recommend this one.  The more I drink it, the more I like it.  Yay!  And I like the label - what do you think?

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Just Added - An Email Tool

If you like this blog, be sure to enter your email in the new "subscribe via email" feature.  You will get an email containing the latest blog sent right to your very own computer.  What an amazing technological advance.  

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.

Cut to: today.  I'm at Target and I see this wine.  "Wow - that's surprising," I think.  Didn't know it was such a high production wine that it could supply Target.  Weird.  So, I buy two bottles at $11 each and take them home.  I thought it was kind of cool that I was buying wine at Target, especially one I knew I liked.

Well... I don't think I'll be buying wine at Target again anytime soon.  The wine in question is a 2006 Red Guitar from Navarra, a blend of Tempranillo (55%) and Garnacha [aka Granache] (45%).  Not sure what happened in the past year and a half, but this wine is a mess to my palate.  When we first opened it, there was a benign nose - nothing weird - dark fruit and some smoke.  But the taste was disjointed - earth and tobacco with some cherry, a sour finish.  The worst part was the residual sugar which made it pretty awful.  OK, maybe it needs to breathe.  

Five hours later in a decanter, it's not improved.  Same problems.  A bit more mellow, but not tasty to me.  The sugar component is just completely off-putting to me.  Maybe this is a bad bottle, but it has none of the signs of it being flawed.  Rachel had the same reaction.  

I checked around and this wine gets pretty good scores and is well liked.  I don't know.  Maybe they've had to increase production and, as a result, reduce quality?  Totally a guess.  Perhaps the previous vintage I had was better.  It's a head scratcher.  But definitely not a wine for me.  So, if anyone needs a bottle, I have a spare.

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.

Again, this is from Oregon, which is one of the new outstanding places for pinot noir - the soil and weather are great for it.  Unfortunately, they know it and charge big bucks for the good stuff like Beaux Freres, Domaine Serene and Dusky Goose, all in the $40-60 range.  Grapes in this one come from Willamette Valley and Umpqua Valley.

Well, for $13, this stuff is pretty good.  Not amazing, but a good QPR.  It's hard to find good, inexpensive pinot noir, but this I would recommend.  Nice nose - good fruit - a bit deeper than French pinot, which is typical of Oregon.  Nice flavor - sour cherry, a bit floral, light body.  Nice acidity, well balanced.  A little bit sour on the finish - almost like some of the stems got in there.  13.75% alcohol.  This is a good inexpensive example of Oregon pinot noir.  A solid wine - a good week night wine.

Monday, January 19, 2009

An upcoming event - RSVP ASAP!

So I got an invite to an event this Monday, January 26 from 5:30–8:00 p.m. at the Makai Lounge (www.makailounge.com) in Santa Monica.  And I was told to invite my readers.  That's you!  It's hosted by Alison Sokol Blosser of Sokel Blosser Wines - I've had their Pinot Noir and it's very tasty.

 

Sokol Blosser Winery has a long history in Oregon (there were only five or six wineries in the Willamette Valley when they started in the early '70s!). Alison is part of a second-generation that is now leading the winery.  She will be offering her perspective on organic and sustainable viticulture, Pinot Noir in Oregon, fun blends like Evolution and Meditrina and anything else you and the other guests are interested in chatting about. 

 

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.

Well, it's another solid wine, somewhere in taste to last night's Cape Barren GSM blend and the prior d'Arenberg d'Arry's Original.  The nose is nice; dark fruit and oak (I feel like I've said oak a lot lately - hopefully I'm not getting too stuck on that.)  Very dark color, taste is fairly dry, lush and bright fruit (which contrasted the nose) with some spice on the finish.  A smooth, well balanced wine - medium tannins.  Often these types of wines are so fruit forward that I mistake it for sugar, which I'm not crazy about, but this one ain't bad.

And I just checked, this got a 90 from Steven Tanzer at IWC, in case you care.

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.

Not the normal blow-your-nose-off stewed fruit of many Aussie wines.  Nice dark fruit, although there is quite a bit of oak and vanilla on the nose, but not overwhelming.  Also get the oak on the palate, but it's not obnoxious at all.  Very dry, which I like.  Well balanced.  Good dark fruit. Medium tannins.  Overall, very nice.  Very much recommend.