2008 Groth Sauvignon Blanc – $19
September 4, 2009 by quake · Leave a Comment
While you’re out enjoying the last flings of Summer ’09 this weekend, give this beautiful Sauv Blanc out of Napa Valley a whirl in your glass. It has a rich honey color and smells like you’re cutting limes and honeydew melon on the same cutting board for some type of crazy citrus and melon sangria! Crisp and refreshing, it tastes like you licked a Green Apple Jolly Rancher – just a little – right after taking a big bite out of a freshly-picked pear.
I really like this grower. They practice sustainable farming, which is even a step further than organic farming, and have been family-owned and operated since 1981.
It’s $18.99 – try it with your BBQ chicken while you’re playing bags with your friends, or even just with your Jimmy John’s #4.
2008 Maipe Malbec
August 30, 2009 by dave · 5 Comments
Estate grown and bottled in Mendoza, Argentina, purchased for $7.99. The nose reminds me of a roadside fruit stand in the autumn during harvest, all fruit, flowers and green grass. The color is dark, rich and opaque. Alcohol content is a reasonable 13.7%. It tastes of dark fruit, plums and berries with a slight pull from the tannins in the back of your mouth. It thickly coats your mouth, this is no wimpy, watery wine. The finish is long and intense.
Did I say this wine sells for $7.99? A few years back, when I first tasted Argentinian wine they all had a “green stick” flavor that I wasn’t too fond of, but those days are long gone. This wine is not just good considering the cost, it is simply flat out good. This one’s going on Cheapwinefinder’s Top Ten Wines of 2009 list.
And you can get it here for < $10.
2006 Hess Allomi Cabernet Sauvignon
August 28, 2009 by quake · Leave a Comment
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.
2007 Yangarra Shiraz
August 25, 2009 by quake · 3 Comments
Man I love Australian wines! I have a hard time remembering the last time I had one I didn’t like. This one’s no exception. It has a real Goth feel to it – dark garnet – the color you wouldn’t want your daughter to wear when she goes out. Smells like you built a bonfire in a meadow – toasted wood and violets tease you into your first sip.
Then you take a taste – POW! It smacks you in the face with its intense, hearty dark fruits. Then as if you said the safe word, it backs off and finishes with a smooth mellow velvety texture.
The girl next to me took my advice and tried some too. She said, “The finish on this wine feels like silk lingerie slipping over my thighs”. You bet I gave her my card. Someone who enjoys wine as much as I do? And owns lingerie? And has thighs?
2007 Strong Arms Shiraz
I picked this up at a local bottle shop on sale for $9.99. This Shiraz is from R Wineries and the wine maker is Chris Ringland. WS gave the 2007 vintage 89 pts and the 2006 91 pts. Now when I have an under $10 wine, I just want it to taste good and be a decent representative of the grape varietal. The Strong Arms gave me all that and more, it’s got nice dark fruit upfront, a bit of a spicy mid-palate and a decent finish. A nicely put together wine. I was a little worried by the alcohol content as I first tasted it, but by the second or third sip it mellowed out. All in all a very nice effort for the price range. Nice label, too.
2008 Woop Woop Shiraz
August 10, 2009 by quake · 3 Comments
One of my favorite entry-level (read: cheap, as in under $10 in some places) red wines that hits you up front with intense dark fruit, mellows mid-sip into a nice black licorice, then finishes with a black peppery and spicy bang. Think Pam Grier in Foxy Brown. And just like Foxy, this wine’s almost too hot to mess with – coming in at 15% alcohol content! Take that beer drinkers who think drinking wine is wimpy.
Woop Woop is Outback slang for “the middle of nowhere”. So next time you’re looking for some bang for your buck out in the middle of BFE, I mean Woop Woop, stick with this and you won’t mind so much.
