V Sattui - Crow Ridge Zinfandel

Price: $33

Region: Napa, California

Year: 2007

One more entry from my trip to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. My class ended a bit earlier on Friday than I expected, and my plane wasn't leaving until 7:30 PM, so with a few hours to burn, I could think of nothing better to do than drive 60 miles or so north to grab lunch and a quick little tasting at a great winery. When my wife and I visited Napa back in 2004 for our 10th wedding anniversary, this was definitely one of our top three favorite stops. The great thing about V Sattui, besides the wine, is their small deli "like" shop and picnic area. A wonderful place to grab a nice meal, and sit outside on their beautiful grounds. After buying their special of the day, a homemade meatball sandwich, I went back in for a quick tasting before heading back to the airport. This is going to be less of a review, and more of a recommendation to stop by V Sattui, if you ever have the chance.

There were two different options for their tasting. I took the cheaper one ($5), only because it had a wider variety of options. The more expensive tasting was only $10, and had some higher end wines, but not as many wines to choose from. There were two wines that definitely caught my attention. The first of which I have pictured above, the Crow Ridge Zinfandel. Interesting enough, this wine was not actually on the tasting sheet for this tasting. The Zinfandel I first tasted was call "Bar 49". I wasn't overly impressed with this wine, as it was very mild for a Zin. When the very nice lady behind the bar noticed the look of "ehh, it's OK", on my face, she quickly went and grabbed this Zin and asked me to give it a try. I am very glad she did. This is what I would expect from a solid Zin, and even a little more. It had a very unique, but very nice flavor, and was very smooth. Also, a great aroma that I had to take a second sniff of before taking a sip. As the original intent of this wine blog was to look at wines in the under $15 category, I won't compare a wine that cost twice that, but if you buy wines in this range, this one is a steal. The 2nd wine I really enjoyed was their Napa Valley Cabernet. I actually liked this one so much I bought a bottle to bring home. I'll have the opportunity to review that one some time down the road. I was also going to grab a bottle of the Zinfandel, but I wanted to get a bottle for my wife, and she is not a big fan of Zinfandel. Instead, I bought a bottle of their Petit Sirah, which we'll give a try one of these days as well.

Since V Sattui only sells their wines direct to the consumer, you won't find any of their wines in your local store. For some states however, you can go directly to their website, and they will ship you an order. I made due with a couple bottles to go, and I am looking forward to trying them both out. I would definitely give this particular Zinfandel high marks, probably somewhere in the 4.25 range, but my real recommendation is to give a variety of their wines a try. They definitely do a great job!!

Rating: A Great Winery....

Talley - Pinot Noir

Price: Around $35

Region: California

Year: 2006

Definitely not your typical wine review week for me. I know it has been 2 weeks since my last review, but I have a good excuse. I was on a trip for work, and lucky me, I got to go to San Francisco. Definitely one of the best cities I have ever visited. Not to mention the fact that Napa is only an hour north. Now, being from east coast, I have only visited San Francisco two other times, so it is definitely a treat when I get to go. The other thing that makes this review a little out of the ordinary is that I had this particular wine at a great wine bar, and just jotted down some notes when I got back to my room. So, here goes...

This wine was actually part of a "flight" of three different wines that I tried. I knew without writing down the names of each, I would have a hard time remembering all of them, so I just went with the one that made the biggest impression on me. Amazingly enough, it was a Pinot Noir, and not one of the very good Cabs or Syrahs that I tried. Go figure. I'm 100% I have the winery and grape, but only about 95% sure I have the right year. That being said, I'm pretty sure it was a 2006. When I just looked up the winery online, this picture seemed the most likely, and it appears to go for around $35. A bit more than the wines I usually review, but this was a special occasion for sure.

The thing that caught me by surprise originally was this wine was a bit darker than what I would typically expect from a Pinot Noir. It had a real nice color, and very good clarity. What really stuck out to me, and made this wine memorable for me was the aroma. The word that first comes to mind is smokey, but it was way more complex than just that. It had a nice earthy feel to it, with what I would call a dried fruit smell. Without a doubt, one of the more distinctive smelling wines I've had in a while. So, when it came to tasting this wine, I was so not surprised how smooth, flavorful, and downright good this wine was. I actually saved another wine for last in this flight of three wines, but given to do over, this would have definitely been the clean-up hitter. Next week I'll review one of the wines from one of my favorite wineries in Napa that I had the pleasure of visiting last week.

Rating: 4.5 (A Home Run of a wine)

Price: $18 (3L)

Region: California

Year: 2007

It has been quite a while since my last post. I know it gets crazy around the holidays for everyone, but it just seems that when the routine changes so drastically, this is one of the things that gets missed. That isn't to say I didn't have plenty of good (and some bad) wine over the last three weeks. In fact, I have quite a backlog to choose from. The first wine I plan on reviewing is another selection from Black Box. As you can tell from my top 5 list, the Black Box Merlot is one on the list for its blend of quality, and absolutely great price. I wanted to see if the Cabernet could stand up to its sibling.

I didn't write a whole lot of supporting notes down, so I'm not 100% sure which weekend I bought this wine, but I'm pretty sure it was the week before Christmas. I had a list of a little more expensive wines I wanted to try out for Christmas, so with the equivalent of 4 bottles of win, this one was to hold me over until the holidays started in full force. Not much surprise on the color being it was a Cabernet. For a grape like this, as long as it doesn't look pale when being poured, I'm pretty happy. The interesting thing about the smell was it was a bit more fruity than I expected. Kind of a bit similar to the Merlot if I remember correctly. So, when I took my first sip, I was happy to find it was a nice smooth wine, but it definitely didn't have that nice "chewiness" you get from a good Cabernet. You could tell it was an inexpensive selection, but overall, it was a nice wine. That is especially true again, given the price breaks down to about $5 for a 750 Ml bottle. This was wasn't quite the home run in my book as the Merlot, but a very good everyday wine, and one that last for a good while given a couple of glasses a day.

Rating: 3.5 (A solid drinking wine)

River Road - Pinot Noir

Price: Around $13
Region: Russian River Valley, CA
Year: 2008

Had a couple of different things to do this weekend. I wasn't home much on either Friday or Saturday night, so I didn't get a chance to browse my local wine store, and pick out a wine for the week. Therefore, my only chance for a review was if my father-in-law was having a wine with dinner that I had not yet reviewed. Luckily enough, that was exactly the case. Even better, it was a variety that I just don't buy that often myself, so it turned out to be a great chance to give another Pinot Noir a chance. I'm not exactly sure of the cost, but I gave a pretty good guess above. There is always an attempt to match wine up with the main course at Sunday evening dinner, and this was no exception. Since turkey was on the menu, Pinot Noir was as well.

I'll be the first to admit that this is always a tough wine for me to review. I just love pouring a glass a dark red wine into my glass and enjoying the view. It is always good however, to try and expand horizons. When I poured a glass of this wine, as expected, it was light red in color, but I did notice it had very good clarity, and was actually quite pleasant to look at. The smell on the other hand, didn't do a lot for me, as it was kind of faint. It did have a bit of an earthy smell, which is another reason I tend to shy away from this type of wine, but overall it wasn't a bad smell, just a bit light. Now, if I shy away from this wine because of the color, and smell, that goes even more for the taste. It just isn't one I have grown to love, but I keep trying, and find one I like every once in a while. Interestingly enough, this happened to be one of those wines. I think the thing I found most surprising, was the taste was very smooth, with a bit of a peppery taste, but not overpowering by any means. I actually enjoyed a couple glasses of this wine with dinner, and could easily find myself buying a bottle of this wine to simply enjoy by itself. This is one I will definitely put on my buy list.

Rating: 3.25 (A Pinot I'll buy again)

So Cab - Take a Guess..

Price: $15.00

Region: California

Year: 2005

It was starting out to be a normal Friday evening as I was headed home from work to grab some pizza. About half way home though, I remembered I had a bottle of wine I purchased at a wine tasting we attended the day before Thanksgiving. From the ounce or so I tried, I was pretty intrigued, so I was definitely looking forward to sitting down with a glass. It is kind of hard for me to come to an overall conclusion from such a small sample, so a glass or two always does the trick.

I had a couple of pieces of pizza on the table waiting, so I poured myself a glass. One of the interesting things I noticed right away, was that it was noticeably lighter then your normal Cabernet Sauvignon. Definitely good clarity, but no doubt a touch paler. I started to take a sniff, and thought it was very nice, but I definitely got the sense of a particular fruit smell. If you have read any of my previous blogs, you will know I am very bad at indicating a specific smell, but I could smell a hint of blackberries for sure, very nice. So, when I took a sip, I wasn't overly surprised to find the taste very much in line with the smell. It was very pleasant, but just a bit more fruity then I was expecting. It wasn't a big, bold tasting Cabernet, but that was quite alright for me. This wine had a wonderful flavor, an even better finish, and was a great change of pace for a Cab. This was definitely a solid wine, and one I would buy again for sure. I've been on a roll lately with some good wines, so hopefully my streak stays alive.

Rating: 3.75 (Very Nice)

Bogle - Phantom

Price: $19

Region: California

Year: 2005

I had another wine in between my last review (Terra-Barossa) and this wine, but it was just a run of the mill Cabernet I'll make an effort to review one of these days. This wine however, was the last wine from a wine tasting I attended last month, that I've been looking forward to tasting. Now, I kind of cheated on this since I did try it at the wine tasting, but this is the first time I've sat down and had a couple of full glasses with dinner. This special wine from Bogle, is a blend of Petit Sirah, Old Vine Zinfandel, and Old Vine Mourvedre, that only comes around at certain times of the year. It seems to be in stock locally around the October/November time frame. If you read some of my previous reviews, you'll recall that Bogle Petit Shiraz is a fairly common wine in my house, so I was interested in how this would compare.

Based on the wines used to make this wine, I don't think it is a big surprise that the color was a deep, dark red. It wasn't quite as dark purple as the Petit Shiraz is, and I noticed a hint of red, that gave it a little sparkle. I was also a bit surprised to find that the smell was a touch faint, but it was very nice, with definite earthy undertones. No complaints so far. As always, the color and smell add to the experience, but for me, taste rules. So, when I finally sat down to take a sip, I enjoyed it as much as I did when I only had an once or so back in October. This time, I was very happy to have a full glass. The mixture of Zinfandel, and Mourvedre, with the Petit Sirah, gives this wine a wonderful, interesting flavor. It was definitely a little unique, and am already looking forward to next year's selection. I think it is quite a coincidence that two reviews in a row have made it on to my top 5. This one as a tie, but definitely deserves to be on the list. Plus, it has a cool name :)

Rating: 4.0 (A bit more $, but a nice treat)

Terra-Barossa - Shiraz

Price: $15.99 (1 Ltr)
Region: Australia
Year: 2008

I am a bit behind because I didn't write any reviews last Thursday (as it was Thanksgiving), so I definitely have some catching up to do. The week before Thanksgiving wasn't a typical week as I had some free time Friday to head to my favorite wine store. We also had some plans Friday night, so I didn't have this particular bottle until Saturday. I did take my time picking out a bottle though, and as is not unusual, I ended up in the Shiraz aisle. I came across this bottle, and it caught my eye because of two reasons. First, it was on sale, and second because it was a bit bigger then the normal 750 ml bottle. So, for a little more then $15 for 25% more wine, it seemed like a good idea.

So, by the time Saturday evening came around, I was looking forward to a glass of wine. I had cooked a simple dinner ravioli for me and my kids, as my wife was out helping a friend. So, when I poured my first glass, I was very impressed by the dark, rich looking wine. It was so dark, it was almost black in color. I then brought my glass up to have a smell, and was equally impressed with a very nice floral smell, with a hint of spiciness. Very much a Shiraz smell without overdoing it. At this point, I had high expectations, so there was nothing left to do, but take a sip. This wine had a very nice initial flavor, that was extremely smooth, and the best part was that it hung around for a bit before fading away. Definitely a very nice wine, with everything I look for in an Australian Shiraz. This one as definitely worth the couple of extra dollars. A very quality wine, at still a reasonable price.

Rating: 4.25 (The 1st Shiraz for my top 5)