What can I say – a perfect Chardonnay.
The aromas are creamy butter, with an emphasis on the cream and there is also a touch of pear or peach.
In the mouth, it is quite elegant. The creaminess continues with some light fruit and a nice touch of minerals.
A very long finish turns to a bit of spice, with a little touch of cinnamon.
Very nice indeed.
2001 Whitehall Lane Napa Merlot $26
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
There was a touch of acetate in the nose, but it wasn’t objectionable. The taste was nice and the finish had nice smoke and tobacco. If I have to drink a Merlot, this one would be one of my top choices.
2001 Provenance Rutherford Napa Cabernet Sauvignon $25
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
The one note that I have for this one says there is a lot of alcohol in this one. I liked it a lot, and it scored high on my sheet.
2000 Chateau Ronan Red Bordeaux $15
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
Someone said “barnyard†and we immediately said “Bordeaux.†This wine tied my highest score for the night. I would buy this one.
2002 Blackjack Ranch Double Down Syrah $9
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
Okay, our table totally blew guessing what this one was, and we really hated it. Most of the room liked this one, and one person told me that they thought this was “quite interesting.†So that being said, this wine got my worst score for the evening. I smelled chlorine, wet dog, cardboard and mustiness. (I don’t think it was corked.) I thought the taste was fair, and the finish horrible. I think that it would be fair for me to try this one again as I thought there was something wrong with it.
2003 Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel $13
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
I was embarrassed that I missed this one, as I have some in my cooler, and recently visited the Seghesio winery. The appearance was fantastic, the aroma includes nice dark cherry and a hint of chocolate. The taste and texture are perfect. I would have liked to have some spice in the finish. This is very nice and among my top scorers for the evening.
2002 Casanova di Neri Rosso di Montalcino $20
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
A bit of brown in the color, but the aroma had very nice tobacco and black cherries. I really liked this one. This was one of my favorites of the evening.
2002 Greg Norman Limestone Coast Shiraz $12
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
There was a touch of brown in this one, which may have been a sign of age. Nice aroma with a touch of cherries and leather. There is nice spice in the finish.
2004 Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc $15
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
Very clear, someone at the table said that they smelled pine. The flavors included apricot and finished with green apple. My guess was that this was Bonny Doon’s Ca del Sol Big House White. That was a decent guess, as I had never tasted this one before.
1999 Tavigny les Beaune White Burgandy $20
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
Nice color, very clear. Honeydew aroma, don’t care for the taste. It has a strong lemon taste in the finish. I was tempted to say that this wine was flawed. After finding out what it was, I decided that this was the style of the wine.
2003 Chateau Souverain Sonoma County Chardonnay $11
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
Very clear golden color. Pear was the main aroma, with a touch of toasted oak. In the mouth, I noticed a lot of acid and little fruit. Decent.
2002 Mission St Vincent White Bordeaux $11
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
Beautiful appearance, earthy or mineral aromas, a touch of grapefruit in the taste and a touch of lime in the aftertaste. I wrote in my notes that I didn’t care for it.
2002 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Kabinett Riesling $7
Blind tasting notes – no knowledge of varietal, appellation or vintage.
Nice appearance, very clean aroma sweet taste and a nice aftertaste. For the price this is a nice Riesling.
This one has a lovely mellow gold color and it is very clear. I smell nice tropical fruit, somewhere between mango and papaya. There is also a rich butter aroma. The flavor starts with intense butter with a touch of minerals and finishes with a touch of heat. The intense butter flavor lingers on long after swallowing. This is quite nice
Toasted Head’s web site is http://toastedhead.com/ (but turn off your pop-up blocker if you want to get to information about the wine).
This one is a nice, clear, pale yellow with a clear ring around the outside of the glass.
There is a big vanilla-butterscotch aroma with just a hint of pear. In the mouth, this one is very creamy or buttery. The toasted oak is not over powering. The fruit flavors are there, but I’m having trouble deciding which ones…Perhaps a touch of papaya or mango?
The finish is very nice and has and almost has a hint of orange flavor in it.
My impression when I first opened this was that this was nothing special and I vacuvin’d it and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Now it is very nice. The oak is not over-bearing like most California Chardonnays. It is well-balanced and has an interesting taste curve. It starts out mild, but then builds intensely in the middle and mellows back out with a nice long finish. After the middle builds, there is a touch of pepper, but not too much.
I don’t remember what I paid for this one, but I’d buy it again if it is not too expensive.
I did this one back in October. It is worth mentioning again.
I think that I paid less than $15 for this one. It has a lot of what the more expensive ones are known for. A lot of vanilla, butter, oak (probably French oak), a touch of minerals. I really like this one. I had it with a salad that contained greens, tomatoes, onions, carrots, dried blueberries (I’m glad that I had some!), topped with some kosher beef brisket (that was stewed in yesterday’s Buckeley’s Shiraz along with some white potatoes, carrots, onion and spices.)
This is very nice.
A lot of fruit in the nose. Very pleasant. And then a lot of what you like in an Australian Shiraz. A touch of pepper, a bit of red fruit, somewhere between raspberry and plum. This goes well with a nice roast beef or even perhaps a little dark chocolate.
I remember with fondness, the 1999. This is almost as nice, and definitely worth buying if you need to fill in a couple of bottles to make a full case.
This one was a gift from my wife; rumor has it the price is around $28.
As Cabs go, this one is on the weaker side. Medium body, clear light garnet in color with a minty nose maybe a touch of tobacco. The palate is fruity, maybe some cherry and a bit of something spicy (clove?) but not a lot. The mint comes back on the finish as well as that touch of tobacco. It went well with the flank steak and portobello mushroom, but beleive it or not it became a bit sour with dark chocolate. Not what you would expect from a Cab. Remember, I did say it was on the weaker side.
Did I enjoy it? Yeah, but at $28 I don’t think it warrants a return purchase. There are just too many bigger and better Cabs out there.
2001 Joseph Phelps Le Mistral $18
“Inspired by the great red wine blends of the Rhône Valley†– maybe, but I say the Rhône Valley could learn a couple of things from this one.
Check the wine maker’s notes. This one is a blend of six different varietals, each contributing to the big bold taste of this wine.
I hate it when I come across a single bottle in a wine store where the little shelf card describes a wine in such a way that I can’t resist trying it. My rule is to buy two bottles of something that I haven’t tried before – one for right now, and the other for later if it is really nice. I’m guessing that I won’t see this one again – a shame.
This wine is a very dark purple. The aroma is a very concentrated black cherry. Nice fruit flavors, ripe but not too ripe, and the taste curve is perfectly balanced for my palette. There is a touch of spice, and the finish is very nice.
2003 Woop Woop South Eastern Australian Shiraz $9
I dare you to try to find something that won’t go with this one!
This is a very dark purple, very aromatic, very well-balanced wine. Given the price, you can’t go wrong.
The wine is very dark purple, but it is also very clear. The legs are very nice. So there is going to be a little heat in this one.
There are tons of berry aromas here the most prevalent I believe is plum and I think it is blackberry that is holding that up.
With the first taste, I did a “WOW!†There is a lot of fruit, but there is also a lot of spice. I had to check the receipt again. This one is normally $10, but I used it to help fill out a case so I could get the 10% case discount. I now wish that I’d filled all of the empty slots with this one.
I tried it with spicy food, dark chocolate and even some Newberry Springs, California Pistachios from Kevin and Vonnie’s pistatio farm.