Marietta Old Vines Red Lot Number 52

A non vintage red blend sourced from Sonoma and Mendonco Counties in California. The main grape in the blend is Zinfandel, but three times a year a new version of the blend is released, Lot Number 52 is the summer blend. Marietta Cellars is a family owned Winery located in Geyserville in Sonoma. The alcohol content is 13.5%.

The color is dark, inky, black cherry red. The nose is blackberry, cherry and a touch of vanilla. A nice lush mouthfeel, very silky. Good ripe fruit upfront, plum, blueberry, raspberry and then a sharp hit if spice, with each sip, the spice smoothes out. A big strong blueberry finish.

Oh wow,this is the comfort food equivalent in wine. Simple yummy goodness in spades. Luscious ripe fruit, it actually feels good in your mouth. I want to try this with Mom’s Pot Roast. The Marietta Old Vines Red is the kind of wine you want to give to friends, there is no higher praise than that.

Here is a link to the distributors, if you need to see where you can purchase this wine in your area: http://www.mariettacellars.com/distributors/

2008 Peirano Estate Vineyards “The Other” Red Blend

Ok, I picked this wine because of the label. If I have to pick between a wine with a plain label or a wine with a naked lady on the label, I’m going with the naked lady every time. Actually, a beautiful or clever label is pretty good reason to choose a wine, the best winemakers tend to be very creative people, so it stands to reason the label on their bottle should be creative (or naked).

The Other is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 10% Syrah all sourced from Peirano Estate Vineyards in Lodi, California. The 3 grapes were fermented and aged separately and then blended at the very end of the process. The alcohol content is 13.8%.  Peirano Vineyard Estates has been making wine for 4 generations.

The color is back cherry jello. The nose is blackberries, blueberries, cedar and a touch of vanilla. Soft smooth fruit upfront, raspberry, black cherry jam on buttered toast, strawberry dipped in dark chocolate and light oak spice. A long blueberry vanilla finish.

A very easy wine to drink, an excellent every day wine. Would pair well with burgers or pizza, or skip the food and enjoy a glass or two.

2007 Cameron Hughes Lot 139 Alexander Valley Meritage

In France, a Negociant is someone who purchases excess wine from local vineyards and sells the excess under their own label. Sometimes they bottled the wine exactly as it came from the barrel, other times they blend grapes from different vineyards to create their own unique wine blend. But where exactly and from whom they purchased the wine is kept in strict confidence. Cameron Hughes is the American version of the French Negociant. By carefully choosing his sources, he can bring wines of outstanding quality to the market at exceptional prices. Of course, he can not disclose exactly who made the wine, only general information, in this case the wine was produced in Alexander Valley in Sonoma, California and the wine came pre-blended and ready for bottling. There is a bottle of wine on some store shelf right now with a different label, but the exact same wine inside and a price tag at least three times more expensive than the Cameron Hughes Lot 139 Meritage.

Fun Fact: In California to be designated a Meritage wine, the blend most consist of a least two Bordeaux grapes. For a red wine blend the Bordeaux grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Carmenere, Gros Verdot and St, Macaire.

The color is strawberry red with black cherry highlights. The nose is plums, a touch of vanilla, light menthol along with black and blueberries. An interesting flavor, chocolate covered cherries, Frango Mints, I am using candy as descriptors, but this is not sweet, the  Lot 139 has the lush, rich candy taste, minus the sugary sweetness, now to make things confusing the oak and the tannins do add a touch of sweetness. The finish is soft red berry, it is light in taste, but it lingers for a reasonably long time.

A medium bodied, tasty red wine blend. Drinks very well, when pairing with food, you will want to stay away from dishes with heavy sauces or strong flavors. But when pairing wine with food, delicious always goes with delicious.

Cameron Hughes Wines can be found at Whole Foods, Costco, Sam’s Club and www.chwine.com

2009 Tres Pinos Three Pines Cuvee $5

A Trader Joe’s Exclusive made by San Antonio Winery, they have been in business 91 years and are the last remaining winery in Los Angles. This is a blend of Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the grapes were grown in San Luis Obispo County, California (Paso Robles and the Central Coast growing areas). Like most Trader Joe’s wine there is virtually no information available on the Three Pines Cuvee, and San Antonio Winery does not list the wine on their website. I guess at five bucks a bottle there is no money left over for information or advertising.

A few years back, $10 was the cut off for good and bad wines, there was no telling what you were going to get. Now, $10 wines are almost always at least drinkable and often excellent values. Five dollars is the new cut off point and $5 wines are an adventure.

The color is dark but see thru cherry red. The nose is fairly simple, some red fruit, a little new mowed grass. The flavors are soft red fruit, some strawberry, plum, tart cherry, Nestle’s Quick Chocolate Milk powder, some green, unripe flavors pop up in the background. The mouth feel is slightly watery  and you can feel the bite of the tannins in the back of your palate. The cherry juice finish fades a bit too quickly, the tannins linger longer that the fruit flavors.

This is light years better than the cheap wine of my college days. If you are sitting around playing Madden Football on the Xbox with friends, the Tres Pinos should be considered as the beverage of choice. I don’t want to be be too hard on a $5 wine, I know how hard it is to make wine at that price, it’s just that there are so many good inexpensive wines on the market today, we are in the middle of cheap wines’ Glory Days.

2007 Clayhouse Vineyard Adobe Red

A red wine blend sourced from California’s Central Coast, Clayhouse Vineyards says that much of the fruit came from their Estate Vineyard in Paso Robles. The grapes used in the blend are 41% Zinfandel, 32% Petite Sirah, 16% Syrah, 5% Malbec, 4% Grenache and 2% Mourvedre. 15% of the wine has been aged in neutral oak barrels for 14 months. Alcohol content is 14.1%.

See thru burgundy red with a salmon pink halo. The nose is reminiscent of a fruit stand, plums, cherries , raspberries with a touch of vanilla infused oak. Tart cherry juice hit first, then a softer plums and strawberry. Tannins can be felt all over your mouth, but in a good way, it gives the wine a nice strong character. The Adobe Red smooths out at the mid-palate, tart cherry and the tannins fade away and a fresh juicy berry flavor takes over. The finish is mixed berries and vanilla, you will be tasting it 5 minutes after you put the glass down.

The Clayhouse Adobe Red is a well constructed, big, bold, good tasting wine. A rough and ready Red that also has a well mannered side. BBQ Ribs or Steak Fajitas would pair very well.

2006 Montefalco Rosso

A red wine blend with grapes sourced from the Montefalco DOC growing region of Umbria, Italy. The blend is 70% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino and 15% Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. 15% of the grapes are aged in oak barrels, with the remainder aged in stainless steel vats. The alcohol content is 13.5%.

The color is deep dark black cherry with strawberry highlights. The nose is stewed red fruit, pencil shavings, iced coffee and black licorice. A velvety mouth feel. Soft fruit at first, raspberries, cherry Twizzlers, then buttered toast covered with blackberry jam. Very light tannins, but a good bit of acidity. A light cola finish.

A well made wine, balanced and good tasting. This wine calls out for a wonderful plate of Italian cheeses and would work really well with American BBQ or drinks very nicely on it’s own.

2006 Ten Mile “The Broken Road” Red Blend $10

This wine is an interesting blend of Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Barbera and Carignane. Sourced from several old vine vineyards in California and aged 14 months in French and American oak. Alcohol is a reasonable 14.1%.

When first tasting this wine there is a beautiful floral note with a slight hint of cherries.
The flavor is refreshingly light but still full flavored with the taste of cherry, plum and blackberries. The Carignane gives the wine an earthy grassy finish.

This wine would be great with lamb or steak with an herbal rub.

2008 Home Grown Farms Family Harvest Red $9

Home Grown Farms has a nice website that says virtually nothing about the wines. The grapes are a field blend grown in the Coastal Wine Country of California, but exactly where and by who, isn’t mentioned. Though field blend does suggest that this is a single vineyard wine. They say the blend is approximately  a third of each grape (Syrah, Petite Sirah and Barbera) and that the wine gets almost no oak. Home Grown Farms say this is the way the old time Italian farmers in the region made wine.

Wine Fun Fact : A field blend is when all the different varietals of grapes grown in a field are harvested all at the same time. The different types of grapes do not ripen at the same time, so they try to time it so they can get the most out out all the grapes. All the grapes all end up in the same fermentation tank, so every year the wine is a little bit different, since every year all the grapes are at a little bit different state of ripeness.

The color is deep dark opaque burgundy red. The nose is blueberries, cherries and a touch of a grassy note, very light, nothing overpowering. A nice silky mouthfeel, the flavors burst into your mouth. An explosion of smooth fruit flavors mixed in with tart fruit. Black cherry, chocolate, raspberry, licorice and Starburst candy. The finish is mostly blueberry with a light hint of chocolate.

Tons of vibrant fruit flavors in a bottle. Not a hugely complex or structured wine, what you see is what you get. But what you get is a well priced wine with a big juicy taste that is very satisfying.

2006 Yangarra Cadenzia GSM $16

A single vineyard, Estate grown GSM (Grenache 68%,Shiraz 27% and Mourvedre 5%). Yangarra is located in the McLaren Vale Region of Australia. The Cadenzia is aged in oak for 18 months, the Shiraz in new French oak, the Grenache and Mourvedre in used barrels or neutral oak. Alcohol content is 15% .

A deep dark clear see thru burgundy red. The nose is black cherry, menthol and milk chocolate. Big lush fruit, bold flavors, blackberry, rich dark chocolate, tart cherry. Really terrific mouth feel, the flavors burst into your mouth. Good soft balanced tannins, you know they are there, but they don’t intrude into the luscious fruit. A long fruit driven finish.

This is a sexy wine, bold, curvaceous and challenging, yet firm and muscular. Drink it with a meal you love or with a person you love or better yet, both.

P.S. interchange love and lust, if needed

2008 Maryhill Winemaker’s Red – $12

Maryhill Winery was voted the Washington State Winery of the Year in 2009, if you have been following wines from Washington, then you know that is quite an honor. Located in The Columbia Valley, with Mt. Hood as a back drop. The Winemaker’s Red is their take on the classic Boureaux blend. The grapes a sourced from two Columbia Valley Vineyards, Millbrand Vineyard and Gunkel Vineyard. The wine is aged 10 Months in Stainless Steel, with oak staves added.(That means thin strips of oak are tossed into the vats to give the wine some oak taste, but not any aging capabilities)

One of our favorite things is when one of our favorite wines goes down in price and with Maryhill Winemaker’s Red that is the case.  For those of you that haven’t had this wine, it is a delicious blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 20% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Franc.  Upfront is tart cherry with a little spice and chocolate on the finish.  An absolute steal at this price.

for more information on this wine check with Jerry @ http://www.dobbysliquors.com/

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