Talbott 2009 Logan Pinot Noir

The Winery:  Talbott Vineyards
The Wine:  2009 Logan Pinot Noir
The Price:  $16.99 at Costco

Talbott is a California winery, located in the Central Coast AVA. The winery was established in 1982 by Robb Talbott,

The Logan Pinot Noir is made from Estate Grown grapes.  The bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and decanted an hour before tasting.  

The wine is dark red and has aromas of strawberry, cherry and blueberry.  The wine has crisp fruit flavors of tart cherry and blueberry with a peppery bite on the finish.  I find it to be richer and more full bodied than is typical of California Pinots, which I normally would like.  But unfortunately the flavors are too in your face, and the wine does not taste much like any Pinot Noir I've tasted.  It tastes more like a Petit Verdot, but not a good Petit Verdot.  This is a pretty bad wine, even overlooking the fact that it does not taste like a traditional Pinot Noir. 

The Crusher 2010 Clarksburg Petite Sirah

The Winery:  The Crusher (a label of Don Sebastiani and Sons)
The Wine:  2010 Clarksburg Petite Sirah
The Price:  $12.99 at QFC

The Crusher is one of the labels of Don Sebastiani and Sons.  In addition to The Crusher, Sebastiani produces Aquinas, B Side, s|k|n, Pepperwood Grove, The Paso Project, Smoking Loon and Big Green Box. 

The Petite Sirah is a blend of 76% Petite Sirah and 24% Merlot.  The bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and decanted an hour before tasting. 

The wine is a deep purple in color and has aromas of boysenberry, strawberry and just a slight hint of peppermint. 

The wine is anchored with a strawberry jam flavor, which is rounded out by fig, prune and tart grapefruit.  The wine is a bit heavy on tannins, but very enjoyable. 

St Francis 2008 Old Vines Zinfandel

The Winery:  St Francis
The Wine:  2008 Old Vines Zinfandel
The Price:  $16.99 at Safeway

St Francis is a Sonoma County, California winery.  The grapes for this wine were harvested from vines that are over 50 years old, with many of the grapes from 100+ year old vines.  The wine is aged from 12 to 15 months in American Oak. 

The bottle was stopped with a synthetic cork and decanted an hour before tasting.  The win is dark purple in color and has aromas of raspberry, black cherry, vanilla and blueberry. 

This is a very smooth, velvety wine.  It is bursting with big fruit flavors of cherry and blackberry with a hint of tobacco.  This is a fantastic wine at a very good price.  It's definitely one worth picking up.