First Crush - San Francisco

A little change of pace this week.  Traveling on business this week, and I find myself in my favorite city to visit, San Francisco.  It is a relatively short trip, so not a whole lot of time for non-work activities, but one has to eat.  Although I don't end up in San Francisco that often, I do try to make a point to visit a great little spot called First Crush whenever I have the opportunity.  I enjoyed two different flights tonight, and picked a wine from each to write a little something about..

1.  Peirson Meyer Pinot Noir (2009) - The thing I like about a wine flight is that you usually get a nice sized taste of a quality wine.  That was no different tonight.  A bottle of this Pinot Noir sells for around $60, and while that isn't a price range I find myself buying in often, I would consider this wine for a special occasion (especially around the holidays).  This wine had a beautiful rich color and a great fruit based aroma.  This wine had a really nice flavor that really made me think of blackberries.  There was nothing weak about this wine and one I really enjoyed along with two other stellar Pinot Noirs.

2. Miner 'Aia' Red Blend (2007) -  This Bourdeaux style red is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, & Malbec.  I'm fairly certain the wines I tasted prior to this one may have had an impact on how this one tasted, but it definitely didn't bother me.  At first glance, this is just a nice dark colored red wine, which isn't uncommon for a wine made up of the above grapes for sure.  It also had a touch of a floral smell to it that was quite nice.  It surely didn't disappoint with the flavor.  I'm generally a sucker for a blend like this, and I guess tonight wasn't any different.  Great fruit forward flavor, with a consistent experience through to the end.  A perfect way to top off a very enjoyable meal.

Rating: Great food & great wine! 

Bogle - Essential Red

Price: $9.99
Region: Napa
Year: 2009

It was never my intention to take a 6 month hiatus from my wine blog, but unfortunately that is what happened.  Once all of the craziness around buying and selling a house kicked in, I never made the time to sit down and write.  I surely didn't suffer from a lack of new bottles of wine to review.  Now that we are settled in our new house, I am going to be sure to get back into the routine of weekly reviews (as best I can :)

I don't want to give this one away too early, but I must say one of the things that jump started me getting back into the swing of reviews was this particular wine.  So let's jump right in.  My wife actually bought a bottle of this a few weeks back for us to have with dinner one Friday evening.  I didn't sit down and write any notes as I tasted it, but we both commented on the fact we didn't feel like we were drinking a $10 bottle of wine.  So, in a subsequent run to my favorite wine store, I picked up a few more bottles.  Last night was just a quiet evening home with my wife to sit down and watch a movie.  The first thing I noticed as I was taking notes was this wine is a blend of Old Vine Zin, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Sirah.  For those that have read some of my previous reviews, you'll know the Bogle Petit Sirah is really one of our old standby wines.  Definitely one of my wife's favorite reds.  I also enjoy the Bogle Old Vine Zin & the Cabernet is pretty good.  So as I poured a glass, it was no surprise that I saw a deep, dark red wine in the glass.    The aroma was also very pleasant.  It was bold like you would expect the Zinfandel to be, but was softened a bit with some great floral aromas.  The kicker for this wine to me though is the flavor.  I have now had about four bottles of this wine, and the taste is very consistent.  Not just from bottle to bottle, but also throughout a single taste.  The one word that comes to mind with this wine is juicy.  I think they have just done a very good job with the blending of these grapes to create a very tasty wine at a great price.  This one is definitely taking the place of the Bogle Petit Sirah on my default wines list.  Enjoy!!

Rating: 4.25 Corks (Buy a few bottles at this price)