Domaine Serene 2007 Yamhill Cuvée Pinot Noir

The Winery:  Domaine Serene
The Wine:  2007 Yamhill Cuvée Pinot Noir
The Price:  $36 at Jack Cellars

Domaine Serene is an Oregon winery, located Yamhill County, prime Pinot Noir territory.  The winery was founded in 1989, with the vineyards being planted on (then) recently logged forest land in the Dundee Hills.

The wine is dark ruby in color.  The bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and the wine was decanted 45 minutes prior to tasting. 

The wine has aromas of cherries, roses, vanilla and chocolate. 

This is a fruit-forward wine with a bit of a spicy kick.  It has flavors of cherry, blackberry, pepper, vanilla and cranberry.  It is a very complex and rich wine, with a lot of wonderful flavors bursting through. 

This is a very good example of an Oregon Pinot Noir, but one crafted in the Burgundy style.  It is a medium bodied, fruity, delicious wine.  It is definitely a wine worth trying! 

Rex Hill 2007 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

The Winery: Rex Hill
The Wine: 2007 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
The Price:  $25 at Jack Cellars

This past weekend I went to Pinot Palooza at Jack Cellars.  They were pouring a great selection of Pinot Noir from Oregon, California and even a nice wine from Burgundy.  This review is a result of the event.

I am originally from Oregon, so Oregon Pinots have a special place in my heart.  The roots of my love for wine are firmly planted in Oregon.  I spent many weekends driving through wine country sampling wines.  Some wineries have consistently produced great wines.  Other wineries have folded or just stopped producing great wine.  When I was new to drinking wine, Rex Hill was always a favorite stop on my tours through Oregon's wine country.  My last few trips to Rex Hill had been enough of a disappointment that I'd given up on them.

It turns out that Rex Hill had changed hands a couple of times over the years.  The new owners didn't have the passion and skill to make the great wines that Oregon is known for.  The good news is that back in 2007, A to Z Wineworks purchased Rex Hill and is working on bringing them back to their former glory.

The 2007 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is medium dark red in color.  The wine was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.

The wine has aromas of cherries and plums.  It has a strong cherry base with an undertone of berries and plums.  This is a lighter Pinot Noir, but is very good.  At $25 it is an absolute steal!

I'm happy to see Rex Hill again in good hands and making good wine!  I look forward to seeing where they go from here!

Ghost Pines 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

The Winery: Ghost Pines
The Wine:  2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
The Price:   $16.99 at QFC (marked down from $24.99)

Ghost Pines is a California winery that was founded in 1964 by Louis P. Martini (son of Louis M. Martini, who started making wine in Napa Valley in the early 1900s). 

This wine is made from 59% Napa County grapes, and 41% Sonoma County grapes.  The wine is very deep red in color.  The bottle was stopped with a natural cork and the wine was decanted an hour before tasting.

The wine has aromas of blackberry, cherry and vanilla.  It's a very big, fruity wine with flavors of cherry and berry and sweet vanilla, with a very mildly spicy finish.  It's a very drinkable wine, with a lot of fruit flavor without being overly sweet.  

Three Thieves 2007 The Show Cabernet Sauvignon

The Winery: Three Thieves
The Wine:  2007 The Show Cabernet Sauvignon
The Price:  $11.99 at QFC (marked down from $16.99)

The Show is made from grapes from three separate California AVAs:  Central Coast, North Coast and Napa Valley.  The wine is made from 89% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, and 11% Petite Syrah.  It is aged in French and American oak barrels.

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

The wine is deep ruby in color; and has aromas of black cherry, vanilla and pepper. 

The wine has big, fruity cherry and vanilla flavors with a pepper finish.  It's a very delicious wine.  I absolutely love it!  This is a must-buy wine!

Vini Menhir 2007 Negroamaro Cinque Passi

The Winery:  Vini Menhir
The Wine:  2007 Negroamaro Cinque Passi
The Price:  $14.00

Vini Menhir is an Italian winery located in the Puglia region.  Think of Puglia as being the heel of the boot.

The bottle was stopped with the shortest natural cork that I've ever seen.  It's nearly 1/2" shorter than regular corks.  The wine was decanted 45 minutes before tasting.

The wine is moderately dark purple in color.  It has aromas of plum, cassis and spice.  It has an odd mix of sweet and sour.  Kind of like a sweet blackberry flavor wrapped with a puckeringly sour cherry flavor.  The combination is surprisingly awful!  And this isn't a wine that gets better with more tastes.  It gets worse.  Earlier I commented on this winery being located in the heel of the boot of Italy.  This wine makes it pretty clear what the heel has stepped in.  Because it tastes just like THAT.  Yuck!   

If you see this wine - run far, far away!  At $5 this would be a bad wine.  At $14 it is absolutely horrifying!

Durigutti 2006 Reserva Malbec

The Winery: Durigutti
The Wine: 2006 Reserva Malbec
The Price: $27.00

Durigutti is an Argentinian winery, with the grapes being grown in the Mendoza province.  It is made from 100% Malbec grapes and aged in oak barrels for 18 months.

This wine is not filtered, and they recommend decanting it before drinking.  At the bottom of my bottle was a handful of twigs and sludge, so I would definitely follow their recommendation and decant it.  Unless you like chewing on grape stems.

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

 The wine is very dark violet in color.  It has aromas of blackberry, cherry, tobacco and chocolate.

This is an amazing wine!  The flavors are well balanced, smooth and velvety.  It has wonderful fruit flavors with a counterpoint of tobacco and a mild pepper finish.  It is nothing short of phenomenal.

 

Primaterra 2008 Sangiovese

The Winery: Primaterra
The Wine: 2008 Sangiovese
The Price: $7.99 at Cost Plus World Market

I selected this wine because I've been planning a trip to Italy, so I'm trying to become more familiar with wines from Italy.  This winery seems to be pretty much a big mystery. I haven't been able to find any history on the winery.

The wine is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes.  The bottle was stopped with a composite cork, and decanted an hour before tasting.  

 The wine is a medium-dark purple in color.  It has predominantly a cherry aroma with a slight pepper finish. 

The wine has a somewhat subdued cherry flavor, with a mildly spicy finish.  The wine is very heavy in tannins, leading me to want to scrape the powdery feel off of my teeth. 

This is a decent wine for the money, but it certainly doesn't knock my socks off.  It's an every-day kind of wine.  Definitely not something you'd serve to impress anybody. 

Woodhouse Family Cellars 2006 Hudson Shah Malbec

The Winery: Woodhouse Family Cellars
The Wine:  2006 Hudson Shah Malbec
The Price:  $12.99 at QFC

This Malbec is made from 100% Malbec grapes from Washington's Rattlesnake Hills AVA.  The     

The wine was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.  The wine is very dark purple in color and has aromas of blackberry, cherry and vanilla. 

This is a very fruity wine, with crisp and slightly tart blackberry and cherry flavors with a hint of peppermint.  It's very crisp and clean tasting.  The flavor is light without being thin. 

Castaño 2005 Solanera

The Winery:  Bodegas Castaño
The Wine:  2005 Solanera
The Price:  $14.99 at Central Market

Bodegas Castaño is located in the Yecla region of Southern Spain.  This wine is a blend of 65% Monastrell (Monastrell is also known as Mourvèdre, a term many of you may be more familiar with), 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Tintorera.  The wine was aged in oak for 10 months before bottling.

The wine was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting.  It is a very dark red wine with aromas of cherry, vanilla, chocolate and spice.

The wine has flavors of cherry, vanilla and black pepper.  It's a pretty tannic wine, owing to the Mourvèdre/Monastrell grapes.  The pepper flavor adds a bit of a bite to the wine, so if you don't like the pepper flavor this probably isn't a wine for you.  Personally, I enjoy the pepper flavor and find this to be a a nice, interesting wine.

Eos Estate Winery 2007 Zinfandel

The Winery:  Eos Estate Winery
The Wine:  2007 Zinfandel
The Price:  $13.99 at Safeway (marked down from $18.49).

Eos Winery is located in Paso Robles, which is in California's central Coast.  The winery has a couple of cool, environmentally friendly things going for it.  First, it has converted to 100% solar power.  Second, for every bottle of wine that is purchased, they donate $1 to plant a tree.     

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 raspberries, cherries and chocolate.

It has very crisp berry and cherry flavors with a chocolate undertone.  The wine is very smooth and velvety and quite delicious.  This is one wine that I highly recommend.  Between the great wine and the winery's commitment to the environment, this is a double winner.  Think of it as saving the planet one bottle at a time.