Col Solare 2006 Red Wine

The Winery:  Col Solare
The Wine:  2006 Red Wine
The Price:  This wine was provided by the winery.  The wine retails for $75 and can be purchased directly through the winery.

Col Solare is an interesting winery.  It is a partnership between Chateau Ste Michelle, a Washington State winery; and Marchesi Antinori, a Tuscany winery.  The partnership was formed with the intent of producing ultra-luxury wine. 

The 2006 Red Wine is a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Syrah. 

As I would expect from a premium wine, the bottle was stopped with a natural cork.  I don't normally comment on the cork itself, but the cork in this bottle was exceptionally clear and seemed to be of higher quality than the corks I've encounter with other wines.  The wine was decanted an hour before tasting. 

The wine has a very, very deep burgundy color, taking on the color of a good Cabernet Sauvignon.  

The wine has very bright black cherry and blackberry aromas with a hint of vanilla.  The aromas are very well balanced and well pronounced. 

The wine is absolutely phenomenal! It has a very smooth and velvety feeling to it.  The wine has bold flavors of blackberries and black cherries with a chocolaty finish.  It is absolutely the best wine I've ever reviewed!  At this price point, it's clearly not an everyday wine.  But if you're looking for a great wine for the holidays or a special occasion, you can't go wrong with this one.  I very highly recommend it.

Scott Paul 2006 La Paulée Pinot Noir

The Winery:  Scott Paul
The Wine:  2006 La Paulée Pinot Noir
The Price:  $35.00 at Jack Cellars

Scott Paul Wines has an unusual history.  They were founded in 1999 in California.  But then they relocated to Oregon's Willamette Valley.  I don't recall ever hearing of a winery moving from one state to another.  If you think they were crazy for doing so, you do not understand how great the Willamette Valley is for growing Pinot Noir grapes.

The La Paulée Pinot Noir was stopped with a screw cap.  I much prefer a natural cork to a screw cap.  It's difficult to take a wine seriously when it is stopped with a screw cap.  The wine was decanted over an hour before tasting.

The wine is ruby in color, but not quite as dark as many of the Oregon Pinot Noirs that I've sampled.

The wine has aromas of cherries and blackberries.  The aromas are not as pronounced as I typically expect from a Pinot Noir.

The flavors of this wine are understated, but very good.  The wine has very well balanced flavors of blackberries and cherries.  It has the velvety feeling that I've come to expect from the better Oregon Pinot Noirs.   The wine is deliciously ready to drink now.

Campo Viejo 2005 Crianza Rioja

The Winery: Campo Viejo
The Wine:  2005 Crianza Rioja
The Price:  $9.99 at QFC

I've discussed Spanish wines previously when I reviewed the Campo Viejo 2001 Gran Reserva Rioja.  So I won't rehash what I said before, other than to state that Crianzas are younger wines.  This wine is aged in oak for 12 months before being bottled.

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

The wine is very dark purple, with very light penetrating through the wine in the glass.   It has aromas of blackberry, plum and vanilla.

It's a fairly flat wine, without a lot of flavor.  It's not bad, it just doesn't pack enough of a flavor punch.  It has plum and blackberry flavors with a very slight pepper finish.  I really wish there was more flavor to the wine.  I like the flavors that are there, I just want more of them.

I doubt I'll buy this wine again.  There are plenty of $10 wines that have more flavor than this.  If you're a fan of mildly flavored wines, this could be something you'd like.   

Rustenberg John X Merriman 2006

The Winery:  Rustenberg
The Wine:  John X Merriman 2006
The Price:  $28 at Jack Cellars

Rustenberg is located in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa.  The wine is a blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 13% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Fran and 1% Malbec.  The bottle was stopped with a natural cork and was decanted an hour before tasting.

This is a deep purple wine.  It has aromas of plums, tobacco and pepper.  It has a big, fruity blend of plum and cherry flavors with a pepper finish.  This is an extremely good wine.  Although I tend towards the NW Pinot Noirs, this is a great, fun wine.  I recommend giving it a taste.   

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Errazuriz 2006 Single Vineyard Carmenère

The Winery:  Errazuriz
The Wine:  2006 Single Vineyard Carmenère 
The Price:  $18 at Jack Cellars

Errazuriz is a Chilean winery that was founded in 1870.  This wine is single sourced from the Don Maximiano Estate.

Carmenère grapes were commonly grown in the Bordeaux region of France, and elsewhere throughout Europe.  In 1867, an outbreak of Phylloxera wiped out many vineyards and nearly caused the extinction of Carmenère.  The Carmenère vines in Chile were unaffected by the Phylloxera epidemic, and the grapes have thrived there.

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

The wine is a very dark purple.  It has aromas of blackberries, bell peppers with a spicy black pepper undertone.

The wine has a fruity blackberry flavor at its base, and a very pronounced black pepper finish.  If you don't like a peppery wine, then this is not a good wine for you.  I really like the wine, however.  The flavor is well balanced and is very smooth. 

McManis Family Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

The Winery: McManis Family Vineyards
The Wine: 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
The Price: $9.99 at QFC (marked down from $12.99)

This review was inspired by a few things. First, I've been trying to not review just Northwest wines, so I'm always looking for wines that are widely available throughout the country (and world). Second, I've been reviewing higher priced wines lately, so I'm trying to reel it in and review some sub-$10.00 wines. And finally, I happened to sample a bottle of McManis Petite Sirah recently which, while I didn't review it, was quite good.

This bottle of wine was stopped with a natural cork and was decanted about 45 minutes before tasting.

The wine is a very dark purple. It has aromas of blackberry and plum. This is a very nice wine. It has flavors of blackberry, cherry, chocolate and cinnamon. I like this wine a lot. It's a very good wine for the price. It's absolutely ready to drink now.

Rive Della Chiesa Prosecco

The Winery: Rive Della Chiesa
The Wine: Prosecco Frizzante
The Price: $11.99 at Central Market

If it's not obvious from the name, this is an Italian wine. It is made from 100% Prosecco grapes. And for those who don't know, frizzante wines are wines that are fizzy. They're less bubbly than sparkling wine, but definitely have a light effervescence to them.

This wine is pale yellow in color and emits steady streams of tiny bubbles. It has aromas of apple, lemon and grass.

This is a semi-dry wine. It has an apple flavor with a hint of pineapple and peaches. It's kind of a fun wine. I like the fizz - it's a nice change of pace from the same old white wines. It's definitely no replacement for a quality Champagne or sparkling white wine, but it is a good wine to have in rotation and would be fun to pull out for friends at a barbecue or dinner party.

Michael-David 2007 Petite Petit

The Winery: Michael-David
The Wine: 2007 Petite Petit
The Price: $15.99 at QFC

Michael-David produces several fairly well known wines (Incognito, 7 Deadly Zins, 7 Heavenly Chards, Earthquake, and several others). This is the first wine from the Michael-David family that I've reviewed.

I selected this wine for two reasons. First, I was looking for a Petite Sirah to review (and my local QFC had very little selection in Petite Sirah). Second, and I rarely fall for this, I really liked the label.

The Petite Petit is a blend of 85% Petite Sirah and 15% Petit Verdot. Petit Verdot is usually used as a minority grape in blends, most notably in Bordeaux wines. Interestingly, Petite Sirah was at one time considered to be a blend-grape, too.

Besides the cool label, Michael-David had the good sense to cork the wine with a natural cork. The Petite Petit is very deep purple in color. The wine has aromas of blackberries, strawberry jam and prunes with just a touch of black pepper.

The wine has big jammy berry flavors with a peppery finish. Overall, it's very good. I like it a lot. Despite that, the wine tastes a little young and would probably benefit from additional aging.

Don Ramon 2007 Red Wine

The Winery: Don Ramon
The Wine: 2007 Red Wine
The Price: $6.99 at Trader Joe's

Don Ramon is a Spanish winery. Beyond that, I haven't been able to dig up much information on them. The wine is a blend of 75% Grenache and 25% Tempranillo.

This wine comes in a kind of cool bottle. It has a natural cork stopper, which is surprising given the price of the wine. It also has a cloth ribbon affixed with a wax seal, another touch of class on a value-priced wine.

The wine has aromas of blackberry and blueberry. It is an amazingly smooth wine for the price. It has plenty of blueberry and blackberry flavor with just a touch of pepper on the finish.