Woodinville Wine Cellars 2006 Syrah Columbia Valley

The Winery: Woodinville Wine Cellars
The Wine: 2006 Syrah Columbia Valley
The Price: $30 at Jack Cellars

I'd never had any wine from Woodinville Wine Cellars until a recent tasting at Jack Cellars. All of the wines they were pouring were very good. I particularly enjoyed the 2006 Indomitable, which I may review soon if I don't crack it open before getting around to reviewing it.

The 2006 Syrah Columbia Valley was stopped with a natural cork, and was decanted an hour before tasting.

This is a very dark red wine. One of the darker wines that I've encountered. The wine has aromas of blackberry, prune and blueberry. The wine has big fruit flavors of blackberry and plum with a slight hint of blueberry and a barely perceptible mint flavor. It has a definite pepper taste, typical of Syrah, but it's not overdone.

This is an excellent wine, well worth the price.

Recession Review: Gazela Vinho Verde

The Winery: Gazela
The Wine: Vinho Verde
The Price: $5.99 at QFC.

Gazela is a Portuguese winery. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any information on the winery.

I was able to dig up a little of information on the Vinho Verde varietal. These wines are made in Northern Portugal, in the Minho region. The term Vinho Verde literally means green wine.

The wine is was capped with a screw top. Opening the wine, I was surprised to hear the tell-tale whoosh of a sparkling wine. It's a very, very light carbonation. Had I read up on Vinho Verde before opening the bottle, I would have known that that is typical of the varietal.

The wine is an extremely pale straw color, very nearly clear. It has aromas of honey and pineapple.

It's a very bland wine. The flavor is almost nonexistent. It has a slight pineapple flavor, with a hint of pear. I don't dislike it, but it really lacks flavor and the bubbles are so few as to be nearly absent. It's almost like taking a box of cheap wine and cutting it with sparkling water.

Greg Norman Estates Limestone Coast 2006 Cabernet Merlot

The Winery: Greg Norman Estates
The Wine: Limestone Coast 2006 Cabernet Merlot
The Price: $11.99 at Costco

This winery is one of golfer Greg Norman's many endeavors. You can check out his other ventures at www.shark.com.

This wine is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Merlot, both from Australia.

The wine was stopped with a natural cork. It is a very deep, dark red wine. It has aromas of blackberries, clove and cherry.

This is a fairly big, fruity wine. It has bold cherry and berry flavors with a pepper and clove finish.

This is and impressive wine for the price. It would probably improve with age, but is perfectly drinkable now.

Columbia Crest 2007 H3 Chardonnay

The Winery: Columbia Crest
The Wine: 2007 H3 Chardonnay
The Price: I don't usually do this, but I ended up buying two bottles of this wine at two different stores. First I bought a bottle a Safeway for $12.99, marked down from $22.99. Then I found a bottle at Costco for $10.99. So naturally I next checked to see how much Columbia Crest is charging for the wine online - $14.99.

The wine is medium yellow in color, and the bottle was stopped with a natural cork.

The wine has aromas of pineapple, pear and vanilla. It has flavors of pineapple, vanilla and coconut (no, it doesn't taste like a Pina Colada), with a bit of a bite on the finish. This is a very good wine. I wouldn't pay the $22.99 that Safeway claims is the regular price, but if you can get it for $15 or less, it's definitely worth it. This may be the best Chardonnay that I've ever sampled.

Recession Review: Blason de Bourgogne 2007 Pinot Noir

The Winery: Blason de Bourgogne
The Wine: 2007 Pinot Noir
The Price: $7.99 at Trader Joe's

If it's not abundantly clear by the name, Blason de Bourgongne is a French winery.

The bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and was decanted an just shy of an hour before the review. This wine is much lighter in color than other Pinot Noirs that I've encountered. I would say it's roughly half as dark as the typical Pinot Noir.

The wine has aromas of strawberry jam and cherry. It's a pretty bland wine. It has a bit of a strawberry jam flavor, a bit of a cherry flavor, and too much pepper flavor.

The problem with this wine isn't the flavor. It's the lack of flavor. It's far too watery. The flavor that comes through is good. There's just not enough of it.

At $8, I'd pass on this and find a truly decent $8 wine.

Fire Road 2008 Sauvignon Blanc

The Winery: Fire Road
The Wine: 2008 Sauvignon Blanc
The Price: $9.99 at Central Market

Fire Road is a New Zealand winery. I don't recall ever reviewing, or even sampling, a wine from New Zealand.

The wine was stopped with a screw cap. It is a very light colored wine, with aromas of apple, grass and a hint of mint. The wine has flavors of flavors of apple, honey and, again, that hint of mint.

This is a really good wine. It's a perfect wine to savor on the porch on a hot summer day. It would pair very nicely with mild fish or a refreshing salad.

This first foray into the wines of New Zealand was a great experience. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they have to offer.

Lowden Hills 2005 See You There Syrah

The Winery: Lowden Hills Winery
The Wine: 2005 See You There Syrah
The Price: $25 at Jack Cellars

I went to a tasting a Jack Cellars on Saturday. Jim Henderson was pouring his wines this week. I enjoyed them all, and purchased my favorite to review. My second favorite was probably the Lowden Clear Riesling - an off-dry Riesling. While I'm not reviewing it here, it's worth a taste if you get a chance.

Jim Henderson seems like a great guy. Total confession here - I talked with him without letting him know that I review wines. In the event that the wine was horrible, I didn't want him asking for my opinion. And I find vintners to be much more friendly and approachable if they don't know that I do reviews. Anyway, I liked Jim and found him to be a pretty nice guy. And he wore a very brilliant Hawaiian shirt, so you had no chance of missing him.

I'm not normally a huge Syrah guy. When I sampled this originally, I didn't really think of it as a Syrah. It's much more fun than most of the other the Syrah's I've tasted.

Lowden stops their bottles with natural cork. The wine was decanted an hour before tasting.

This Syrah is a very dark purple wine. It has aromas of blueberry and coffee. This is a big, huge, fruity wine. It is bursting with blueberry flavor, with a carmelly, coffee finish. It is absolutely wonderful. It is great, and I don't see any value to cellaring it away. Buy it. Drink it. It's fantastic.

Recession Review: Protocolo 2006 Tinto

The Winery: Protocolo
The Wine: 2006 Tinto
The Cost: $7.99 at Central Market

Protocolo is one of the lines from Dominio De Eguren. The winery, founded in 1870, is located in Northern Spain.

The wine was stopped with a synthetic cork, and was decanted about one hour before tasting. The wine is made from 1oo% Tempranillo grapes.

The wine is a deep purple color with aromas of molasses, pepper and berry, with a fairly pungent alcohol aroma.

This tastes salty. I don't recall ever encountering a salty wine before. Besides salt, the wine has flavors of cherry and berry with a pepper finish.

The wine is not bad. Actually, it's pretty good Especially for the price. I'm just perplexed by the salty flavor. It is unexpected and adds an interesting depth to the wine.

Recession Review: BV Coastal Estates 2007 Chardonnay

The Winery: BV (Beaulieu Vineyard) Coastal Estates
The Wine: 2007 Chardonnay
The Price: $7.99 at QFC (marked down from $11.99)

BV is a Califonia winery. They've always struck me at one of those mega-producers that is focused on quantity over quality. This may be the first BV wine I've ever sampled. I don't recall ever having it before.

To my surprise, the wine was sealed with a natural cork. So we're off to a good start. The wine is a hair towards the yellow side.

The Chardonnay has aromas of apple and pear. It has a creamy texture to it and has flavors of apple, pear and vanilla. It's a dry wine with fairly decent flavor. It's an average Chardonnay for the price.

Ruffino Il Ducale 2006 Toscano

The Winery: Ruffino
The Wine: Il Ducale 2006 Tuscano
The Price: $17.99 at Albertson's (Marked down from $22.99)

If you can't tell by the name, Ruffino is an Italian winery, located in Tuscany. They are celebrating their 130th anniversary, so I'd imagine that they probably have this whole wine making thing down by now.

This wine is a blend of Sangiovese (60%), Merlot (20%) and Syrah (20%). It was sealed with a natural cork, and was decanted just over an hour before tasting.

The wine is is a very dark burgundy in color and has aromas of blackberry, currant and cherry. This is a nice wine. It has bold fruit flavors of berry and prune with a subtle bite to it. It has a nice texture. and the flavors have blended well. It would be better with further aging, I would think, but it's certainly drinkable now.