Capolan 2004 Merlot

The Winery: Capolan
The Wine: 2004 Merlot
The Price: $10.99

Capolan is a Sonoma County, California winery. Their website only has a splash page, and it only advertises the 2004 Merlot. I'm unable to find any other wines, and I really don't find much information about the winery.

The 2004 Merlot is a deep burgundy in color. The wine is very watery tasting. It is wholly underwhelming. The flavor is not bad, just very understated. The wine has flavors of vanilla, blueberry and cherry with a slight pepper taste. This would be a good wine if the flavors were more pronounced, but as it is it is only okay. It is not worthy of the $10.99 price tag, and belongs more in the $5 price range. On the upside, the wine has a cool design on the label, which is the same as the background on their website.

Shingleback 2004 Shiraz

The Vineyard: Shingleback
The Wine: 2004 Shiraz
The Price: $16.99 (on sale, the regular price is $25.99)

This review is for Steve in Australia. Steve asked what I thought about Australian wines. The wines from Australia that I've had have all been decent, but I haven't ventured much beyond the mass-produced Yellow Tail. I found it interesting perusing the Australian section of wines. Strikingly different from US produced wines, most of the Australian wines that I saw have screw-tops. Shingleback has a true cork (not a synthetic cork, nor a screw-top).

This wine is very deep and dark in color. It has a well-developed, rich and complex flavor and a very smooth mouthfeel. The wine has pleasant currant and berry flavors, along with a very mild pepper flavor. This is an extremely good wine, and I highly recommend giving it a try.