2006 Zaca Mesa Syrah – $18

The much anticipated arrival of the 2006 Zaca Mesa Syrah is here!! This Santa Ynez Valley Syrah received an incredible 93 Points from the Wine Spectator. Due to the low price, Wine Spectator is sure to make this a Top 20 wine at the end of the year, and will not be around long. Offering wonderful floral, grapey plum and wild berry aromas, this is rich, smooth and supple on the palate, with tiers of dark berry, mocha, mineral and spice flavors that glide along.

Sourced from a single family owned vineyard in Santa Barbara County, California. Hand harvested and aged 16 months in French oak. All the bells and whistles for 18 bucks!

Drink now through 2015. Get it while it’s still available.

2006 Razor’s Edge Shiraz – $9

Every time I pick up a valued priced Shiraz, I go on the internet and find that it got 90 plus points from some national wine publication. This McLaren Vale Shiraz is one of Robert Parker’s Best Buy’s of Australia. From what I could find about the Razor’s Edge, it’s made primarily for  American tastes. There is not much information available about how long it is aged in oak, etc.. on the internet for this wine.

The color is your textbook Shiraz, deep, dark, opaque burgundy red. The nose is interesting, it is not all fruit, there is mushroom, earthy notes and dark fruit (that’s the McLaren Vale influence).  The mouth feel is slightly watery, but it does fill your mouth with flavor. Tart cherry juice and chocolate are the main flavors, but not candy sweet, now I see why these wines get 90+ points, who does not like chocolate covered cherries, it’s a very luxurious flavor. The finish is blueberries, it does not last a long time but it is pleasing.

I think I understand why all these inexpensive Australian Shiraz’s get these high grades, they taste great. That’s got to be one of the most important aspects to wine. Australia has a way with the Syrah grape. Lush, tasty wine is almost second nature with Australian Shiraz. Yes, the Razor’s Edge does not have all the layers and complexity of the the best Shiraz, but you can’t argue with “it tastes great”.

2006 Domain Menada Tcherga – $10

This is a first for me, a wine from the Thracian Valley Region of Bulgaria. A red blend of 70%Merlot and 30% Rubin (a cross of Syrah and Nebbiolo). The name Tcherga refers to the folk craft rugs made in that region (check out the label to see what those rugs look like). The wine is aged for 8 months in French and Bulgarian oak.

The color is crystal clear see thru burgundy red. The nose is strawberries, blueberry and spice. Nice mouth feel. The flavor is very bright fresh fruit, gobs of vanilla, very light tannins, the oak is lightly evident in the back of your mouth.The finish fades a bit too soon, but is a very nice combination of chocolate and vanilla. A very tasty wine.

I was expecting Bulgarian wine to be too sweet and too simple, but  I was wrong. This is a good tasting new world style wine. Put Bulgaria on the wine world map, the Tcherga is a well made wine.

2006 Oakwood Hollow Napa Pinot Noir – $14

I thought I was done with the end of the bin series, but I found one more. In Chicago,there used to be two large liquor stores, Sam’s and Binny’s. Binny’s bought Sam’s and all the Sam’s specific Wines are now on cut out. This Napa Valley Pinot is made by the same people who made the ne-go-ciant Syrah, it is comprised from 6 barrels purchased from some unknown Napa vineyard. It once retailed for $28, but Sam’s is gone, it is now an orphan and sells for $14, I don’t expect you to find this exact same wine, but equal deals are available out there, you just have to explore and find them.

Ok, Oakwood Hollow is a fake name and it sounds way too much like the place Winnie the Pooh lived, but a $28 Pinot made from Napa fruit is very likely to be better than a $14 Pinot sourced from vineyards all over California. The color is see thru ruby red. The nose has whiffs of alcohol but also chocolate covered cherries and mint. The taste is sour cherries at first then dark fruit, cranberries and vanilla, the tannins are light, but you can sense the oak on the back of your palate. A long somewhat nondescript finish, a little too sour to be delicious. A tasty wine but with the sour cherries and cranberries it is very tart . This is definitely a food wine and not an afternoon sipper.

2006 Gypsy Dancer Oregon Pinot Noir – $16

Ok, so this isn’t really a $16 Pinot, it normally sells for anywhere from $40 to $60, but again I found an end of the bin special. I was not familiar with Gypsy Dancer Pinot but how can you turn down this kind of deal. The grapes are sourced from the A & G Estate Vineyards in the Dundee Hills region of Oregon. In checking the web for information on this Pinot, I found that the Winemaker, Gary Andrus passed away Jan. 30, 2009 and this is the last vintage ever to be produced. So, that’s the reason the wine was in the cut-out bin. This is a very small volume, (480 cases produced), unfiltered wine.

The color is a dense, but see thru deep red, with brown overtones. The nose is the classic Pinot Noir aroma, mushrooms, crumples leaves, a little bit of flowers and a hint of mint, nothing else smells like a good Pinot. The flavor is delicate, not overpowering but somehow huge at the same time.  Your mouth is filled with flavor, but none of the flavors overpower, just an explosion of subtle blended tastes. There are black and blueberries in there, also some Junior Mints, this is a very balanced delicate yet full. There isn’t really a finish, it is more like the initial flavors refuse to give up, it lasts a long time. The Gypsy Dancer is more fruit forward and less earthy than some Pinots, but is is beautifully balanced and wonderfully subtle.

I spilled some of the wine for a fallen Homey, it looks like I’m a fan of Gary Andrus’s wines a little too late, he made a really good wine. The Gypsy Dancer is well worth searching out if you can find it, it was a $60 wine before he passed and now is $40 and if your lucky much much less.

2006 ne-go-ciant Sonoma Syrah – $9

This is another end of the bin special, ne-go-ciant is a Sonoma County Syrah that once sold for $24, it was a private label wine for Sam’s Wine, who was bought out by another Liquor Store last year. Sam’s is gone, the new owners have no use for a Sam’s specific wine, so I have a bargain. Sonoma County fruit in a nine dollar wine is unheard of and even an average $24 wine makes for a killer $9 wine, it’s hard to go wrong. So when you stumble upon these end of bin specials you need to jump on them!

The color is dark shining ruby red. The aroma is cherries, plums, a bit of mushroom earthiness and maybe a hint of smoke. The mouth feel is very full, the flavor immediately fills all areas of your mouth. It tastes of dark fruit, blackberries and  raisins, you can sense the tannins but they don’t jump out, the fruit and the tannins have a nice balance. The finish tastes of chocolate covered raisinettes candy and has good length. This is a really good wine, it has a good nose, excellent taste, nice mid palate, and a long finish, if I wasn’t so cheap I would have bought a case.

Being a cheapwinefinder isn’t just about finding the best wines priced under $20, it’s about finding the best wines in all price ranges for the least amount of money. Check to see if your local wine seller has an e-mail notification system for their sales, if you are quick you may grab some real bargains.

2006 Four Vines Old Vines Zinfandel – $12

This is another “follow the wine maker” wine. Christian Tietje (based out of Paso Robles) is something of an outlaw winemaker – he makes wine the way he wants to and does not pay a great deal of attention to tradition, and makes no apologies. He makes wines named Loco, Heretic and the Biker and is known affectionately as the “Zinbitch”.  The Old Vines Cuvee Zinfandel is his entry level red wine and he calls it the “best” deal in red wine.

Zinfandel is the American grape, most varietals come from France, Spain or Italy, but not Zinfandel. Now, I know all about how they traced this grape back to Croatia, but as they say, use it or lose it, and when’s the last time you had a Croatian Zinfandel. So, it’s our grape now, we should be using Zinfandel for making toasts on the 4th of July!

The Four Vines Old Vines Cuvee Zinfandel is sourced from vineyards all over Northern California and was aged in small French and American oak barrels. Alcohol content is listed as 14.6%, and the alcohol and the tannins are well balanced. This is a bit of a throw back Zin, big, bold and spicy. Tastes of jammy black and blue berries upfront with that nice Zin spice cutting right into all that jammy fruit.The finish has nice vanilla notes with some cola flavors. Not a good Zinfandel for the price, but a straight up real solid Zin,period. Should be widely available for around 12 bucks.

2006 Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon – $16

I am a fan of the wines made by Charles Smith Wines.  He is doing some really cool things with wine at a affordable price. This Cab is sourced from a vineyard in Columbia Valley, Washington. 85% Cabernet, 10% Malbec and 5% Cab Franc, kind of low alcohol for a Cab, only 13.5 %.

Now this is a cool climate Cabernet Sauvignon, if you are going to measure this against a Napa or Sonoma Cab you are going to be taken aback. Not oaky and with smooth tannins, tastes of black and blueberries and chocolate covered cherries. Tastes smooth, not thick, has a nice finish that is nuanced. Charles Smith says that this is not a Bordeaux wine this is a Washington wine, which I take to mean he is turning the terroir thing around on the French.

This is a Cab that would appeal to Barossa Valley Shiraz lovers. Very fruit forward, but still has some complexity. Untwist the screw-top and your ready to go.

2006 Hess Allomi Cabernet Sauvignon

Here’s a screwtop, estate-grown Cabernet out of Napa Valley that overachieves its $21 price tag. Think Larissa Ely in Cherry, Harry and Raquel (Russ Meyer, people): great body and smells like Cherry (groan). Soft taste with more cherries, plum, and chocolate with a loooooong vanilla spice finish.

And just like Larissa my bottle was gone and not heard from again. I recommend sharing a bottle with Charles Napier if you have the means.

Get it HERE, although for slightly more than I found it for in my area.

2006 Craggy Range Te Kahu

A Bordeaux blend, Merlot 58%, Cabernet Sauvignon 22%, Cabernet Franc 15% and Malbec 5%, from Craggy Range Vineyards, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. All the grapes were sourced from a single vineyard (Gimblett Gravels Vineyard).

I picked up this wine for $14.99, but on checking prices on the web I saw the Te Kahu going for as much $30. This wine would have benefitted from decanting, the nose was a little tight, though I did get dark fruit with a hint of barnyard . The color is a dark ruby red, very pretty. It tasted of intense dark berries, the tannins were kept in check and while it was aged 16 months in oak,the oak was nicely balanced. This is a wine that would improve with cellaring and with it’s elegant structure, could be put down for a decade or so. Not your typical cheapwinefinder wine.

Not a pop the top and drink it down wine. But if you have the will power to lay this wine down for a few years, you will be rewarded with an excellent wine at a very nice price.

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