2006 Nine X Nine Old Vines Lodi Zinfandel – $10

Here’s a wine fact for you, Lodi, California has a similar climate to areas along the Mediterranean Sea and the soil is comparable to the Chateauneuf du Pape region in the Rhone Valley in France. With that said, this Zin is made from grapes grown in a very traditional Lodi style. The grape vines are pruned into free standing bushes or small trees not the typical wire supports you see on most vines and are planted on a square grid nine feet away from each other in all direction, hence the Nine X Nine name. It is aged 18 months in neutral oak to soften the wine and give it a touch of vanilla, the alcohol is 14.5%.

The color is the deep dark opaque red that Zin’s are supposed to have. The nose is dark jammy fruit with a bit of alcohol coming through. It tastes of blueberries, a bit of sweet spices and a late splash of cola. The mouth feel is little watery and the tannins are there, but in the backround. The overall impression is that this is a smooth and soft wine. The finish reminds me of the old-fashioned blueberry soda they sell at Trader Joe’s.

Now, I must say I tend to like my Zinfandel’s big and bold, a little on the rough side, and this isn’t one of those Zin’s. But, it is very drinkable, it has a very pleasing flavor, if you like your wines smooth and tasty,  this one is worth a try.

2007 Byron Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir – $20

Estate bottled Pinot for $20 out of California’s Santa Maria Valley!

Winemaker Jonathan Nagy knows that Pinot Noir is a touchy grape that needs to be handled delicately in order to preserve the fragile essence of its fruit. What I thought was cool about Byron – they’ve designed their environmentally-sensitive winery from the top down, utilizing gravity rather than pumps throughout the winemaking process. They use old-world natural techniques to gently move the grapes, juice and wine along, which allows them to produce wines that are balanced, elegant, pure and true.

Their 2007 Pinot hit me with smoke ,earth and rose petals on the nose and more smoke and cherry cola on the palate. It has a nice smooth, silky and smoky finish.

Drink with salmon, pork chops, grilled chicken or a Smoke Daddy’s pulled pork sandwich.

2007 Spellbound Petite Sirah – $15

Spellbound means a lot of different things to me – there’s the Siouxsie & the Banshees song, the AC/DC song (both from ‘81), the Hitchcock movie, the Paula Abdul album. For you geeks there’s the spellchecker for Firefox and the video game. But last night, it meant nothing but this rich approachable Petite Sirah from Lodi. That’s in California, folks.

But get this – because of its simple but effective black label with a moon on it (pictured) – to the chick next to me at the bar, it meant she should enjoy some too, because it made her think of the movie “New Moon” in theaters Friday as they say (yes, she was younger, thanks for asking).

It’s murky crimson like a Romanian lake and on the nose reminds you of, well same said lake. Actually, she said it reminded her of her home aquarium when she opens the lid to feed the fish.

Up front, this wine has  some nice structure – decent backbone and supple tannins. The mid-palate is “floaty” and hovers at the top of your mouth, but then the finish disappears like a vampire in a Polaroid.

Mondavi’s grandson Rob is the vampire behind this line. Drink it with pizza, steak (stake, get it?) or turkey chili. And drink it with your vampire or werewolf friends.

2005 Fife Max Cuvee California Red Wine – $7

I picked up this Zinfandel Blend at Trader Joe’s, I tried to find some information about the Max Cuvee on the internet and found nothing. Fife made a Napa Max Cuvee in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but  their website makes no mention of a 2005 vintage. So there is something up with this Zinfandel, Syrah, Sangiovese and Petite Syrah blend, nobody puts 4 years of bottle age on a wine to sell it for only 7 bucks. It’s also aged in French oak, which is the most expensive of all the oak used for wine barrels. The sign above the wine at Trader Joe’s said it was sourced from Mendocino County, but the label only says California. So what’s the story with the Max Cuvee?

Nice dark ruby red color, just what you would expect for a Zin blend. The nose was a little tight and oaky, the first sip was all tannins and oak, everything was happening in the back of my mouth, no fruit upfront. Had to sit it down for awhile to let it open up, decanting this wine would be a wise move. After it opened up, the fruit came out and balanced out the tannins and oak, much better. Nice chewy dark fruit and lots of spice with a little hit of oak in the back.The more this opens up, the better it tastes, don’t rush this wine. The finish is not huge but it does linger awhile with a vanilla cola flavor. All in all, a real nice bottle of wine for seven dollars. I don’t think they ever meant to sell this for $7 bucks, but their loss is our gain, so enjoy.

UPDATE : Fife Winery’s has been sold and these Trader Joe’s Fife Wines are made from juice leftover from the old owners. I don’t know if the leftover wine was ever intended to be made into Fife label wines or were intended to be sold off to other labels. But I am sure they never intended to sell these wines for $7.

2007 Hey Mambo Red Blend – $10

No offense to Lee Meriwether or Eartha Kitt, but my “purrfect” Catwoman was Julie Newmar. Meowing in that leather outfit, she simply purred sultriness.

Just like this “Zorked“* wine! A blend of Syrah, Barbera, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Malbec, and Alicante Bouschet, she bills herself as the “Sultry Red” and has notes of Catwoman’s leather on the nose as well as dark fruit and tobacco.

And just like Julie back in the day, this wine is soft, silky, supple and intense. She stays with you for a long time after feeding you dark berries, cassis, black pepper and spices. She will intoxicate you as well with her 13.5% alcohol content.

Drink her in with some pizza, burgers, pasta or turkey chili.

*Zork: an alternative wine closure that seals like a screw cap and pops like a cork.

2006 Cambria Pinot Noir – $17

I heard about this 93 point California Pinot Noir from a wine.com newsletter and had high hopes. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet the high expectations I had from the Wine Enthusiast rating. It’s very rare that you find a highly-rated Pinot Noir under $20. Usually the high ratings on Pinot cause the price to go straight up.

I picked up some cherry and orange flavors. This Pinot out of Santa Maria Valley had decent texture to it but it also carried some sour and burnt flavors that I didn’t care for. The bottom line on this wine is to not be carried away by the rating. In my book it didn’t match up.