Gran Oristan Gran Reserva 2000 Red Wine

The Winery:  Gran Oristan
The Wine:  Gran Reserva 2000 Red Wine
The Price:  $11.89 at Safeway

Gran Oristan is a Spanish winery, with the grapes sourced from the La Mancha Denominación de Origen.  The wine is a blend of 65% Tempranillo and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The wine is aged in American and French Oak for 24 months before bottling.  The bottle was sealed with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.

The wine is dark red in color.  It has aromas of black cherry, prune, vanilla and blackberry.  It floods the palate with flavors of blackberry and cherry with a slight bite of pepper on the finish.  For under $12, this is a fantastic wine!

Columbia Crest 2009 Horse Heaven Hills Merlot

The Winery:  Columbia Crest
The Wine:  2009 Horse Heaven Hills Merlot
The Price:  $12.99 at Safeway

Those who regularly read my reviews may have noticed that I don't usually review Merlot.  That's because I'm really not much of a Merlot fan.  But this wine was recommended by a wine seller recently, so I thought I'd give it a try.

As the name indicates, the grapes for this Merlot were grown in Washington State's Horse Heaven Hills AVA.  The wine is a blend of 96% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Malbec.  The bottle was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting. 

The wine is very deep purple in color.  It has aromas of blackberry, plum and cherry.  This is an awesome Merlot!  It has a bold blackberry taste, blended with a cherry and chocolate finish.  The wine is very velvety and the flavors are rich, bold and smooth.  I highly recommend this one, even if (like me) you're not typically a fan of Merlot.

Quinta do Portal 2007 Mural Reserva

The Winery:  Quinta do Portal
The Wine:  2007 Mural Reserva
The Price:  $8.69 at Costco

Quinta do Portal is a Portugal winery, located in the Douro Valley in Northern Portugal.

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

The wine is a blend of 40% Tinta Roriz, 40% Touriga Franca and 20% Touriga Nacional, with 25% of the wine being aged in French oak barrels for nine months before bottling.

The wine is a deep, dark burgundy in color.  It has aromas of cherry, blackberry, cassis and vanilla. 

The wine is a bit lighter in flavor than the dark color and rich aromas would indicate.  It is a delicious wine, with flavors of cherry and raspberry.  It is a nicely refined wine, with velvety smooth flavors. 

While the wine is not bursting with bold fruit flavors, it is a wonderful wine at an absolute bargain price.  It's definitely one worth checking out!

Chehalem 2007 Stoller Vineyards Pinot Noir

The Winery:  Chehalem
The Wine:  2007 Stoller Vineyards Pinot Noir
The Price:  $23.99 at Costco

Chehalem is an Oregon winery, located in the Willamette Valley's incredible Dundee Hills AVA.  Chehalem was founded in 1990 by Harry Peterson-Nedry
and Bill & Cathy Stoller.

The bottle was sealed with a natural cork, and the wine was decanted an hour before tasting. The wine is ruby in color with a slight brown cast to it.  It is a bit thinner in appearance than I prefer in a Pinot Noir.

The wine has aromas of blackberry, cherry, plum and leather.  It has flavors of raspberry, cherry and blackberry with just a touch of spice.

This is a very good wine.  It has bright fruit flavors, and is very smooth and well-balanced.  It's definitely a wine worth trying!

14 Hands 2009 Hot to Trot

The Winery:  14 Hands 
The Wine:  2009 Hot to Trot Red Blend
The Price:  $14.99 at Albertsons

14 Hands is a Washington winery, located in Patterson.  In addition to the Hot to Trot Red Blend, they make Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Reisling and a Hot to Trot White Blend.  The Hot to Trot Red is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Petit Verdot, sourced from several AVAs throughout Washington State. 

The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.  The wine is medium-dark burgundy in color, with a slight brown tint.

The wine has aromas of blackberry, blueberry and cassis.  It has very solid and well balanced fruit flavors of blueberry, blackberry, cherry and vanilla.  The flavors are bold without being overwhelming.  It is simply fantastic!  I highly recommend giving this one a try.

Bonny Doon Vineyards 2009 Contra

The Winery:  Bonny Doon Vineyards
The Wine:  2009 Contra
The Price:  $16 at PCC

Bonny Doon Vineyards is located in Santa Cruz, on California's central coast.  They have a quirky website, and they do not take themselves too seriously.  Their website, besides being quirky, is irritating to navigate and does not adhere to typical web design standards.  But I'm here to talk about wine, not websites.

The wine was sealed with a screw cap, as are all of Bonny Doon's wines.  On their website they have an explanation of why they use screw caps.  I don't necessarily agree with them, but they have clearly thought about the various choices for sealing bottles, and I appreciate that they explained their philosophy.

The 2009 Contra is a blend of 55.1% Carignane, 15.4% Grenache, 14.3% Mourvèdre, 7.1% Petite Sirah, 5.3% Zinfandel and 2.8% Syrah.

The wine was decanted 1 1/2 hours before tasting.  It very dark purple in color and has aromas of black cherry, blackberry and black licorice.  This is a very interesting wine.  It is fairly heavy in tannins, and has flavors of blackberry and cherry.  It is a bold wine, but it has a velvety soft finish.  I really like this wine.  And with each sip it gets better. 

Seghesio 2008 Sonoma Zinfandel

The Winery: Seghesio Family Vineyards
The Wine:  2008 Sonoma Zinfandel
The Price:  $23.99 at QFC

Seghesio Family Vineyards have been around since 1895.  The Seghesio history is pretty interesting.  Rather than recapping it and leaving out a lot of details, you can read it here if you're so inclined.

The wine is a blend of 89% Zinfandel, 8% Petite Sirah and 3% Syrah.  They barrel age the wine in 75% American Oak and 25% French Oak for 10 months prior to bottling.

The bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and the wine was decanted an hour before tasting.  It is very deep red in color, with just a hint of brown.  The wine has aromas of cassis, blackberry, raspberry, cherry and vanilla.

The wine is very well balanced, with flavors of blackberry, cherry and dark chocolate with a spicy undertone.  It's a velvety smooth wine that is running over with delicious fruit flavors.  This is simply a fantastic wine!

Don Miguel Gascon 2010 Malbec

The Winery:  Don Miguel Gascon
The Wine:  2010 Malbec
The Price:  $12.99 at QFC

Don Miguel Gascon is a part of the Ernest and Julio Gallo family.  I knew E&J was big, but I didn't realize just how many wineries they own.  It's pretty astounding. 

Gascon is located in Mendoza, Argentina.  They have been producing wine since 1884, and they focus solely on making Malbec.  

The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and decanted 2 hours before tasting.

The wine is very dark purple in color, and has aromas of black cherry, blueberry, prunes and chocolate.

This is a very smooth wine.  It has flavors of blackberry, blueberry, tart cherry, vanilla, and a tad bit of a peppery bite on the finish.  It's a really good Malbec, and priced very nicely.  I like this one very much. 

Wine Insiders: A Groupon Induced Trial

I have had a fair amount of wine shipped to me over the years, but my experience has been limited to either wineries wanting me to review their wine or wineries that have clubs that I belong to.  I have never before ordered wine for delivery through an online retailer.  So when I saw a Groupon offer for Wine Insiders, I just had to bite.  What follows is a chronological account of my experience.  Neither Groupon nor Wine Insiders have any idea that I review wine, nor that I am writing about my experience.

March 2, 2011
Groupon offers a deal for Wine Insiders.  A $75 Groupon for $25.  I check out Wine Insiders website, and they seem decent, so I make the purchase.

April 24, 2011
I finally decide to use the Groupon.  I didn't use the Groupon right away because I didn't want their fulfillment to be skewed by the Groupon offer.  After poking around, I decide to order their Best of Everything Reds pack.  This selection includes 2 bottles each of:  2009 River's End Merlot, 2009 Burke Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Fair Oaks Reserve Zinfandel, 2007 Geja's Big Bold Red, 2007 Black Fox Cabernet Sauvignon and 2007 Monarch Glen Merlot. 

My order costs $137.88 for the wine, plus $9.93 for tax and $0.01 for shipping.  The total comes to $147.82.  I apply the Groupon, which makes my balance $72.82.  I paid $25.00 for the Groupon, so my total outlay is $97.82.  This works out to an average of $8.15 per bottle.

Shortly after submitting my order, I receive an email confirmation that says that I should receive my wine within 2-4 weeks.  That seems a bit long. 

April 26, 2011
My credit card is charged for the balance of the shipment ($72.82).

April 27, 2011
I receive email confirmation that my wine has been shipped.  Based on the email, I was expecting it to take another week or so before they shipped.  Nice!

April 28, 2011
Today I decided to see if anybody had shared their experience with Wine Insiders...maybe I should have Googled Wine Insiders before buying the Groupon deal. They have lots of unhappy customers, and a few satisfid ones.  So far, my experience has been far better than those I've read about.  My order shipped 3 days after ordering, and I am tracking it on UPS's website.  It is scheduled for delivery on Friday, 6 days after ordering it.

At this point I'm more concerned with the quality of the wine than anything.  The handful of reviews I've read haven't been overwhelmingly great.

April 29, 2011
The wine was delivered right on schedule.  In unpacking, I found the wine to be exactly what I had ordered.  So far, so good.  I have no complaints with them.

Since receiving the wine, I've opened a couple of bottles.  I'll be reviewing some before too long.  My general impression so far is that the wine that I've tried has been lower-end.  The wines have all had a kind of swampy aroma and flavor to them.  They're not bad, but for the money I think I could have done far better going to Trader Joe's, Costco or a grocery store. 

All in all, my experience was better than that of many of the people I read about.  But I seriously doubt I will be buying from them again.  The quality of the wine doesn't justify the price they're charging.

Conn Creek 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon

The Winery:  Conn Creek
The Wine:  2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
The Price:  $16.44 at Safeway

Conn Creek is a California winery located in St Helena, which is in the heart of the Napa Valley.  Conn Creek has been around since the early 1970s and focuses primarily on Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes sourced from 9 of the 15 Napa Valley AVAs.

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

The wine is medium-dark red in color.  It has aromas of blackberry, plum, cherry, chocolate and vanilla. 

This is one of those wines that is just bursting with velvety fruit flavors.  It has flavors of cherry, plum, chocolate and just a touch of spice on the finish.  It's an extremely well-balanced and smooth wine.  I absolutely love it!

Snoqualmie 2008 Whistle Stop Red

The Winery:  Snoqualmie
The Wine:  2008 Whistle Stop Red Cabernet Merlot
The Price:  $7.99 at Safeway

Snoqualmie, founded in 1984, is a Washington winery located in Prosser, near the base of Horse Heaven Hills.  They source their grapes from the Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs.  

This wine is a blend of 70% Cabernet and 30% Merlot.  The bottle was sealed with a natural cork and the wine was decanted an hour before tasting.  The is very deep red in color and has aromas of cherry, blackberry and chocolate.

The wine has flavors of black cherry and chocolate, and is heavy with tannins.  It's a very smooth wine with a nicely balanced flavor.  It's an unexpectedly enjoyable wine for the price.  It's definitely one that I'll be stocking up on. 

Red Door Cellars 2009 Pinot Noir

The Winery:  Red Door Cellars
The Wine:  2009 Pinot Noir
The Price:  $14.99 at QFC

Red Door cellars is a part of Precept Wines. I'm not quite sure what Precept is all about.  They call themselves, "a producer of wines."  But a very large number of brands fall under Precept.

Anyway, Red Door claims to be, "a portal to Oregon's finest Pinot Noir."  That is a mighty bold statement.  Especially coming from a $15 bottle of Pinot Noir.

The bottle was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour before sampling.  The wine is much lighter in appearance than I come to expect from Oregon Pinots.  It is a very light burgundy color.

The wine has a light cherry aroma and an even lighter leather aroma and a touch of moss.

As the color and aroma would portend, this is an extremely light Pinot Noir.  It has predominantly a cherry flavor with a bit of a pepper finish.

This wine is a much lighter style than I prefer, which is pretty typical of the sub-$30 Pinot Noirs.  It has good aroma and flavor, just not as much as I'd like.  So while it's a good wine, it falls far short of Red Door Cellars' claim to being Oregon's finest Pinot Noir.  I must say, however, that it is one of the best Oregon Pinots that I've found in the $10-$20 range.  

Domaine de Nizas 2006 Red Wine

The Winery:  Domaine de Nizas
The Wine:  2006 Rouge
The Price:  $14.59 at Costco

Domaine de Nizas is located in southern France in Nizas, located in the Coteaux du Languedoc appellation.  The winery was founded in 1998 and focuses on artisan-style wines.

This wine is a blend of 60% Syrah, 35% Mourvedre and 5% Granace. The bottle was sealed with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.  The wine is very dark burgundy in color.  It has aromas of blackberry, black pepper and bell pepper.

This is a very delicious wine.  It has bit of a black pepper bite, countered with generously fruity flavors of blackberry, cranberry and vanilla. This is a $15 wine that absolutely drinks like a $30 bottle. 

Bogle Vineyards 2008 Petite Sirah

The Winery:  Bogle Vineyards
The Wine:  2008 Petite Sirah
The Price:  $9.99 at Safeway

Bogle is a California winery, located in the Sacramento delta.  The grapes used in this wine are from Clarksburg and Lodi.  

The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.  The wine is dark purple in color and has aromas of blueberry, plum and toast.

This is a fairly tannin-intense wine, with flavors of cranberry, blackberry, plum, vanilla and tobacco.  The wine is well balanced and has plenty of nicely developed flavors.  If you're a fan of Petite Sirah, this is definitely one wine that you should check out for yourself.
  

Dunham Cellars 2008 Three Legged Red

The Winery:  Dunham Cellars
The Wine: 2008 Three Legged Red
The Price:  $15.74 at QFC

Dunham is a Walla Walla, Washington winery.  They have been making wine since 1995, with their first release being a Cabernet Sauvignon.  Before starting Dunham Cellars, founder Eric Dunham interned at Hogue Cellars and L'Ecole No. 41. Besides making the wine, Eric creates the original artwork for some of the wine.

This wine gets it's name from Eric's dog, who he saved from an attack by another dog.  The wine is a blend of grapes, but the exact grapes and percentages are not listed on the bottle or the company website.  The bottle was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.

The wine is very dark purple in color and has aromas of plum, black cherry and raspberry.  The wine has flavors of blackberry and cherry.  This wine is incredibly delicious!  It is rich and velvety, and bursting with wonderful fruit yumminess!    

Willakenzie 2006 Pinot Noir Pierre Léon

The Winery: Willakenzie
The Wine: 2006 Pinot Noir Pierre Léon
The Price: Retails for $38 (I had it in a restaurant, so I paid above retail)

This is unusual for me.  I am reviewing a wine that I had at a restaurant.  I have never done this before.  I am on vacation in Maui, and had dinner at Mama's Fish House.  If you ever get to Maui, I highly recommend you make a point of having dinner there.  This is a destination dining spot, so reservations are highly recommended.

The wine was served immediately upon opening, and was not decanted prior to tasting.  The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork.

The wine is bright red in color and has aromas of cherry, cassis and blackberry.

This is a lighter Pinot Noir than I usually like.  But this one is very well developed and is bursting with great fruit flavors.  It has flavors of plum, cherry and blackberry.  The wine was good when first opened, but after 30 minutes, the flavors really came alive!  It is a very fabulous wine.  If you can get your hands on a bottle, it is definitely worth trying!

Cantina Zaccagnini 2007 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

The Winery:  Cantina Zaccagnini
The Wine:  2007 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
The Price:  $11.49 at Costco

Cantina Zaccagnini is an Italian winery.  The grapes are from Catignano in the Varano district, which is located in southern Italy.  The wine is made from 100% Montepulciano d'Abruzzo grapes.

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

The wine is dark ruby in color and has aromas of leather, plum, blackberry, oregano and just a hint of chocolate.

The wine has flavors of plum, cherry, leather, tobacco and green tea.

This is a pretty good wine.  It's flavors are interesting and well developed.  But I'm having difficulty with it because it's really not like any wine I've tasted before.  The flavors are good, but the wine tastes unfamiliar.  It tastes like wine, but it doesn't taste like any wine I've ever tasted before.  It's definitely worth picking up a bottle to experience something different.

J Lohr Estates 2008 South Ridge Syrah

The Winery: J Lohr
The Wine: 2008 South Ridge Syrah
The Price: $10.99 at QFC

 J Lohr is a California winery, located on the central coast near Monterey. The winery was founded by Jerry Lohr, who planted the first of the grape vines in 1972.

The Syrah is a blend of 93% Syrah, 3% Petite Sirah, 3% Grenache and 1% "other reds".  The wine was aged in American and French oak barrels for 14 months before bottling. 

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

The wine is deep burgundy in color.  It has aromas of blackberry, blueberry and plum.

This is a fantastic Syrah!  It has very smooth and extremely well balanced flavors of blackberry and blueberry that combine in a velvety explosion of fruity goodness!  

Besides making a wonderful Syrah, I appreciate the thoughtfully designed and very informative website that J Lohr has built.  

Don Sebastiani & Sons 2009 The Crusher Petite Sirah

The Winery:  Don Sebastiani & Sons
The Wine:  2009 The Crusher Petite Sirah
The Price:  $11.99 at QFC


Don Sebastiani & Sons is a California winery.  While located in Sonoma, they source grapes from several appellations.  The grapes for this wine were sourced from the Clarksburg AVA, in the San Francisco Bay area. 


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


The wine is very dark purple in color.  It has muted aromas of blackberries and plums, but it is fairly lacking in aromas at all. 


This is a disappointingly bland wine.  There is just not much flavor to it.  The flavor that is there is good, but it's amazingly lacking.  The wine has flavors of blackberry and plum.  The flavors in the wine are very well balanced and very smooth, but it lacks punch.  If the flavors were at all pronounced, I'd highly recommend this wine.  But given how underwhelming the flavors are, I have a hard time endorsing this.  It's too bad, because I'm always on the hunt for a really good Petite Sirah.

Yalumba 2008 Eden Valley Shiraz Viognier

The Winery:  Yalumba
The Wine:  2008 Eden Valley Shiraz Viognier
The Price:  $13.99 at Costco

Yalumba is an Australian winery.  Founded in 1849, they are Australia's oldest family owned winery.  The name Yalumba comes from an aboriginal word meaning, "all the land around." 

The Shiraz Viognier is comprised of 97% Shiraz and 3% Viognier, all sourced from southern Australia's Eden Valley.

The wine bottle was stopped with a screw cap and was decanted an hour before tasting.  The wine is very dark purple in color. It has velvety smooth aromas of plum, cherry and cassis. 

This is an incredibly delicious wine with very smooth and well balanced flavors of plum and cherry with a slightly spicy finish.  I absolutely love this wine!  And at the price it is a great bargain!