Courtney Benham - Merlot

Price: $15
Region: Napa Valley
Year: 2008

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a lot of wines to get to. I tend to write about those that are most fresh in my mind, but when ends up happening is that a lot of the wines I've tried, and intend on reviewing, get lost in the shuffle. So, as I sat down for my second review of the night, I started to write about another wine I had this weekend, but decided at the last second to change gears and review a wine from last week. This particular wine I had actually bought so for my wife who was heading over to a friends house, but found out at the last second that they had gone out an bought a few bottles as well, so this was one mine to keep (or drink).

I have had a couple of wine from this winery, that usually turn out to be pretty darn good. I believe they have Angeline and Martin Ray in their lineup as well. I had never had the Courtney Benham Merlot, and as it is a little more than I usually buy for my weekend wines, it was still only $15. What caught me by surprise was how dark red this wine was when first poured. It came out as a very bold looking wine. Then I gave the glass a swirl, and noticed a very nice floral smell. At this point I was fairly impressed and really looking forward to having a taste. I definitely was not disappointed. I know a lot of people view Merlot as a boring, middle of the road kind of wine that lacks the style of a lot of other reds, but this wine was very interesting, with good structure, and a very consistent flavor. I really enjoyed this wine, and will look for other offerings from this vineyard.


Rating: 3.75 corks (Very Nice)

Chilenesis - Cabernet Sauvignon

Price: $9.99
Region: Chile
Year: 2009

Wow, do I have a lot of wines to get to. I've had a good variety of wines lately, with some very good ones, and so kind of middle of the road. I picked this one because I happen to be having a glass right now. My wife has kind of gotten into a habit of stopping by the wine store on Friday afternoons and picking out a couple of bottles of wine for the weekend for us to share. She always tries to stay within the guidelines of buying wine that is $15 or under so that I can use it in my blog, and this was no exception. This weekend she happened to buy 3 bottles, and I will try to get to the other bottle we tried a little later tonight, but for now, I'm going to write about this bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile.

As you would expect with a Cab from Chile, when this wine it sitting in the glass, it truly has a deep dark red look about it. Definitely no surprise there. When I give the glass a swirl, and take a sniff however, I get a unique aroma. It smells just a little bit tart, but the overriding smell is one of berries. Mostly notably blackberries, but again, just a bit tart. So, when I go to take a sip, i am expecting a rather fruit forward flavor, but the flavor that hits me, and just won't go away is one of vanilla. The flavor doesn't really hit until it gets to the back of the tongue, and then there is still a bit of tartness, but really not bad. I was expecting a little smoother wine, as I had enjoyed some very good values out of Chile. This one isn't bad, but not the top of my list. Worth a try if you like the taste of vanilla in your wine.

Rating: 2.75 corks (Not my favorite, but not bad)

Lan - Rioja

Price: $17.00
Region: Spain
Year: 2006

My last post of 2010. I was hoping to get to about 40 done this year, and fell a bit short, but still another fun year of trying and reviewing a lot of new wines. I have a whole lot of reviews written down from over the Christmas holiday, but I decided to go with another gift from my wife from the Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2010. I forget exactly where this was on the list, but I'm fairly certain it was between 40 and 50. From the title, it is easy to determine we are talking about a wine from the La Rioja region of Spain. This wine is made up of about 80% Tempranillo. It falls a little bit about the $15 range, but not much. I really enjoyed the Malbec that also found its way on the Top 100 list, so I was hoping for a repeat experience.

There was nothing special going on when I decided to open this bottle of wine. To me, sometimes that is the best time to open a new bottle. No expectations, just wanted to sit down with a fire in the fireplace, and experience a new wine. There was no surprise when I poured a glass and saw a deep dark red wine in my glass. I have had some really good Spanish wines over the last couple of years, so my expectations were high. I gave a glass a rather long swirl, and took a couple of short sniffs. While the wine had a very nice berry smell, it was a bit faint in my opinion. With such a bold color, and the reputation of this grape, I was hoping for a little more umph. When I took a sip, I had the same impression. It was a very smooth wine, with great texture, and length, but just lacked a little boldness. Maybe expectations were a bit too high, but overall I thought it was a touch thin. That definitely doesn't take away from a very good wine, but just a little off the mark for me.

P.S. I updated my list of default wines since it tends to change over time. I added the Angeline Pinot Noir that I reviewed in May - http://winereviewsyoucanunderstand.blogspot.com/2010/05/angeline-pinot-noir.html - Good Stuff!

Rating: 3.0 corks (Worth a try)

Durigutti - Malbec

Price: $15
Region: Argentina
Year: 2008

I really love this time of year. There are the obvious reasons of the Christmas season, but there are surely wine reasons as well. We attended a recent wine tasting at a local wine shop, and did a lot of browsing for a couple of bottles of our Christmas wines. We have a brunch each year on Christmas day, and I like to have a couple of nice bottles of wine, even though it is fairly early in the day. It just gives me a good excuse to take a little nap in the early afternoon. This year will be no different, and I'll do my best to review them come January. Another reason I love this time of year is that my wife always picks me up the Wine Spectator top 100 wines of the year. I don't read Wine Spectator at any other time of the year, but I enjoy sitting down in front of the fireplace with a glass of wine and casually reading this edition. On top of the magazine this year, my wife also grabbed a couple of bottles that were on the list and under $20. so, since I had a couple of new wines to try, I thought I try one an write about it here.

While I had 3 to choose from, I ended up picking the Malbec first, as it was just the kind of mood I was in. We happen to be having take-out hamburgers again, which is almost becoming a Friday night staple. Not quite sure if that is a good thing, but that's another story. Not surprisingly, when I poured a glass, I saw a very dark red wine in my glass. It really had a rich looking quality to it, and just right up my alley. Now, I gave a glass a few swirls, and took in the smell. It was not overpowering, but the word that came to mind is smooth. That is something I usually associate with a velvety tasting Cab, but this wine just had a nice consistent smell to it. When it came to having a taste, the word that again popped in my head was consistent. It had a great upfront flavor, which was a bit smokey, but continued right through to the back of my mouth, with nice length. This wine was really quite tasty. Now, I usually try to stay away from wines that already carry with them a great review, and being on the top 100 list of 2010 definitely carries classifies, but it was easy to see why this wine made the cut. It really had it all, including a very reasonable price. This was one of the better wines I've had this year for sure.

Rating: 375 corks (Top 100 for a reason)

Glen Ellen - Chardonnay

Price: $8
Region: California
Year: 2009

I actually and just about to get ready to head to a wine tasting tonight, and had a few minutes so thought it was a good time to write another review. I have two wines from last week, but I thought I would start with one of the wines that was sent to me a couple of Fridays ago. There were two 1.5L bottles of red, and this bottle of Chardonnay. If you go back over my 2+ years of reviews, the white wines are few and far between. Interestingly enough, I have another one ready to go from two weeks ago that I have not gotten around to yet. Even though we usually buy a white every week for my wife, I usually only have a taste. Since I knew I was going to be reviewing this, I sat down with a glass, some spinach dip, and my wine journal to give it a try.

While I don't find it that difficult to see the variety of sight differences between red wines, I tend to lump white wines into two categories. There are those pure white wines, that have very little color at all, and then there are some with a bit of a yellowish tint. Now, I'm sure there are those that would say there is much more to it that that, I'm sticking with that for now. This wine definitely had a bit of a yellow tint to it. I really gave this one a good swirl to try and conjure up as much of the smell as I could, and I was pretty impressed. This wine had a nice floral aroma about it that was definitely not overpowering. When it comes to white wines, there are few that I love, but I must say I tend to stay away from Chardonnay. My general impression is that I will get a very dry wine, and when I do choose a white over a red, I look for something a bit more on the fruity side. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but as I took a sip, and was bracing myself, I was actually quite surprised that this wine had a very crisp flavor with a pleasant hint of pear. It did not have a bad aftertaste, but went down smooth, and was quite enjoyable. I only had the one glass as my wife enjoyed it as well, and I had a nice looking red standing by just calling my name. I think we will add it to the list of white wines that we buy as a little change of pace from our typical Chenin Blanc.

Rating: 3.0 corks (Not what I would call typical, but pretty tasty)

Glen Ellen - Petite Syrah (Magnum)

Price: ~$10
Region: California
Year: 2007

If I said this review was a departure from my normal process, that would be a rather large understatement. I have been writing this blog for close to three years now, and for anyone who has run across my reviews in that time, you will know that the original intent of this blog was twofold. First, it was really hard to find any reviews that I could really relate to. The exotic flavors and smells that were described in the reviews I would read, just didn't coincide with what I experienced when drinking wine. Second, I wanted to focus on wines that were in a reasonable price range. That is primarily because those are the wines I buy, but also because I know there are some good bargains to be found out there. Interestingly enough, I have been pleasantly surprised with the number of views that my blog has received over the pas three years. Nothing spectacular, but enough to keep me interested in writing each week (my goal anyway). So, as I posted a new review a few week back, I received an inquiry as to whether I would be interested in receiving a few "media samples" of wine to taste and review. While I was completely caught off guard, I wasn't about to say no. A few days later a couple of bottles of Glen Ellen wine showed up on my doorstep, and luck would have it, I had not tried any of them, so they are a perfect fit for me to review. I decided that if I ever receive samples of wine for my blog again, I will review that wine along with my weekly review. So, here I am writing my 2nd review this week.

Now, since this is a bit of a departure from the norm, I am completely aware that my integrity is coming into play, but here goes. As I sat down on Friday evening with a hamburger from my kid's favorite Friday night takeout place, I poured a glass of Glen Ellen Petit Syrah. I would say it was was a touch light for this grape, but good color nonetheless. When I gave the glass a swirl, the aroma was much more in line with the Petite Syrah wines I have had in this price range. While for me, the wine I always go back to is the Bogle Petite Syrah, this wine was not noticeably lacking in this area. Now, it was time to give it a taste. One thing I noticed right away was that it was actually quite smooth, and although it was more in line with the color, meaning it was a little light for a Petite Syrah, it has a pretty good overall flavor. Considering this bottle was a magnum (1.5L), the value was even better. I would say this is a solid choice if you are having some friends over for a party, and need to find a good tasting wine at a reasonable price.

Rating: 3.0 corks (Good taste, even better value)

Terra Alta Ludovicus - Red Blend

Price: $12
Region: Spain
Year: 2009

This wine came courtesy of my wife again, who really tries to make sure she picks a bottle that I have not tried before, so that I can write about it here. One of the advantages she has, is that she usually has a good idea what's for dinner on Sunday night when we get together with her parents. This particular Friday, there was a small wine tasting, and she mentioned to the person giving out samples, that she was looking for something to go with a chicken and sweet potato stew. He recommended this bottle from Spain, that is actually a blend of Garnacha, Tempranillo, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon. There was been few Spanish wine that I really did not care for, so I was looking forward to dinner on Sunday.

I opened the bottle a bit before dinner, as I usually do, and I sat down with my wine journal to make some notes. Given the grapes that are blended to make up this wine, I was hardly surprised to find a very dark wine. It definitely had a grape jam look about it. Part of what I am definitely trying to get away from is making any assumptions about a wine just by sight. I'm getting better for sure, but I slipped a little with this wine, as I was expecting something along the lines of a Cab or Syrah. It had a very pleasant aroma, but I thought it was a bit tart. I'm not quite sure the percentage of each wine, at least i didn't write it down, but if it is based on the order they were listed, it makes sense that it would lean toward the Garnacha or Tempranillo, both of which I'm a little less familiar with. As I tasted this wine, the tartness that I came across in the aroma, was nowhere to be found. This wine was very smooth, with a good flavor from start to finish. I would say it fell on the side of being a bit lighter than I expected, but again, this where I need to try and experience what the wine is, instead of thinking what it should be. I will say, it went well with the delicious chicken and sweet potato stew. Not a bad way end the weekend.

Rating: 3.25 corks (Something a little different, and worth a try)