Category: WIne Blog

 

 

 

Origin: Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Grape: Sauvignon Blanc
Body: Light
Year: 2015
Alcohol: 5%
Price point: $22
Year Reviewed: 2017

Sancerre is a French wine Appellation d’origine contrôlée or AOC for wine produced in the area of Sancerre in the eastern part of the Loire valley, southeast of Orléans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancerre_(wine)

 In the glass a clear very pale yellow.  Hints of pear, citrus, grass, minerality, honey tea, and white pepper on the nose. On the palate, wow I get some high acidity that is kind of harsh, but this finishes with a smooth buttery flavor that lingers on your tongue.  Dry with a long finish.   Pair with shellfish or some brie cheese, as it will handle the fatty foods well.

 

 

 

Origin:Stellenbosch, South Africa
Grape: Pinotage
Body: Medium
Year: 2014
Alcohol: 14
Price point: $9.00
Year Reviewed: 2017
 

If I only features my favorites, you would never grow and try other wines and other grapes.  Pinotage, from hot South Africa has a unique smell and taste of its own.  Pinotage was a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut grape back in 1925.  First commercially released in 1959.  The person who combined this together knew that Pinot Noir was hard to cultivate but Cinsaut was quite easy to grow.  This grape has been given a bad rap by many people, and I say, try it and judge for yourself.  Actually when I purchased it at a wine store, the wine manager, said, “I don’t like these, they taste like tar.”  I was a bit resistant to buy any then, but I am a daredevil at heart.    I will learn more about different grapes out there and expand my palate.  Wine exploration is what I am all about.  If you don’t explore, how will you learn?    I bought the least expensive Pinotage I could find and, again I thought, maybe I am wasting away my money.  Pinotages are one of the most debated grapes in the world.

On the eyes, such a clear, dark purple color.  On the nose I get cherry notes, and yes, the tar smell they told me I would get.  I also get a herb smell and hints of eucalyptus.  On the palate, I was pleasantly surprised as I do get and intriguing wine with cherry, tapas restaurant Smokey salamis, charred ribs, just a hint of bananas.  This wine builds in complexity after being opened an hour.  I paired it with a mildly spicy shrimp, artichokes, black olives and tomatoes dish called Shrimp Veneza.  The pairing went quite well.  I learned that I will seek out some other Pinotages that I just researched for under $10 called Nederberg.

http://manwines.com/ind

 

 

 

Origin:Langhe region, Italy
Grape: Nebbiolo
Body: Medium
Year: 2015
Alcohol: 5%
Price point: $20
Year Reviewed: 2017

Back to trying to find some interesting new Nebbiolos.  The color on this is brick red and I can spot a Nebbiolo by its color in the glass of red with tones of rust color halo.  I’m crazy for Nebbiolos.  It’s earthy, it’s sexy and it’s different. (I like my men that way too.  lol)  On the nose I get that mushroom, wet stone or clay smell, with the earthy herbs and floral smell.  On the mouth, this is very well-rounded and not harsh at all like some Nebbiolos that are older vintages.  I get a buttery, high tannin, medium acidity wine that goes down very easy and for the price point, it is a winner.  I will definitely seek this out and purchase again.

 

 

 

Origin:Arroyo Sesco region and Carneros, CA
Grape: Chardonnay
Body: Medium
Year: 2015
Alcohol: 6%
Price point: $14
Year Reviewed: 2017

Bread: We used 1 year old American oak for the Sonoma fruit over 4 months, and new French oak for the Monterey fruit for just 8 months. The Fruit from Sonoma is more citrus and white fruit, so we wanted to add creaminess and vanilla notes. The Monterey fruit is more tropical, and the French oak gives us some spice and silk. Together they blend into a wine that has so much complexity and layers, it’s like Inception all over again.

Butter: 100% Malolactic Fermentation

I found this unusual Chardonnay at a wine tasting and had the pleasure to present it from one of my distributers.  This is truly amazing and crème brulee in the glass.  On the eyes, this wine is not at golden as you would think it to be.  On my nose, I could just live in the glass, as there is a beautiful presentation of citrus, honey, vanilla and apricot. Taste this wine and you will be in love as you may not believe this is chardonnay, as you may feel it could pass for a Chenin Blanc.  There is a long finish for this wine that leaves a light refreshing buttery covering to your palate.  I feel this wine is crowd pleaser for those who like whites.  So let’s pair this with a garlic dish, shrimp d’john, creamy pasta, baked chicken (Knorr’s chicken with Sour cream and white rice) squash dishes and any butter sauce dish you can imagine.  So, some people say, “I am not a white wine drinker” and I say that you need to have this wine on hand for a few things…..for the dishes I just named, for the sunny hot day in your back yard, and for those friends who only drink white wine and I am sure they will truly enjoy this interesting Chardonnay.

 

 

 

Origin:Colchagua Valley, Chili
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon
Body: Medium
Year: 2015
Alcohol: 5%
Price point: $22
Year Reviewed: 2017

So purchased this wine just for two simple reasons:  such a cute burlap wrapper and a Cab from Chili. Even though 2015 was supposed to be a great year in Chili for Sauvignon Blanc, I still couldn’t resist this bottling and I was going to find out why they were wrapped in burlap.   So what did I end up with?

On the nose, I get vanilla, cherry notes-lots of it, dark currant fruit, a touch of violet (floral) and stone or clay.  On the palate, I get medium acidity and get a well-balanced flavor of cherry, raspberry, woody and cedar tones, and what I will call a younger cab grape.  Drink now or let age a few years.  These grapes are harvested by hand and then matured for 10 months in a stainless steel tank and then 2 months in the bottle.

Okay, so why the burlap?  In the early days of bad roads in the Colchagua Valley in Chili, when the wine was transported in open horse drawn carts, the bottles were wrapped in burlap to protect them from both sunlight and bumpy roads.  That protective tradition still endures until today.

As I always say, every bottle has a story behind it.

 History of Vino de Eyzaguirre the “EZ-GARY”

In the mid-seventeenth century, the Eyzaguirre family left their home in Vizcaya, Spain, and traveled to Chile to seek their fortune. They prospered and became distinguished citizens of their new country. In 1768 Domingo Eyzaguirre was appointed mayor of the capital city of Santiago.

His son, Domingo Eyzaguirre II, planted some of the first vines from French rootstock in that region and founded the Vino de Eyzaguirre near a village built by monks from a nearby Franciscan monastery.

At first the wine was “bottled” in sturdy, 15-liter earthenware chuicos, which survived the bumpy trip by horse-drawn cart from the village to the monastery. When the winery switched to much smaller glass bottles, however, breakage became a problem. To protect their precious cargo, the monks took to wrapping the bottles in burlap sacks. The idea caught on with the winery and became a tradition that has endured to this day.

Today the “EZ-GARY” is produced at Viña San Jorge in the prestigious Colchagua Valley, renowned for its near-perfect climate for growing grapes, and for wines of exceptional quality.

http://www.eyzaguirre.com/chilean_wine_background.htm

Enjoy with steak and potatoes or beef stew.

This winery advertises that they have “Beneficial Environmental Management and Green Practices” but when digging deeper into this, I couldn’t find out what they were exactly doing, except for recycled waste water and water saving irrigation techniques.  Any reader has that information, let me know.

 

 

 

Origin:Crozes-Hermitage, France
Grape: Syrah
Body: Medium
Year: 2013
Alcohol: 13%
Price point: $22
Year Reviewed: 2017

On the eyes, this is blackish purple wine.  The nose is quite interesting and took me awhile to decipher what I was smelling.   Get mushroom, cherries, clay, wet stone, wet leaves, and wet wood. I also get a lot of earth.  On the mouth, the texture is total smoothness of this wine with a bit of a dry, woody taste and an acidic finish that I may even say has a bit of bitterness to it.  Compare/contrast  this Northern Rhone Syrah from France to Australian Shiraz for your growth is tasting experiences or schedule a wine tasting party with me to learn about different grapes from various regions and how they, when bottled, are so varying.    Let this wine breathe at least several hours to release some acids and tannins. After it opened up, I personally enjoyed the flavors much more, as they were not so harsh.

Crozes-Hermitage is a French wine Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) in the northern Rhône wine region of France. The appellation is the largest in the northern Rhone, and its wines are less highly regarded than those from the nearby appellations of Côte-Rôtie or its near-namesake Hermitage. Most of the wines produced here are red wines made from the Syrah grape, sometimes blended with small quantities of white Roussanne or Marsanne grapes. Some white wines are also made, based on Marsanne and/or Roussanne.^[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crozes-Hermitage_AOC

 

 

 

Origin:Loire Valley, France
Grape: 100% Chenin Blanc
Body: Medium
Year: 2016
Alcohol: 12%
Price point: $13
Year Reviewed: 2017

A great priced screw top Vouvray that has a bit of effervescence and some sweetness.  On the nose, I do get citrus, green fruit and lemon.  On the palate, I get mild sweetness, well-balanced lemony butter taste.   A great accompaniment for Shrimp, artichokes and sun dried tomatoes.

 

 

 

 

Origin:Piedmont, Italy
Grape: Nebbiolo
Body: Full
Year: 2010
Alcohol: 5%
Price point: $23 for a ½ bottle
Year Reviewed: 2017

For those of you who have read reviews above, you know I love my Nebbiolo grape.  This wine is a DOCG from a winery producing this label for several years and the 2012 vintage received 93points from Wine Spectator.  On the nose, you will receive the aromas of smoke, earth and some mushroom and wet leaf.  This high tannin and high acidity wine has great full flavor for the folks who appreciate this earthy grape.  Nice long finish.  Flavors of earth and red fruit come though and the ½ bottle just wasn’t enough!

 

 

 

Origin:Uco Valley in Mendoza, Argentina
Grape: Malbec with some Cabernet
Body: Full
Year: NV
Alcohol: 14%
Price point: $16
Year Reviewed: 2017

Dave Phinney searches the world for the best grapes and makes, what I call,” Lettered wines.”  See my article under “Other wine information” off of my home page for the full write up on Dave’s wines. It is truly an amazing story.   This wine, on the nose, smells herbaceous, like mushrooms, red cherry with a hint of vanilla.  I love the nose on this glass.  On the palate, there are flavors of grenadine, raspberry, currant jelly with a bit of nutmeg spice. Try this now or in the Fall.    This may become my new favorite with a price point of under $16.00.  Red wine fans, who like complexities in their glass and interest that accumulates the longer the wine is open, you must try AR wine.  Dave Phinney knocks it out of the park again.

Only thing I can say bad about this wine is the bottle doesn’t fit in my current wine frig.  Time to upgrade to a better wine refrigerator, I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Origin:Italy
Grape: Corvina
Body:Medium
Year:2014
Alcohol:5%
Price point:$12
Year Reviewed:2017
 

Corvina is a type of wine grape used to make wines of the same name or a key constituent of Valpolicella wines, along with Rondinella.  It can also be called Corvina Veronese, and it grows mostly in Northeast Italy.

On the nose you will get aromas of mushroom, wet leaves and earth.  A sour cherry type of taste with low tannins.  Acidity will tingle on the top of your tongue and roof of your mouth.    Note that when Corvina is blended with Cab and/or Merlot, you get a unique tasting wine.  See my review on Zenato Alanero and compare this wine to that for some adventure.