2008 Black Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon – $9

Sometimes, supermarket wines rise above their humble origins and really deliver the goods. There is nothing about the Black Ridge Cab that leads you to believe it is anything but average, that is until you taste it. But here it is, a nice real Cabernet Sauvignon for under 10 bucks.

Blended with a little Cabernet Franc and Petite Sirah, this wine has black cherry and cassis flavors with an oaky rich finish. Steak and roast lamb would be a perfect fit.

2007 A to Z Night & Day Southern Crossing Red Blend

35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 20% Syrah, 10% Sangiovese, 4% Grenache and 4% Cabernet Franc all sourced from vineyards in the Rouge Valley of Southwestern Oregon. The wine is aged in French oak barrels, A to Z’s website does not specify the length of time the Night & Day was aged, but says the wine should continue to improve for the next 5 to 10 years. 13.5% alcohol content.

Really dark opaque red. The nose is cherries, plums, dark chocolate, cigars and vanilla. Complicated and good tasting, Ripe red fruit, then cocoa powder, followed by black and blueberries, oak spice and creamy vanilla hits at the mid-palate. A long, long finish of blueberry and vanilla.

A talented Winemaker can take good grapes and blend them into a final product that is far better than the individual ingredients. The A to Z Night  & Day Southern Crossing, a bit of a long winded name, is an expertly made, well balanced, yummy wine. This would pair very well with a nice bacon wrapped filet.

The A to Z website has a list of local distributors, if you would like to find the Night & Day Southern Crossing in your area.

http://www.atozwineworks.com/distributors.html

2005 Conn Creek Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon $19

The majority of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are sourced from Conn Creek’s Collins Vineyard in Napa, with grapes from 8 other Napa sub regions rounding out the mix. 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 4% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot. The wine is aged for 26 months in 40% new and 60% 1 year old French oak Barrels. Alcohol content is 14.8%. 30,000 cases produced.

Dark burgundy red in color. The nose is more vegetable than fruit, green pepper dominates, and then flowers along with oak. This is no fruit forward wine, blackberry, figs, prunes with cocoa powder and oak spice. The tannins and the oak are evident but not out of balance. A lengthy tart berry finish.

A dark brooding wine, European in style, not the fruit driven Cabernet’s you usually see in this price range. A well made wine with quality Napa fruit, that is a change of pace from the usual wine available for under $20.

2008 Marquis Philips Sarah’s Blend $13

This one is a little complicated, Marquis Philips was a collaboration between American Dan Philips and the Australian husband and wife winemaking team of Sparky and Sarah Marquis. Sarah and Sparky broke away to start their own project, Mollydooker (Aussie slang for a lefty) Wines and Dan Philips brought in Chris Ringland to take over the winemaking duties. Chris and Dan’s many wines are produced under the R Wines label, but the Marquis Philips brand had an excellent reputation and a strong following, so those wines continue, but without Sparky and Sarah Marquis. Chris Ringland, though, continues to do right by this line of wines.

The Sarah’s Blend is 63% Shiraz, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, all sourced from the McLaren Vale Region of South Australia. Aged for 12 months in French and American oak, the alcohol content is 16% (in Australia the alcohol content listed on the label only has to be within 1 1/2% of the actual alcohol content, so this could be as high as 17 1/2%). The 2008 vintage received 91 points in Wine advocate and the previous 7 vintages each received at least 90 pts. So this has been a consistently excellent value priced wine.

Deep dark opaque crimson in color. Interesting nose, fig newtons, dark fruit and a light scent of freshly mowed grass. A big mouth feel, viscous, milky, the flavors burst into your mouth. A very rich taste, chocolate milk, raspberry jam, a touch of vanilla and fresh blueberries in cream. The blueberries and cream continue on to the finish and slowly fade away. The tannins are silky smooth and well integrated. A luscious tasting red blend, this is a wine you can sit back and drink with friends or will pair well with beef or pork.

P.S. The animal on the label is a Roogle, which is a combination of the Australian Kangaroo or Roo and the American Eagle.

2005 Erasmo Vina La Reserva de Caliboro

Estate grown and bottled in the Maule Valley Region of Chile (The Maule Valley is near the epicenter of the recent earthquake). A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 30% Merlot, this is the classic blend of the French Bordeaux grapes, but grown in Chile, under the direction of Francesco Marone Cinzano, a top Italian producer. Aged 18 months in French Oak barriques (barrels to you and me), the Erasmo has aging potential and should continue to improve for several years. The grapevines  were imported to Chile from France especially for this project.

The color is black cherry with a light red halo. Loads of spice on the nose, dark ripe fruit, dusty autumn leaves and whiffs of oak. A light mouth feel, but big on flavor. The first taste to hit your tongue is ripe blackberries, blueberries and silky french vanilla, and then you feel/sense the tannins at the back of your mouth. A huge, long lasting finish of cherries, tea and butterscotch. Still a young wine, with a nice firm structure. This is a wine that you want to buy several bottles of, drink one now, another in a couple of years, and another in a few more years. The tannins will soften and the level of flavors will become more complex with the passage of time. The Erasmo has a classy sophisticated flavor now and will pair well with steaks and chops.

Wine Courtesy of Palm Bay Imports

CheapWineFinder’s Expedition Into The Bordeaux Grand Cru Jungle

Cheapwinefinder somehow got invited to the Chicago stop on the 2007 Vintage Grands Crus de Bordeaux Trade Tasting Tour. You would have thought they would have noticed our name and said “these guys really don’t belong here”, but we managed to get in.

In talking to “Wine People” before the event we kept hearing that the 2007 vintage was nothing special and that the makers of the highest rated wines didn’t make the trip. Everyone we spoke to was blasé about the whole event, like it was every day you get to taste 75 Grand Cru Bordeaux wines.

We were not blasé, we ran into the tasting room like puppy dogs wagging their tails, we were kids in the candy store. But I have to admit to tasting fatigue, all the red Grand Crux wines are blends of 3 or 4 grapes, with either Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon in the lead and Cabernet Franc as the other main grape. The wines were all variations on a theme, really good variations on a theme, but after awhile the wines start to taste very similar. Now, our efforts to try to taste every single red wine in the room might have had something to do with our palates giving out. Maybe there is something to having too much of a good thing.

As we started to wear down and wear out at the very end of the tasting, we were rejuvenated when as the room lights were being flicked off and on to signal the end of the show, the representative from Chateau Pape Clement handed us a bottle of Red wine and a bottle of White wine to take home. We were like kids that had just won the bean bag toss at the grade school fun fair, we left with our trophy’s proudly on display.

So, what did we learn about Grand Cru Bordeaux Wine? Well, it’s really excellent stuff, made to the highest standards. Several of the Chateau’s upon seeing our name-tags told us that they do have a second line brand of wine, all sourced from their vineyard, that was in the cheapwinefinder price range. Grand Cru is out of this websites’ reach, but Bordeaux wines can be affordable. You know there is alot of good wines out there, just waiting for us to discover them.

2006 Santa Rita Medalla Real Cabernet Sauvignon – $16

This review is by request and a good request it is. The Santa Rita is rated #57 out of 100 Top Wines of 2009 by Wine Spectator. This Cab is from a single Estate in the Alto Jahuel region of the Maipo Valley in Chile. It is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels. 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, the alcohol level is 14.6%.

The color is a deep dark, slightly see thru ruby red, just like a Cabernet Sauvignon should look like. The nose is interesting, Fig Newtons and spice drops and toast with jam. Vanilla from the oak is very prominent on the palate, and then the dark fruit kicks in. Kind of an oily mouth feel, it really has the flavor stick to your mouth. The finish is chocolate cream mints and the finish does go on for awhile. It has a lot of tannins, but not out of balance, you can feel the tannins in the back of your palate, but it is smooth not a jolt. The taste changes as the wine opens up, different levels of tastes, just like the expensive wines. A very nice, serious  wine.

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 Bombing Range Red – $16

A Washington State red blend, mostly Cabernet (78%), Cab Franc (10%), Syrah (8%) and Mourvedre (4%) ($16). Small production wine from McKinley Springs Winery. A very tasty wine, lots of dark ripe fruit, soft and smooth. Starts out like a California Cab then mellows out, soft tannins, no sharp edges. Not a “wow” more like a “nice” wine, and there is nothing wrong with that. Not widely distributed, but worth trying if you can find it.