Concannon 2007 Petite Syrah

The Winery:  Concannon
The Wine:  Conservancy 2007 Petite Sirah
The Price:  $9.99 at Safeway

Concannon is a California winery, located on the central coast in Livermore.  The winery was built in 1883, so they've been at this a long time.  They claim that they were the first California winery to bottle Petite Sirah, more than 40 years ago.

The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork and the wine was decanted an hour before tasting.

The wine is deep purple in color.  The aroma is fairly subdued.  The predominant aroma is cherry, with hints of vanilla and leather.

The wine has flavors of cherry, blackberry and vanilla.  It's smooth and well balanced, but a bit lacking in flavor.  This wine reminds me a lot of the Chariot Gypsy that I previously reviewed, and is twice the cost.  My recommendation is to skip the Concannon and go for the Chariot.  

Sagelands 2007 Malbec

The Winery:  Sagelands Vineyard
The Wine:  2007 Malbec
The Price:  $16.99 at Safeway

Sagelands is a Washington winery, located near Walla Walla, in southeastern Washington.  The grapes from this wine are 100% Malbec, all sourced from the Wahluke Slope AVA. The bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and decanted an hour before tasting.

The wine is dark purple in color, and has aromas of blackberries and blueberries.  It is a bold, smooth wine with jammy boysenberry flavor and a pepper finish.  This is great representation of a Washington Malbec, and definitely worth .  

Snoqualmie 2007 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

The Winery:  Snoqualmie Vineyards
The Wine:  2007 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
The Price:  $18.00 at Safeway

Snoqualmie is one of those wineries that is local to me, yet I've never gotten around to reviewing their wine.  I am surrounded by so many great vineyards that I could just focus on Washington wines and never run out of wines to review. 

The wine is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.  The bottle was stopped with a natural cork and decanted 45 minutes prior to tasting.

The wine is dark purple in color and has aromas of black cherry, cassis and chocolate.  It is a big, fruity wine anchored by a black cherry flavor, accented by undertones of strawberry, cocoa and vanilla.  It's a very smooth and balanced wine, with tons of flavor.

All in all, it's a very good wine.  It's absolutely a wine worth checking out. 

2008 Evodia

The Winery:  Altovinum
The Wine:  2008 Evodia
The Price:  $9.99 at QFC

This is another wine from the Eric Solomon selection.  Eric Solomon specializes in importing Grenaches.  The last Solomon import I reviewed was 85% Grenache, 15% Syrah.  The Evodia is 100% Grenache from vineyards planted as long as 100 years ago.  The wine is from Calatayud appellation of Spain.

The wine bottle was sealed with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.

The wine is dark purple in color and has aromas of blackberries, cherries and cassis.  It is a very flavorful wine, bursting with blackberry and cherry flavors, with a bit of a vanilla undertone and a mildly peppery finish.

This is the second Eric Solomon wine I've tasted, and I must say that he really seems to know how to pick winners!  I highly recommend this one!

Mark West 2008 Pinot Noir

The Winery:  Mark West
The Wine:  2008 Pinot Noir
The Price:  $8.99 at Safeway

When I saw this ridiculously inexpensive California Pinot Noir at the store, I just knew I had to review it!  I just couldn't resist. 

Mark West is located in Sonoma County.  The only wine they make is Pinot Noir, which I think is a kind of cool approach - specializing in just one wine.  They age their wine for 8 months in French and Hungarian oak barrels before bottling.

Their website kind of sucks.  It uses unconventional navigation and most of the content is all on the home page.  It looks like it was designed by a graphic artist with no thought given to usability.  But enough about their website.  This is, after all, a wine review, not a website review.

The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork, a nice touch on such a low-priced wine.  It was decanted an hour before tasting.

The wine is medium-dark red in color with a splash of brown.  It has aromas of strawberry, vanilla and cherry.

It has berry and cherry flavors, with a touch of pepper.  It's really a decent Pinot Noir, especially at this price point.  It isn't a velvety smooth Pinot, but it also isn't a watery, thin wine like I expect from a lower end Pinot.  I'm actually pleasantly surprised at how good this wine is.  I think I'll be stocking up on this one.