2007 Redmond Ranch Syrah
Name: Redmond Ranch
Type: Red
Grape: Syrah
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: 2007
Producer: Amala Springs
Price: $10.00
This is another bottle I got from the Groupon deal. It’s a dense, deep color almost like motor oil. The aroma is earthy with leather and plum scents. For a wine that promises to be so big, it’s very smooth and round. It’s also not very complex which isn’t what I expected. It’s sort of a crowd-pleasing, easy to like Syrah. I get why they would choose that for a wine club but it’s not what I look for in a Syrah.
Villa Fassini Sangiovese-Cabernet Sauvignon
Name: Villa Fassini
Type: Red
Grape: Blend
Origin: Italy
Year: 2008
Producer: C. Campagna Gello
Price: $7.00
I like Italian wines, they are generally decent quality and easy to appreciate. This one has a classy looking bottle, especially at such a low price. It has a subdued aroma with blueberry and blackberry scents. The flavor leaves a bit to be desired though. It’s just a little too boring. There are some berry flavors with some tartness on the short finish. It’s smooth but rather thin, with a lightweight mouth feel for Sangiovese and Cabernet.
2008 Irony Pinot Noir
Name: Irony Pinot Noir
Type: Red
Grape: Pinot Noir
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: 2008
Producer: Irony Wine Cellars
Price: $11.99
This bottle has one of those fat bottles that is hard to fit in my wine cooler, minor complaint. It often happens with Shiraz for some reason but not too much with Pinot Noir. It’s a nice looking bottle though. It has a sweet aroma, perhaps of black cherry, very nice. The mouth feel is a bit thin, something I often find with low priced Pinot Noir. Otherwise it’s berries and tannins. More tannins than I expected. It’s not a well-balanced wine and not a great example of Pinot Noir but I find it generally enjoyable anyway. Maybe I’m drinking too many low end wines these days…
2009 Ca’Stella Pinot Grigio
Name: Ca’Stella Pinot Grigio
Type: White
Grape: Pinot Grigio
Origin: Italy
Year: 2009
Producer: Ca’Stella
Price: $9.99
This one held some promise because it’s a Pinot Grigio, which I often like, from the Friuli region of Italy, which I also often like. And the bottle has a screw top, which I always like. The color is very pale yellow, a typical hue for Pinot Grigio. It has a crisp citrus aroma, primarily of lemon. The flavor is clean and dry with tart fruit flavors and some mineral notes. Not bad and pretty refreshing on a day like today but it’s a little dull overall compared to some of my favorite Pinot Grigios like Kris.
2005 Colle dei Venti Pecorino
Name: Colle dei Venti Pecorino
Type: White
Grape: Pecorino
Origin: Italy
Year: 2005
Producer: Colle dei Venti
Price: $11.99
This is a new grape for me, I’ve never had Pecorino before. It’s a traditional Italian grape, so named because the grape cluster resembles the head of a sheep. It has very distinct characteristics, well, this one does anyway. The color is a dark yellow, not a color you see often in wine. It also has a strong aroma, mostly of honey. The flavor isn’t nearly as sweet as the aroma promises, I think I’d describe it as off-dry. A little sweetness but not much. There is some acidity and somewhat less than ripe fruit on the flavor. It’s a very interesting wine, not really complex, but interesting. Not like much else I’ve had. My only real problem with it was that it attracted flies like, well, flies. I had to dig several out of my glass at various points.
2009 Redtree Moscato
Name: Redtree Moscato
Type: White
Grape: Moscato
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: 2009
Producer: Cecchetti Wine Company
Price: $8.99
I’m a sucker for a sweet wine so I saw this on sale and went for it. It’s a screw top too, which never hurts (IMHO). Has the color of a Pinot Grigio, looks like it in the bottle too, if you weren’t paying attention you’d mistake it for one. The smell is all Moscato though, apricot in full. It’s a bit sweet and definitely fruity, also apricot primarily, though not as sweet as other Moscatos I’ve had. The flavor also quickly turns a bit more tart and drab towards the quick, crisp finish. It’s not a bad wine overall but it’s not the best Moscato I’ve had by quite a stretch.
Big House Red (3L Box)
Name: Big House Red (3L Box)
Type: Red
Grape: Blend
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: 2009
Producer: Big House Wine Co.
Price: $16.99
There is much to like about this everyday red. Let’s start with the environment. This box wine comes in an octagonal cardboard container (which they call the Octavin Home Wine Bar, I love marketers) which they claim reduces packaging waste by 92 percent and carbon emissions by 55 percent vs. traditional bottles. So we’re off to a good start already. As box wine goes, it’s a nice looking package too. The octagonal shape is also less awkward and has a smaller footprint on the counter than most. My only complaint is the spout, it’s more difficult to use than others I’ve seen.
The wine itself is a combination of 14 different grapes, everything but the kitchen sink basically. It has a nice purplish hue and a strong aroma of fruit and subtle spice. The flavor is smooth, round and inoffensive in any way. It even matures on the palate and shows some tannins before the medium finish. All in all it’s the best box wine I’ve ever had by a decent margin. Recommended.
2005 Z-52 Agnes Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel
Name: Z-52 Agnes Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel
Type: Red
Grape: Zinfandel
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: 2005
Producer: Z-52
Price: $11.00
I got this bottle of wine along with half a dozen others from a site called Wine Insiders. I got a special deal on Groupon for this site so the prices were better than usual but I’m listing the normal price. Every time I’ve tried a wine club (about 3 times now) I’ve been fairly unimpressed with the quality of the wines. I happened to order 2 bottles of this wine because I like Zin and the first bottle was an atrocity. I opened the second bottle to be sure and it’s normal so the first one was either corked or heat damaged. I was plotting my worst review ever and then learned this, which I’ll admit was kind of a let down.
This Zinfandel has a potent aroma of tart, dark fruit. It’s smooth, with a medium-weight mouth feel and flavors of berries, cherry and a bit of black pepper. There are subdued tannins on the short-ish finish. Overall it’s inoffensive and uni-dimensional. More or less what I expect from a wine club. It’s not bad it’s just not particularly interesting. That’s also what I expect from a Zinfandel in this price range but you can get plenty of wine like this without paying for shipping.
Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz
Name: Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz
Type: Red
Grape: Shiraz
Origin: South Africa
Year: 2009
Producer: Cape Classics
Price: $9.99
I have a sweet tooth, there’s no getting around it. I don’t even try to deny it anymore. So when I see a wine that I know I like such as Shiraz, along with the adjective “sweet,” I have to try it. So it was with Jam Jar. The name even sounds sweet. And if you like sweet wines it’s kind of a treat. It’s pretty darn sweet, bordering on dessert wine territory. It even has a sweet aroma, sort of like blueberry pie filling. The flavor has a lot of berry flavors, most notably blueberry and blackberry. It has a weighty mouthfeel and I detect some tannins on the finish. It’s not for everyone but if you’re a fellow Shiraz lover with a sweet tooth I’d give it a try.
Tisdale White Zinfandel
Name: Tisdale White Zinfandel
Type: Rose
Grape: White Zinfandel
Origin: U.S. – California
Year: Non-vintage
Producer: Tisdale Vineyards
Price: $4.00
White Zinfandel is crap. That’s my opinion. I’ve never had a white zin that I liked in any way. This one is no different and I think it will be my last. If you think you know of one, cheap or not, that isn’t crap let me know and I’ll try it. Otherwise I’m done. This rose crap smells like rotten cherries and tastes like kool-aid spiked with cheap vodka. Yuck.