JAQK Cellars 2006 22 Black Cabernet Sauvignon

The Winery: JAQK Cellars
The Wine: 2006 22 Black Cabernet Sauvignon
The Price: $28 at Jack Cellars

I picked up this wine because I thought it was funny that my local wine shop, Jack Cellars, was selling wine made by JAQK Cellars.  Yes, I am easily amused.

According to their website, Jaqk Cellars is a new winery.  I'm not seeing when they were founded, but it appears that 2006 is their first vintage.  The founders enjoy gaming, and their wines have a gambling theme to them (hence the spelling of JAQK - Jack, Ace, Queen, King). 

The 2006 22 Black Cabernet Sauvignon is comprised of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and 3% Malbec.  The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and decanted an hour before sampling. 

The wine is dark purple in color and has aromas of cherry, blackberry, cassis and blueberry. 

It's a very fruity and smooth wine.  It has flavors of cherry, blackberry and blueberry with a mild pepper finish.  The wine has a very deep and well balanced flavor.  It's remarkably good!  I highly recommend getting your hands on a bottle of this one! 

Cline 2009 Mourvèdre Rosé

The Winery:  Cline
The Wine:  2009 Mourvèdre Rosé
The Price:  $11 at PCC. 

Since warmer summer weather is here, I thought it would be a good time to review a rosé.  This wine jumped out at me because I don't recall ever seeing a rosé made from mourvèdre before.  Being a fan of mourvèdre, I was compelled to give this a try.

Cline is a California winery, with the grapes being grown in Contra Costa county.  The winery was founded in 1982 by Fred Cline.  They specialize in crafting Rhône-style wines, and have made several 90+ point wines.


Although it doesn't appear so in the photo of the bottle, this wine is a bit darker than other rosés I've sampled.  It has almost a brownish cast to the color.

The wine has aromas of strawberry, plum and aged Scotch.

It's a very smooth and fruity wine with flavors of strawberry, cherry, plum and cranberry.  I was concerned that the Scotch aroma meant that the wine would have strong alcohol flavor, but it doesn't.  This is a very good rosé, one of the best I've ever tasted!  It's a very refreshing wine; perfect for enjoying on a warm summer evening.