Barboursville - Merlot Reserve

Price: $20
Region: Virginia
Year: 2008

While I wrote a few weeks about the trip my wife and I recently took to Virgina to visit a couple of wineries, this is the first bottle from that trip that I am reviewing on its own. We actually opened this a few Saturdays ago to have with some pizza we were having for dinner. It was a pretty laid back Saturday evening, so the two of us sat down to enjoy a bottle of wine. Since we only brought back about 6 bottles of wines from the wineries we visited, we were hoping that we did a decent enough job of picking out the ones we liked best, but this was the firs test of how well we actually ended up doing.

From the very beginning, I was pretty sure I was going to have to throw out any of the biases I was going to have based on my relative familiarity with California Merlots. The color of this wine was somewhere in between a Cab and a Merlot. It had good clarity, but not overly dark in appearance. The aroma was a bit faint, so I had to give the wine a couple of swirls and subsequent sniffs to get a good smell, and my general impression was one of flowers, but again, a little light. As I took a sip, the flavor was consistent, with the fruit flavor standing out (I would lean toward cherries), but in line with the faint aroma, the wine just felt a little young to me. The wine was just a touch tart, but overall, it was very unique, especially for a Merlot. It is definitely not a wine you would compare to a California Merlot, but it really was a good change of pace. You can obviously find a pretty solid bottle of wine for $20, but would still recommend grabbing a bottle if you happen to be visiting the Barboursville Winery.

Rating: 3.25 corks (Different, but good)

Seghesio - Zinfandel

Price: $17
Region: Sonoma, CA
Year: 2010

I still have a couple of wines to get through that I bought right before Christmas, and this is one of them. I think we actually had this wine a couple of weekends back with some homemade pizza. I actually had a bottle of Seghesio Zinfandel back a few years ago when I visited California on a business trip with some of my co-workers. So, when I saw a bottle at the local wine shop, I thought I'd give the newer vintage a try.

This wine is just a couple of dollars more then the normal everyday Zinfandels I usually buy (like Bogle, etc.), but I do remember enjoying this wine, so for $17, I thought it was worth a try. As I sat down for dinner and poured myself a glass, I was looking at a dark red wine with good clarity, that was nice an bright. It definitely wasn't clouded looking. As with many Zinfandels, it had a bold aroma, but was not unpleasant at all. Sometimes with a bold wine, you get a little too much of one kind of smell, but not so with this wine. So far I was liking my choice. When I finally went to take a sip, I knew the extra couple of dollars was well spent. This wine starts off a bit soft, but with wonderful upfront fruit flavor. The flavor really continues throughout and ends with a very smooth finish. There really wasn't much to dislike about this wine, but maybe the flavor was just a touch light. Overall a very good wine, and one I'll pick up again.

Rating: 3.75 corks (Quality!)

Cueva De Las Manos - Malbec

Price: $15
Region: Argentina
Year: 2009

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I stopped at the local wine store to pick out some bottles of wine as gifts for my team at work. This is a bottle that caught my eye as a highly rated Malbec. Many of the Malbecs I have tried over the past few months I have just grabbed off of the shelf to give it a try. This one was one that was highlighted as a best buy, so I thought it was a safe bet for a gift. The person I gave it to had really good things to say about it, so I thought I'd give it a try for myself. I actually had this wine a few weeks back, but am trying to get to a few reviews that I never got around to writing.

I opened this particular bottle one Friday evening after I arrived home with burgers from our local 5 Guys. It seems that is becoming all too common of a Friday meal, but I guess it could be worse. I noticed right away when I poured a glass that this wine was dark and jammy. It really seemed thick when pouring into my glass. It really had a great aroma as well, and a bit of a fruit/flower mix. When I took a sip, I tasted a really smooth and consistent wine with great flavor. It had nice tannins, and a pretty smooth finish. I think all in all I agree with the person who gave this wine a thumbs up, and I had found yet again, another great value in an Argentinian Malbec. Imagine that.

Rating: 3.75 corks (Yummy!)

Kitchen Sink

Price: $9.99
Region: California
Year:

This was a bottle of wine that I had tasted on a few occasions at my father-in-law's house for Sunday night dinner. Usually however, it was just a taste of a left-over bottle that he opened earlier in the week, but usually not as the main wine he would open for dinner. So, when I went to the store in late December to grab a few bottles of wine, I decided to grab one of these for myself so I could sit down and review it. This particular weekend was one of the Saturday nights that there wasn't a whole lot going on, so just sat down for a quiet dinner with a bottle of wine. Not a bad Saturday in my book.

My general bias going in was that this was a solid wine, and since it was only $10, I really wanted to pay attention and see how solid. As the name would seem to indicate, there are a whole bunch of grapes in this wine. It consists of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, and Petit Shiraz. With a wine made of of these grapes, there was little wonder it had a deep, dark red color, but it didn't have the really thick look about it when I gave it a swirl. In the same vein, I was surprised that the aroma was a bit faint. I would have to say it was more in line with a Cab/Merlot mix when the Merlot seems to take some of the bold Cab smells down a notch. When I went to take a sip, I was hit with the same bit of surprise as I was with the aroma. It was good enough, but just lacked some follow through. I tended to lean towards bland as the description that came to mind. I think in general it is a good enough wine to have a few bottles around for an every day kind of wine, but nothing that really stands out as a must buy for some some friends are over.

P.S. I forgot to put the name of the wine in on my last review, but it is in there now, so if you haven't checked that one out, please do as it was a very good wine.

Rating: 3.0 corks (So-so!)

Chateau Jacquet, Tour de Cazelle

Price: $13.99
Region: France
Year: 2009

No other reason that I am reviewing a bottle of wine as I drink it today then it really wasn't a great day at work. Probably more of an excuse to have a glass of wine or two, but I'm just going to roll with it. I had bought this bottle late in December as I picked out a nice bottle for my birthday dinner. Lots of the wines as I passed through the French aisle at my favorite store indicated that 2009 was a great year for Bordeux blends. This particular wine is 80% Merlot, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. I have a few other wines to get to from the last week or two, but I hate to review one wine as I'm drinking another.

For a wine that is made up primarily of Merlot grapes, this one is a bit darker red then I would have first anticipated. It really has a great look to it. As I take a smell of this wine, I find a really aromatic wine that just oozes fresh berries. It really has a wonderful smell that makes you want to give it one more swirl. By this point I was really looking forward to a taste. Again, maybe the long day at work was an excuse, but it worked for me. The flavor was every bit as berry-filled as the aroma. Really the one that sticks out the most is black cherry. It almost taste like one of those thick Chobani yogurts. Really good flavor and really good balance. I haven't tried any of the other vintages of this wine, but with as good as this one was, not sure there is any reason to.

Rating: 4.25 corks (Top Notch!)

Region: Virgina
Wineries: Jefferson, Blenheim, & Barboursville

A little bit of a departure from the norm this week. I missed last week's review, but for good reason. My wife surprised me for my birthday last month with a long weekend away for two. The plan was to stay in Charlottesville, and visit a few close by wineries. This was actually a trip we had planned to take in 2009, but for one reason or another, it just never happened. I've only had one or two Virginia wines in the past, so really wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Interestingly enough, Wine Enthusiast just came out with an article listing Virginia as one of the top 10 wine travel destinations for 2012.

I decided this week to just write a little about the wineries we visited, with maybe a restaurant or two thrown is as well. We bought plenty of bottles of wines from the places we did visit, so I'm sure they'll be showing up in future reviews, but now I just want to give my view of the winery visits themselves. The first winery we visited was Jefferson Vineyards. We had just taken a tour of Monticello, and ate a down home Southern meal at Michie Tavern. If you are ever in an around Monticello, I think the Michie tavern is a must stop place to eat. After lunch and a very short drive, we pulled into Jefferson Vineyards, which had a nice view of the surrounding mountains. The tasting bar was quite full, so we paid our fee, grabbed our Reidel glasses, and squeezed in at the corner of the bar. We tasted a few whites, and few reds, and decided on the ones we wanted to bring home. While the facilities weren't overly impressive, the staff was nice, and for $10 we got to keep the Reidel glasses, so overall a winery that needs to be on the list of ones to visit if not just for the name.

After a short 5-10 minute drive, the next stop was Blenheim Vineyards. The only thing I knew about this winery was that it is owned by Dave Matthews, and it is right across the street from Trump Winery (former Kluge). We hadn't heard the best things about Trump, so we went straight to Blenheim. The facilities here was much nicer than Jefferson. The rustic looking tasting area with a great view and very friendly staff. I actually think this would be even better come warmer weather with a great deck overlooking the vineyard in the valley. Here they only offered one white, which seems to be the white of choice in Virgina (Viognier). Along with that, it seems Virgina is also known for Cabernet Franc as well as Petit Verdot. Both of these are rather bold red wines, and really right up my alley. Both were rather tasty. Overall, this winery visit was a step up, and I even bought a shirt with the annual painting that Dave Matthews puts on their top bottle of wine. A must visit winery as well.

After Blenheim, we decided to head back to Charlottesville, and stroll around downtown and pick a place out for dinner. We settled on the Orzo Kitchen and Wine bar, which is about halfway between where we were staying and UVA. Service wasn't great, but the food and atmosphere were very good. I also had a Spanish glass of red with my Colorado Lamb to top off a very nice day. The next day we decided to hit one more winery, and this time we went North of Charlottesville to Barboursville. This was another very nice layout, with a nice fire roaring as we walked in out of the cold. The one thing I was surprised about at all of the wineries was how many people were out tasting wine on a weekend in January. The bar here was pretty full as well, and for $5 a piece, we started out tasting a few whites, including the signature Viognier again. The all around experience at this winery was also very good. We tasted 15 different wines, including some very good red wines. We have a few ready to be opened, and a couple that will probably be better with a little age. The one wine I am really looking forward to from here is their Reserve Merlot. A little different character than a California Merlot, but I think in this case, that's a good thing. There was one more winery we wanted to vist called Mountfair, but unfortunately they did not have tastings at this time of year. Based on the bottle of Mountfair Cabernet Franc we bought on our first day in town, it will definitely be on the list next time around.

As I mentioned earlier, I really wasn't sure what to expect from the wine, and after only a couple of stops, I couldn't have been more impressed. Obviously Wine Enthusiast knew what they were talking about when Virginia made their list for 2012 destinations. Given it is only a few hours drive for us, I think we'll definitely plan on heading back some time soon.

Rating: A lot of fun!

Chappellet - Cabernet Sauvignon

Price: $49.99
Region: Napa
Year: 2008

Quite often I cheat a bit and go outside the original guidelines I set up for this wine blog, and review a wine a few dollars above the $15 limit I try to stay under. Then there are times like these when I just blow it out of the water. Those times are however, few and far between. This past New Year's Eve just happened to be one of those times. New Year's Eve also happens to be my birthday, and on this particular one I turned 40 years old. I had originally set out to spend a few hours browsing the local Total Wine store, and find a bottle of Napa Cabernet in the $75 range. So, when I first got to the store, I found the bottle I intended to buy, and then decided to go find some additional wines for this blog while I thought a bit longer if that was actually the bottle I was going to buy. When I was all set to go back and put it in my cart, I starting getting into an interesting conversation with one of the very helpful individuals at this store. What ended up happening was that he actually talked me down from the original bottle I had (to remain unnamed), which was $70, to this bottle of Chappellet Cabernet at around $50. He almost had me go with a blend from Washington State called Cadence, which he said he would put up against any of the wines I was looking at, but in the end, I decided to go with the pure Napa Cab.

My wife and I ordered a nice sushi spread for dinner, and we sat down really looking forward to tasting this wine. From the get go, this wine had a lot going for it. Even the pour into my glass made this wine look good. It had a very silky look to it, and was a deep, dark red color. The aroma was really nice, with a full berry smell, and hints of chocolate. As good as the look and smell of this wine was, the taste and feel of this wine was off the charts. The word that most comes to mind was consistent. It was velvety smooth from the very first taste, had great length had more hints of chocolate, and maybe even a little coffee, and finished with the same great structure it started with. I knew I had some really good sushi to get to, but I was enjoying the wine so much, I slowly finished that glass before putting any food in my mouth. I sometimes wonder if certain wines are worth the extra money, and I'm not going to get int he habit anytime soon of buying $50 bottles of wine, but as a special occasion, it was more than worth it. I need to take a little off for the price, but this is as close to a 5.0 as I have ever had.

Rating: 4.75 corks (Treat yourself, I did!)