La Marca Prosseco

The Winery:  La Marca
The Wine:  Prosseco
The Price:  $13.99 (marked down from $19.99)

As the holidays approach, I thought I would take time to review a few sparkling wines.  This is partly selfish - I like to serve sparkling white wine throughout the holiday season, so this is a great opportunity for me to sample some wines before serving them to others. 

La Marca is an Italian winery, thus it is a sparkling white, not a Champagne. The Prosseco wines are named for the grapes from which they are made.  They are generally less complex than Champagne.

The wine is a very pale straw color.  It has steady streams of bubbles bursting forth, creating a thin layer of froth on the surface of the wine.

The wine has aromas of apples, pears and peaches.  It has a very crisp apple flavor with a peach undertone.  It has a bit of a creamy feel to it.  It's a good wine, but not a great one. 

While I like this wine, and it is interesting, this one won't see my table this holiday season.  For the price of one bottle, I could pick up two bottles of more enjoyable local sparkling white wine. 

Saviah Cellars 2007 The Jack

The Winery:  Saviah Cellars
The Wine:  2007 The Jack
The Price:  $12.99 at QFC (marked down from $19.99)

Saviah Cellars is a family-owned winery in Washington's Walla Walla Valley.  They were founded in 2000, so will be celebrating their 10th anniversary next year.

The Jack is a blend of 86% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Syrah and 2% Petite Verdot.

The wine was stopped with a natural cork, and was decanted one hour before tasting. 

The Jack is very dark purple in color.  It has aromas of blackberries, cherries, vanilla and a slight hint of pepper. 

The wine is absolutely delicious.  It has a big berry flavor, with a subtle pepper finish.  While the wine would benefit from some further aging, it is very drinkable today and is a bargain at $12.99.

I must admit that I knew before sampling that I would like this wine.  That's because I recently had occasion to sample the wine and liked it quite a bit.  So I sought out a bottle that I could review.

Inkberry 2007 Shiraz Cabernet

The Winery:  Inkberry

The Wine:  2007 Shiraz Cabernet
The Price:  $10.99 at QFC (marked down from $15.99)

Inkberry is an Australian winery located in the Central Ranges, in New South Wales.

The wine, a blend of 60% Shiraz and 40% Cabernet, is a very inky purple color.  The bottle was stopped with a screw cap and was decanted an hour before sampling.

The wine has aromas of blackberry, black currant, bell pepper and black pepper.

This wine has flavors of blackberry and cherry, balanced with a mild pepper flavor.  The wine has good fruit flavors without being overly sweet.  The pepper flavor is understated and is a great counterpoint to the fruit flavors.

This is a very nice Australian wine.  It is priced higher than other Australian wines that I've had, but it is worth the few extra dollars.  While not in the premium wine category, this is far superior to the main stream Australian wines and definitely worth trying.