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.