Mercedes Eguren - Shiraz/Tempranillo

Price: $12.99
Region: Spain
Year: 2006

I purchased a couple of wine this past weekend, and being that it was Father's Day, I treated myself to a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to go along with the fillet mignon we had for dinner on Sunday, but maybe I'll get to that review next week. Right now, I wanted to write about the wine I picked up on Friday on my way home from work. I went into the store looking for a bottle of Shiraz, preferably Australian, because I was just in that kind of mood. It just goes to show you that sometimes the best laid plans never turn out quite like you thought. As I was walking up the Shiraz aisle, this bottle just kind of jumped out at me. I'm not really quite sure why, because as you can see, it definitely isn't the flashy packaging. I think it was just the fact that I saw the word Tempranillo along with the word Shiraz. I have had a few very god wines made from Tempranillo for a very reasonable price, so I just thought the mix sounded interesting. At a 50/50 mix between Shiraz & Tempranillo, I was quite sure what to expect.

Dinner was a normal Friday evening stop by the pizza store. I know that is starting (if it hasn't already) to sound a bit repetitive, but it works for us. Anyway, when I first sat down with a glass, I thought it had a very distinct coloring. More a fruity looking purple than anything else in my opinion. At this point I tried to continue with an open mind, not trying to favor either of the two grapes, but when I swirled the wine around, and gave a sniff, I would have to say the Shiraz came through loud and clear. It had a very nice earthy Shiraz smell, with a nice trail of spice. At this point I was thinking that might be a common theme with this wine, but the taste threw me a bit of a curve. When I firs took a sip, I was kind of surprised that all of the flavor tended to hit the back of the mouth, but it truly was a great blend of the two grapes. It It had a slow start, with a distinguishable fruitiness in the middle, with a nice spicy finish. I would say overall a ripe fruit kind of taste, but definitely unique. I know this might seem like strange thing for me to say, especially this week because I started out looking for my tried and true, but I love finding something off the beaten path every now and again, and this one definitely fits the bill. A really nice change of pace & a good wine to boot.

Rating: 3.5 corks (A nice blend)

Cono Sur - Cabernet Sauvignon

Price: $9.99
Region: Chile
Year: 2008

Sometimes it seems that work gets in the way of writing my weekly review (I missed last week). Luckily however, it doesn't get in the way of enjoying a new bottle each week. In fact, it might be one of the main reasons why I sit down with a bottle every weekend, but I guess that's another story. Interestingly enough, this week's review was a bottle that my wife picked up for me one evening. It was a nice gesture after a particularly long day last week, but it also meant I didn't have to stop on my way home from work on Friday. She picked it because it had mentioned organic farming, and she was pretty sure I hadn't tried this before, so it worked well for what I usually try to find. While this winery definitely has some organic wines, I do not believe this particular variety is organic. Either way, we ordered some pizza last Friday night, and I sat down to enjoy (hopefully) a new bottle of wine.

I also hadn't had a new Cabernet in a little while, so it was even a good choice as far as the grape was concerned. I do not believe I have had too many wines from Chile, so really this was a good choice all around. When I poured my first glass, the wine had a very pleasant color, but a little lighter than I would have expected for a Cab. No complaint, just an observation. Interestingly enough, the smell was similarly light, but there was no doubt it was a Cabernet. I didn't get enough the first time around, so with another pass, I could definitely smell a nice fruity wine. At this point, I was pretty convinced that the taste would align with the sight, and smell, but as seems to be the case more often than not, it is hard to make assumptions before you actually taste the wine. This wine was definitely not short on taste, as it had good tannins, that were not really heavy, but the wine was fairly smooth, if just a bit tart. It really did have a nice overall flavor that I quite enjoyed with my ham and pineapple pizza (my favorite). I think I will take a look at their organic wines someday, as my first go around with this cleverly named wine, was quite enjoyable.

Rating: 3.0 corks (Will try others from this winery)

Manage a Trois - Red Blend

Price: $11.99

Region: California

Year: 2008

It was nice to have a three day weekend this past Memorial Day, and I do have a wine to review, but I decided to try and get to my backlog of wines before I don't remember some of the more subtle details that I sometimes forget to write down. This particular wine was one I had been looking for at my favorite store for a few months now. My wife had tried it at a dinner party we went to (not sure how I missed it then) & she said she really enjoyed it. When she says that about a red these days, I tend to give it a try. While I didn't have much luck finding it at my favorite store, I happened to run across it in the Zinfandel aisle of another store I stop by every now and then. Although I did not write it down, I'm pretty sure I had just picked up a peperoni pizza, and had the notion that a Zin might do the trick. This is one of those minor details that would have soon slipped my mind if I didn't get around to this review. This wine is actually a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, but happened to be in the Zin aisle of this particular store. When I saw it sitting there, and for a reasonable price, I had to give it a try.

Sometimes I fall prey to the notion of having to have a Zinfandel with pizza, and this just happened to be one of those days. So, I sat down with a slice, and poured myself a glass (not a bad start to the weekend). As one would expect from a wine made from these three varieties, we have a nice dark red wine on our hands here. I would tend to say it was almost purple in color, but you get the gist. Once I gave the glass a swirl, and took a sniff, I immediately realized why it was in the Zinfandel aisle, because out of all three, that particular smell sure shined through. At this point, I was pleased, but a little perplexed as to why my wife was a big fan. if there is a wine she almost categorically does not like, it is Zinfandel. Anyway, trying to figure that one out may be a bit beyond my capabilities. I was a little less surprised at that fact when I took a sip of this wine. While I definitely tasted a bit of the boldness & spice of a Zin, this wine had very smooth edges, and great length. It had a very good structure, with a bit of "jaminess" (if that's a word). I thought this wine was a great alternative to a straight Zinfandel, and definitely worth the price of admission.

Rating: 3.5 corks (Definitely give it a try)

Releaf - Cab/Merlot/Shiraz

Price: $8.99

Region: South Africa

Year: 2007

Even though I had a little time on my hands this past weekend to browse a bit, this was a very quick trip to the wine store. I had pretty much decided the week before that I was going to pick up this bottle of Releaf red. As I mentioned in last week's review, as I was checking out, the cashier recommended I grab a bottle of this as well. Considering I generally try to purchase as much organic food as is reasonable based on price, etc. I thought it was just natural that I try a bottle of red wine made out of organically grown grapes. I didn't even know this was a South African wine until I got it home and read the label. Since the general trend is you pay a bit more for organic food, I was a little bit scared of the $9 price for this wine, and was hoping it wasn't a $6 bottle in terms of quality.

We ordered Chinese take out for dinner, so after I got back from picking it up, I poured myself a glass. I thought the wine has a nice looking ruby color, with good depth. It definitely didn't give the impression of a weak wine, but I would think being 50% Cabernet, 30% Merlot, and 20% Shiraz, you would get a nice dark red wine. I then took a sniff of the wine, and was a bit surprised that it seemed a little faint, but it had a pleasant fruity smell nonetheless. It has close to 2 years now that I have been writing these reviews, and I am definitely trying to concentrate of identifying particular tastes, but I would be the first to admit I still tend to notice more general flavors as opposed to specific ones that people identify on more "professional" reviews. I do tend to pick up hints of blackberry with this wine for sure. My only complaint is that the wine was a bit acidic, but generally a nice flavor. I would have to do some more research on the benefits of drinking organic wine, but my philosophy has always been, if you can get someone without chemicals, for the same price, and quality, why not. This was a very solid wine, at a great price, and organic to boot. I will definitely pick up a few bottles to have around as it could be a very good everyday wine.

Rating: 3.5 (Gets a little higher score for being organic :)

Bridgman - Merlot

Price: $13.99
Region: Washington
Year: 2007

I think I am drinking more wine than I am able to review these days, which I'm not sure is a good thing, or a bad thing. My guess is a good thing, and we'll leave it at that. I had two wines this past weekend, one on Saturday evening, and the other for Mother's Day. I decided to go with the review of the wine from Saturday since it fits the original intent of this blog, which is wines under $15.00. The wine we had on Mother's Day wasn't that much more expensive, but was in the $30 range. Anyway, I was out running errands on Saturday, and finally had a chance to stop by my favorite wine store and just walk around for a bit. I wasn't in a huge hurry, which is how I like it when I visit this store. Lots to choose from, that's for sure. Since we were having chicken for dinner, I decided going in and search out a Merlot, and I figured at least part of the bottle would be left over for Mother's Day, and since we were having my Mother-in-law over, I decided to look for something that was a bit more than I would spend on a normal weekend (althought not that much).

At the beginning of each aisle, there are some wines that are listed as the "Wine Buyer's Selection". I assume these are wines that various employees at the store list as their favorites. For some reason this bottle of Bridgman Merlot stood out, so I grabbed a bottle and headed for the register. For the first time while checking out, the cashier tried to sell me another bottle that was sitting in the check-out line. In this case it was a bottle of Leaf, which is apparently an Organic blend. I passed this time, but may just grab it the next time through. Anyway, I headed home and was ready for a glass of wine. I was pretty impressed right off of the bat with this wine as it had a very nice light purple color. It definitely looked like a wine with some character. I also thought it had a very pleasant smell, with a bit of a cherry licorice coming to mind. When I took a sip, and then another, I thougth this wine was very well balanced, with nice structure. The taste was a bit like the smell, with a hint of cherry. Overall it had a very nice taste, and wasn't over-priced. There are some comparable wines for a few dollars more, but I would say this is worth a shot.

Rating: 3.25 (Pretty nice wine)

Angeline - Pinot Noir

Price: $11.99
Region: California
Year: 2008

So, last week I did something a bit different by reviewing a wine as I typed. This week I'm going back to the weekend before last. This was the weekend ww had my in-laws over for my father in-law's birthday. Based on what was on the menu, shrimp and rice, I knew my father-in-law would enjoy a bottle of white wine. Since I wanted to get a decent bottle for his birthday, but just don't have much experience with whites, I decided to go the the "highly rated" aisle. This is where there are about 20-30 bottle of different wines that have good ratings from publications such as Wine Spectator, etc. I ended up getting a bottle of Courtney Beckham Sauvignon Blanc, which really wasn't half bad (and I probably should review as well), but I also saw this bottle of Pinot Noir sitting there, and was just tempted to give it a shot. If you've followed my blog much, I just don't find that many that I really enjoy, and it could very well be the price range I usually find myself in, but at $12, I thought, "why not"?

I'm not sure if this is the wine/food pairing made in heaven, but that isn't always my top priority. Some time you have to bend the rules. The first thing I always tend to focus on with a Pinot is the color. Some would most likely say it is my wine novice shining through, but I just love a dark red wine, which these are usually not. This was no exception, although I must say, it really did have good clarity, and was a pretty color red. As I gave the glass a swirl, and took a sniff, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a bit earthy, as doesn't seem to be uncommon for a Pinot, but also had a really nice fruity aroma. Not that big bold blackberry Shiraz smell, but maybe just a bit down the intensity scale. As I took a sip, I was again taken a bit by surprise at the smoothness of the wine. It really had an even taste that made me go back for more. While I've tried a few Pinot Noirs that were highly rated, and I usually ended up not getting what the person found so interesting, but not so on this one. If I ever need a Pinot to lean on at a good price, I'll definitely grab a bottle of Angeline.

Rating: 3.25 (Great value)

Ravenswood - Petit Shiraz

Price: $9.99
Region: California
Year: 2007

Ok, doing something a little different this week. I have two reviews from last week that I just didn't get around to writing up this week, and I really want to get to them, but I think I'll try to get them done one night next week. Since today is Friday, and I didn't get around to my review last night, I have a new bottle for this weekend that I am going to review as I try it out. I think I've done this once before, but it definitely isn't my normal routine. I just had a little free time tonight, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I left work a bit early and caught the last half of my son's baseball game today. Since it wasn't my normal route home, I stopped by a store I rarely buy from. It was already a little late, and I didn't want to spend a whole bunch of time, so I headed for the Shiraz aisle. It is always good to have a fallback wine, and this is definitely mine. While I didn't get a regular Shiraz, I did see a sign for a Petit Shiraz from Ravenswood at a good price, so I thought I'd give it a try. I only spent about 5 minutes in the store, so mission accomplished on that front. I didn't have this wine with dinner, which was a delicious tortellini soup, but instead decided to wait until a bit later to sit down and relax with a glass of wine. And of course, that time is right now. As I take a look at this wine, I can tell you this is one dark red wine. I know I've said this before, but it is nearly black. As I give the glass a swirl, and take a sniff, I can tell you the aroma is very intense. Almost a bit too much, but for my liking I would prefer this to one that has a very faint smell. As I take my first sip, my initial impression is kind of middle of the road. The taste is not as intense as the smell, but I'm not so sure that is a bad thing. It is not quite as smooth as the other Petit Shiraz that I lean towards in this price range. It isn't a bad change of pace from the Bogle, that I really enjoy, but it isn't quite at the same level either. While the wine has good length, it is just a tad bitter for my liking. I think it will definitely do the trick for tonight, but not at the top of my list of Petit Shiraz.

Rating: 2.75 (Acceptable)