2008 Berringer Merlot Founder's Estate

Hello all!! Tonight we had this very nice, straightforward, honest $10 bottle of merlot. The description on the back of the bottle was actually very accurate. It's described as having flavors of blackberry, plum and toasted spice (a little oak). The color was of deep ruby. And the aromas were not real big, but were true to the flavors. The tannins were a little more than velvety, but not unpleasant. This is a very fruit forward wine, as are many California merlots. I've been trying to develop a list of acceptable everyday wines so we can move beyond the box. I find true "bottom feeding" to be a bit of a challenge, but very satisfying. We are enjoying better wines overall, and there have been some pleasant surprises (like the Alamos merlot). I may explore merlots a little more, but, overall, this could be a nice addition to our list of everyday $10 wines.

2005 Da Vinci Chianti Classico

Hello all!! I have written up Da Vinci Chianti before, but I had it at a party at someone's else's house, so I didn't note the vintage and I don't believe it was a classico. I've been trying to lose weight, but we took a break from all the of veggies and had home-made tortellini with home-made brown spaghetti sauce, bread, and salad (very healthy with lots of broccoli). The wine was very, very good with this. I love opening a bottle of wine and sharing it with one other person (Al). It makes a couple of hours of sipping. During that time I get to experience it in all its glory as it slowly opens and sometimes fades. This evening was like that. The wine started out as a deep ruby red with a little brick color to it. The nose was not huge, but carried aromas of cherry, vanilla, and a touch of licorice. The flavors were cherry, plum, vanilla and horehound. As time passed current developed to mingle with the other flavors, and eventually overtook the cherry. The horehound became licorice. The color became even darker and the licorice stronger. The tannins started out as soft and velvety, but as the color darkened and the licorice became stronger, the tannins roughened up. I believe this wine is a "drink me now" wine. It was fascinating to watch it literally age with me over the course of two and half hours. I would buy this wine again, but I'd look for an '06, (supposed to be a very good year for chianti and could probably be held longer).I believe this wine was $25 at McScrooges.

2008 Rosteau Cotes du Rhone Villages

Hello all!! I really enjoyed this wine tonight!! It has been sitting around for awhile, so I'm not sure were I got it or what I paid for it, but I think it came from Bob's and I probably paid $15 to $20 for it. We had this wine with roast chicken (with garlic) and broccoli salad with pine nuts, onion, and sundried tomatoes. I wanted a nice bright, but fairly light red wine. I get a little tired of pairing roast chicken with chardonnay. This was actually a very nice pairing. The wine was light, but fresh and lively. It was very nice with the strong flavors of the garlic and broccoli. The color was a translucent ruby. The nose was of blueberry, strawberry and a little earthiness or forest aroma. The flavor was like the nose but it had a some added spiciness and a bit of rootbeer. It had soft tannins and a lingering finish. Overall, it was similar to a burgundian pinot noir but a little bit heavier. It was light bodied, elegant and complex. It must have been good because it inspired a philosophical conversation on the acceptance of ones mortality with maturity. I need to find more of this. And, while many '08's need to be aged a little more, this wine is ready to drink.

2009 Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay

Hello all!! We had this very nice California Chardonnay tonight with halibut and vegetables in parchment. The spiciness of the food somewhat overwhelmed the wine, so that it was only in after dinner sipping that the true flavors of the wine emerged. This would be a nice wine with roast chicken (not too much seasoning) or a salmon salad, or tuna steaks with veggies. Anyway, it was very nice and has received quite a bit of favorable press. We found the tasting notes on the back label to be a fairly acurate description of the wine. It had a bright dandelion yellow color. It seemed aromatically challenged at first, but it was cold and we did have it with food that was fairly heavily seasoned. The aromas that I picked up were lemon zest and pineapple. The flavors were of mango, papaya, and pineapple, with lemon zest and green apple on the finish. It had a nice, bright acidity and hit the entire palate with flavor. This is a very food friendly Chardonnay, and very reminiscent of a French White Burgundy. I really liked this wine and am especially happy about the fact that I picked this up on sale at Ashes for about $10. This wine needs to be part of our new policy of drinking better wines on a daily basis.

Mas Donis Barrica 2007 Old Vines (Spanish)

Hello all!! We enjoyed this wine a few days ago as a nice sipping wine after having chili for dinner. We snacked on cheese and crackers and sipped this wine. This is one of the wines I picked up at Wine Library. It is 85% grenache and %15 syrah. It was about $10 a bottle and described as delicious! The color was a dark inky garnet. The nose was of blackberry and cherry with vanilla and a little licorice. The flavor profile was blackberry and cherry with vanilla, licorice and a little tobacco on the finish. It had a wonderful silkiness with smooth tannins. It had a light to medium body. Overall, it was very nice, especially for the price. I wish I had more of it!

2008 Maia Lina Chianti

Hello all!! This is a lovely, honest little wine from Italy. Ashes has been selling it for $9-$10 dollars a bottle. It's a not very dark garnet color. The nose is pleasant but not too big. The flavors are lots of cherry and raspberry with a little oaky vanilla. It comes across as very fresh and fairly light, with a light to medium body. This makes a nice everyday wine and is light enough to have with salmon or chicken dishes, especially when served with a tomato based sauce.

We actually took several bottles of this wine with us to Philadelphia recently when we visited Al's parents. We also took an exciting side trip while in Philly. We found ourselves with an entire evening and most of the preceding afternoon without family commitments. So, we drove North into New Jersey and to Wine Library! I was pretty excited about it. Wine Library wasn't all that big, but there was soooo much wine. And the gourmet department was great, too. The variety of great stuff to be found in that amount of space was really impressive. I felt like I was making a little pilgrimage! I wish I could have bought more wine, but alas, I got what I could. I did get several bottles that will be blogged eventually. And I'm looking forward to other opportunities to visit the Wine Library.

2008 Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay

Hello all!! I'm still catching up some wines that we tried over the past couple of weeks. Tonight we actually had a Geyser Spring Pinot Gris. I believe we had this wine on Christmas Eve with all the seafood of the traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner. It's a very nice wine, crisp and clean with good acidity, but also some pleasing fruitiness. It pairs well with seafood and is only about $9 a bottle at Ashes. Hence, it appears regularly at our table.

But on to the Chalone. We got this wine because it was mentioned on Gary Vaynerchuck's Wine Library TV. He was quite enthusiastic about it, so we wanted to give it a try. This wine came from Total Wines in Atlanta and was about $20 a bottle. Gary says this label is very consistent year to year. The color was light dandelion. The nose was of pear and white peach. It had bright acidity, crisp and clear, with flavors of pear, white peach, apple, and a little bit of nutmeg. Al picked up a touch of honey and almond on the finish. It was lightly oaked and nicely balanced. I described it as elegant and understated. Very nice.

2009 Crios Torrontes

Hello all!! We had this wine a few nights ago with baked chicken with roasted latin veggies. This was a very good match and actually saved the meal as the vegetables were a little bland (next time I'll add an onion). It had a pale dandelion color. The nose was of pear, citrus, and lemon zest. The flavors were similar but with a lightly honeyed mouth-feel. It had soft acid and was clean and light on the palate. This is actually one of my favorite white varietals and is generally available at very reasonable prices. Torrontes are generally consistently good, and are an excellent choice for people who are not big wine drinkers. It's a good wine to try, if you haven't had it already. This particular wine is about $15 at Ashes.

2008 Chateau Ste Michelle Indian Wells Merlot

Hello all!! We had a very nice merlot this evening, with breaded, oven baked pork chops (a nice pairing). It had a deep garnet color, and aromas of blackberry and vanilla. It started out a little rough around the edges (it is a 2008). But it opened up nicely into a lovely velvety fruit forward Merlot. This is exactly what people like about Merlot. It was a beautifully balanced fruit forward velvety pleasure to drink. As Gary would say, it had a high delicious factor. It's not particularly complex, but it was yummy! I got this for $20 at Ashes last night. I'm not generally a big Merlot fan, but I may have to keep a bottle around.

2009 Alamos Malbec from Argentina

Hello all!! We had this wine last night with a spice rubbed flank steak and broccoli rabe. This is widely available for $10 or less. I have seen it at Ashes. I actually tasted this wine a year and a half ago at a tasting hosted by McScrooge's. The tasting featured wines from Alamos and I have to say I was pretty impressed, especially when the price was considered. This wine was a deep garnet to purple. It started with aromas of blackberry and smoke. The taste was true to the nose, with the faint smokiness lingering far back on the mid palate. I also picked up a faint taste of licorice. As it opened the blackberry developed into dark cherry and the licorice became more apparent. It began to resemble an Italian Salice Salentino. We really liked this wine, and at $9-$10 a bottle, this could be a really great everyday wine.

There are other excellent (especially for the price) wines from this label. Alamos is owned by Catena. When we went to the wine tasting, Alamos was represented as a rather small operation owned by a collection of investors from the United States and working with local winemakers. I don't know whether ownership of the label has changed, but the wines were and are both very affordable and very good. We particularly like the torrantes ($8-$9 at Ashes).

2008 Erath Pinot Noir from Oregon

Hello all!! I am sitting here, right now, enjoying a glass of this lovely pinot noir. I may have blogged it before, I didn't check. It has a nice brick red color that is not too dark (appropriate for a pinot noir). And it has the warm aroma and taste of plums and earthiness. I don't notice the typical strawberry component. Anyway, this is a very nice pinot fro just about $20 at McScrooge's. It should be available at many other stores. We had this wine with salmon and a lightly spicy, rather complex vegetable sauce of tomato, onion, garlic, caper, green olive, and raisin. It was a very nice pairing.

I went to a work related party last weekend. I was asked to bring the wine. I took the advice of a salesperson in a well known local liquor store, and I was very disappointed. I bought Woodbridge wine, the white Zin, the Resieling, the Chard, the Pinot Noir, the Merlot and the Cab blend. We never made it past the Pinot Noir. The wines were completely lacking in character. The varietals were barely recognizable. I was embarrassed to have brought these wines. I was so upset by the whole thing that I vowed "No more plonk!!". Now, what will become of this? Well, I started out by trading the three leftover, unopened (1.5 L) bottles of Woodbridge for two bottles of 2008 new release French Bordeaux. The next night I bought four more bottles of the new release French Bordeaux, a bottle of California Merlot and a bottle of Torrantes. For at least a little while I am going to indulge in some of the promising bottles we have stacked around the dining room. I still have a lot of catching up to do on the blogs, but I'm going to work on making an even bigger backlog of tasting notes. I may not be able to afford really high dollar wine, but I don't have to endure plonk! There is plenty of good wine, and the occasional bottle of really inspiring wine, available in my price-range and I intend to enjoy it! To personality!! To pleasure!! To great wine!!

2009 Villa Lanata Moscato D'Asti Single Estate

This was our big New Year's Eve wine! I made baked goat's cheese rolled in sundried tomato seasonings. It was yummy with the wine. The alcohol content of this wine was only 5.5%, making it a great sipping wine for after dinner. It had a lovely golden dandelion color. The nose was of pear, apple and honey. The flavor profile was true to the nose with a little almond on the finish. Overall, a pleasant little bubbly. (Sorry, but I'm not much of a champagne person)

2007 Amavi Cellars Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Savignon

This wine was actually a Christmas present for my husband! We saw it reviewed on Wine Library TV. Unfortunately, they do not ship to Tennessee, so I had to hunt this wine down on the internet. I believe it was about $25 a bottle. The color was deep brick red. The nose was very earthy with lots of cherry. There were aromas of mulch, dry leaves, forrest, old wood, and vanilla. The flavor profile was cherry, licorice, vanilla and cocoa with rootbeer early after opening. It had a nice structure with balanced tannins and acids. The finish was long and tasted of dark cherry and cocoa. Overall, it was both delicious and complex. And, I have 2 more bottles to enjoy!!

2008 La Posta Cocina Blend

This is another wine consumed between Christmas and New Year's. I believe we had this wine with empanadas stuffed with mildly spicy beef. The blend is 60% Malbec, 20% Bonarcha, and 20% Syrah from Mendoza Argentina. I believe this was a substitute offered by the staff at Total Wines when the Malbec I requested was unavailable. I can't be sure of the price, but I believe it was about $10. The color was a dark inky purple-garnet. On the nose there was blackberry and a little smoke. The flavor profile was blackberry and dark cherry with licorice on the finish. It was silky with soft tannins that actually became firmer as it opened. This is a good example of the hidden gems that are available at an affordable price if you just hunt around and take advantage of the sales staff's knowledge.

2005 Reserva Solestium Salice Salentino

I'm really far behind in my blogging responsibilities. I have a backlog of wines for which I have recorded tasting notes on little index cards lying around the house. The holiday festivities extended to include a trip to visit relatives out of town in Philadelphia (not too far from Wine Library in New Jersey). But for now...

This very nice little wine came from total Wines in Atlanta for $9. To tell you the truth, I delayed opening this wine because at this price I was worried that at this price it wouldn't be very good. On the other hand, at this price, I couldn't resist it. The color was deep, dark ruby. The aromas were cherry, vanilla and a little horehound. The flavor profile was similar with cherry, vanilla, and horehound, moving to rootbeer on the finish. It was very silky with soft tannins and acids. It was smooth and elegant and had a high delicious factor. All for $9!!!