NV Harthill Farms Cabernet Sauvignon, California

Terry post:

Bottom Feeder Series

This begins my review of wines which are priced at $5.00, or less. These are the bottom shelf dwellers or found in discount bins everywhere: they are the wines which we generally avoid. For the next few weeks I'll subject myself to sampling these low-cost wines. So here goes.

There is something called the "halo effect". Wikipedia describes the effect thus, "The halo effect is a cognitive bias whereby the perception of one trait (i.e. a characteristic of a person or object) is influenced by the perception of another trait (or several traits) of that person or object. An example would be judging a good-looking person as more intelligent."

I point out the "halo effect" as I sampled this Whole Foods wine one Saturday evening as I watched my Auburn Tigers dis-assemble the Arkansas Razorbacks.

My impression: Light red in the glass - quite pale for a Cabernet Sauvignon. Cherries on the nose when sloshed in the glass but nothing else. No acidity. No tannins. The wine is one-dimensional offering with cherries standing alone without any backbone. Unappealing. Not recommended.

Okay. "Halo Effect" wasn't an issue with this low-priced offering from Whole Foods, but I'll be mindful of the issue should I sample more wine during the remainder of the college football season.

$4.99 at Whole Foods, Reston Virginia

~ Terry post

2009 Morgan Sauvignon Blanc, Monterey California

Terry Post:

Summer Wine Series

Okay. Okay. Technically I shouldn't be including this Morgan Sauvignon Blanc in the summer wine series as it is no longer summer. But, I bought this wine a few weeks back with the intention of writing about it when it was summers. So, I'll include it under that technicality.

I have a slight bias here as one of my all time favorite wines is the 2005 Morgan "Double L Vineyards" Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, California: it is nearly a perfect pinot noir. But, I digress...

My impressions: Light straw color in the glass. Typical Sauvignon Blanc impressions on the nose including citrus, pears, grass and more than a little minerality - most noticeable on the finish. Minerals, acidity and grass on the finish. Very nice.

I paired this with a filet of salmon, which I poached in the wine with sliced oranges. It was wonderful.

Second thoughts: Like a lot of people I have grown weary of pedestrian Chardonnay's and am sampling other white wines to find something else to take it's place. Sauvignon Blanc's, such as this offering from Morgan, provides a more interesting interpretation of the dinnertime wine. With a strong acidic backbone, a stony minerality and a pleasant nose this Morgan is pretty much dead-on as the sort of dining partner with which I could become accustomed. Highly recommended.

$14.99 at The Wine Seller, Herndon Virginia

~ Terry

NV Muscat de Beaulieu, Beaulieu Vineyard, California

Terry post:

What is a dessert wine? The obvious answer is that it is a wine one enjoys as dessert and I would speculate that very few people have enjoyed dessert wine for that purpose.

My personal preference for after dinner sipping is a vintage Porto (along with a good cigar if at all possible). That said, there is just something classy about ordering a small glass of dessert wine in place of that slice of double chocolate cake.

My impressions: Medium bodied with a strong alcohol presence - almost overpoweringly so. The alcohol is the predominant characteristic of this wine. Not well balanced. It is a simple sweet wine giving apricots and raisins to those with patience. Needs to warm up a bit to get the most out of this wine - it is far superior at room temperature than when slightly chilled. A hint of oak on a surprisingly brief finish.

Perhaps I expected too much from this wine: Always been a fan of the BV brand. Rather like the Porto's that my brother and I sampled earlier this year with far too many clunkers found en-route the fantastic 2007 vintage.

Is it a bad wine? No. Is it a great wine? No.

Like so many other wines I have sampled, it is a competent offering from a dependable winery which will reward the drinker with a few moments of pleasure - but is not the wine dreams are made of and its pleasure is short lived.

18% alcohol

$11.99 for 375 mL bottle from The Wine Seller, Herndon Virginia

~ Terry

2008 Teldeschi White Zinfandel, California

Terry post:

Summertime truly is the time to relax with one's friends and what goes better with friends and summertime than a nice quaffable wine?

For many wine drinkers, White Zinfandel is the perfect summer drink. Easy to find. Easy to buy and easy to drink.

White Zinfandel is also the Rodney Dangerfield of wines as it doesn't get any respect. Many WZs are one-dimensional quaffs with overwhelming fruit (usually strawberries) on the nose, moderate alcohol and a low price.

When a WZ comes along and pushes the boundaries: that is something worth talking about.

My impressions: Medium pink in the glass. First in the glass my immediate impression was CHARDONNAY. As it opened up the initial predominant Chardonnay nose softened to crushed raspberries with a hint of flowers. Slightly tannic - think of crushed grape seeds. Moderate acidity on the ripe-berry finish. Recommended.

Second and Third Thoughts: Much, much more interesting than the Beringer White Zinfandel which I sampled a few weeks back. Decent acidity - some food pairing options here. There is a hint of woodiness here which is most noticeable on the finish and I don't know if this is a result of the wine spent any time in oak. One day after tasting I begin, I see this wine as more of a Rose than a WZ.

I think you'd find this an interesting alternative to the too-sweet, run-of-the mill White Zinfandel's.

$9.95 at The Wine Seller in Herndon, VA.

~ Terry

2008 Rock Rabbit, Sauvignon Blanc, California

Terry post:

Summer Wine Series

It is true that I spend too much time drinking red wines and not enough time sampling the lighter fare such as Sauvignon Blanc.

I don’t have too much to say about the Rock Rabbit brand. We carried it at Restaurant 213 as a lower-priced Sauvignon Blanc and it sold well.

My Impressions: Pale straw color in the glass. Stone, grass, modest fruit and a hint of spice (10% Gewurtraminer) on the nose and across the palate (The Gerwurtraminer was not co-fermented with the Sauvignon Blanc - I suspect the wine maker hoped to soften its razor-sharp edges). Unabashedly tart, with fruit under-represented resulting in an off-balanced wine. Lingering tart finish. Recommended with conditions: 1) Not a pool-side quaffer and not the sort of wine you’d want to sip on without food, 2) Would recommend with hard cheese (think Parmigiano-Reggiano) and other hearty nibbles, and 3) It might work with grilled white meats.

This is a personal bias of mine: I like some fruit in my wine. The major flaw of this offering is its overly tart nature combined with the thinness of the fruit. There are plenty of acidic wines which I have enjoyed - each having a level of fruit holding the whole package together.

It's not a great wine and it's not a terrible wine. With all of my complaining about many wines lacking a backbone - the 2008 Rock Rabbit Sauvignon Blanc has a cold-steely, razor-sharp backbone of immense proportions. My only caveat: the wine drinker had better be ready to pucker up.

90% Sauvignon Blanc and 10% Gewurtraminer in a handy screw-top bottle

13.5% alcohol.

$8.99 at retail.

~ Terry

2008 Beringer California Collection, White Zinfandel, California

Terry post:

Summer Wine Series

As I have said many times before, "If you like it - it is good wine". And, that axiom also includes summer quaffers such as the Beringer White Zinfandel. Adding to that: don't let wine snobs stop you from drinking something that you like at the dinner table, poolside or at a picnic.

There IS a place for easy drinking wines and the wine buying customer can drink whatever they choose recognizing that there are limits to any wine - including those consumed poolside.

My impressions: Pink in the glass. Strawberries and a hint of raspberries on the nose when first poured. Strawberries (again) and soft citrus across the palate with a long syrupy-fruit finish. Its overly sweet character makes it nearly impossible for food pairing as the sweet strawberries will overwhelm almost anything with which it is served. Best enjoyed COLD - served alone before or after a meal. Recommended.

Second thoughts: This wines needs to be served COLD. As the wine warmed in the glass the fruit characteristics disappeared leaving only an indistinguishable muddle of fruit on the nose and medicinal finish. Not food-friendly as it will obliterate any other competing elements in the meal to which it accompanies.

$7.00 at Cheers

~ Terry

2007 Smoking Loon, Syrah, California

Terry post:

Smoking Loon is another one of those brands for which I have had a great deal of experience with and with which I am favorably disposed.

For a medium-priced wine they have generally provided me excellent value for the price - a good wine at an even better price. Smoking Loon usually scores well on my quality-price continuum.

I was then a little disappointed when I popped open a bottle of their 2007 Syrah Wednesday evening. I did not get the fruitiness which I have come to expect with a California Syrah. What I got was something different: something not quite Syrah lacking the "oomph" and intensity which I crave in this varietal. Maybe Smoking Loon is test marketing Syrah-lite?

My impressions: Medium red in the glass. Cherries followed by pepper, smoke and spice box on the nose. Fruit and noticeable tannins nicely balanced across the palate. Food friendly. Light bodied for a Syrah. Brief finish with spice box again. No fatal flaws. No outstanding characteristics, either. Recommended.

Second thoughts: I know that if you read the words above you'll wonder why I still recommend the wine. Well, it is price-quality continuum thing. While not living up to expectations of a Syrah, it's price point over-rides that consideration. Were this a $19.99 bottle I would not recommend it. At $5.99 it is a great value and I am willing to overlook a technical shortcoming or two.

Smoking Loon web site here.

$5.99 on sale at Giant Supermarket.

~ Terry

2005 Eagle Eye, Muscat Canelli, Napa Valley, California

Terry post:

Brand matters. The quality of the product, its price and how it is represented to the public - when bundled up equals brand. Think about the great brands: Coke-a-Cola, Apple, Disney and Caterpillar: each has a well-defined brand image which they closely control to ensure a consistent unambiguous message to the consumer. A good brand is easily identified. So too is a less

than good brand.

So. Why a short discussion about "brand" when this is a blog site about wine? Well, the answer to that can be found in the labeling of the 2005 Eagle Eye, Muscat Canelli. This is not the label of a serious winery and it send entirely the wrong message to the buying public. In a competitive wine market the last thing a wine producer wants is to be is above average in price and below average in brand.

My impressions: Flowers perfume the nose. Overwhelming - pleasantly so - dose of lychee with a moderate finish. Nicely balanced for a Muscat. My immediate though when sipping the wine was that it would be great with hot Thai or Indian curries. This is far-and-away the most appealing Muscat I've ever enjoyed and not just for sipping poolside. Recommended.

Second thoughts: Of course, wine labeling does not need to be overly serious. Australian critter wines have proven that a light-hearted take on wine can be successful. But in those cases, the wines were aimed squarely at the younger wine buyers for whom the playfulness of the brand was an asset.

Eagle Eye makes some fine wine. I was impressed with this Muscat and have also been impressed with their red blend, "Voluptuous". It is sad then when I all-too-often see bottles of Eagle Eye in the discount bin at the wine shops - customers unsure what to make of the brand.

Maybe I am making too much of a fuss about their branding choices. But ask yourself after visiting their web site: Is this a brand that you'd invest $20 to $40 to sample their product?

$21.99 from the winery. Less in the discount bins.

100% Muscat.

~ Terry

2007 Cantara Cellars Syrah, Lodi California

Terry post:

I am seldom surprised when I drink a wine. Going in, I usually know what to expect and have confided to friends that I could write a review without ever having tasted the wine - based on the varietal and my experience with the winemaker or winery.

Did I ever get that wrong today!

Cantara Cellars will not impress anyone with their building (industrial plaza) or location (Oxnard Plains) but something special is taking place inside their humble facility: that something special is making great wine.

Cantara Cellars is a small winery (I don't think I saw more than 50 French and American oak barrels total in back) which sources virtually all of their juice from the vineyards of family and personal acquaintances in Lodi, California.

With one white and four reds I settled in for a tasting with the very affable owner, Chris Brown.

You know the scene in the old movie where the boy falls in love with the girl? The scene will include fireworks exploding in the sky: well, my first taste of the 2007 Cantara Cellars Syrah was something like that. Wow.

I purchased a bottle of the Syrah and have spent a several hours of quality time sipping, chewing and genuinely enjoying this fine wine.

My impressions: Inky dark garnet intensely colored in the glass. Blackberries and chocolate powder initially on the nose with the chocolate fading way to pepper as the wine opened up in the glass. Profoundly earthy and mouth filling. Deftly balanced with fruit up front and the acidity at the end - just right. Concludes in a long finish with the tannins winning out over the fruit - but, just barely. Superb.

This is a big red and, as such, I would recommend it with the typical pairs including: beefsteak, prime rib, and bison steak.

I have no idea if Cantara Cellars can continue to produce this wonderful Syrah, or for that matter, their also-wonderful Zinfandel year-in and year-out. Time will tell.

Their Facebook page. Their website.

This is a winery to keep your eye on.

$29.99 at the tasting room.

~ Terry

2007 Wine Cube Cabernet Sauvignon / Shiraz, California.

Terry post:

UPDATED: Included at the bottom of the blog.

I was on my way home from the big-box retailer Target with 1.5 liters of 2007 Wine Cube Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz tucked away in the trunk of my Camry when my brother sent me an email asking where I was getting all of my time to crank out my wine postings. He implied that I wasn’t giving my new employer its full due. Well, the answer is that I am fortified with cheap (errrr) inexpensive wine and that will keep you going. That and frozen pizza by any rate.

Wine Cube is a Target-brand boxed-wine and, based on the semi-hip looking in-store marketing, is aimed squarely at the under 30 crowd. When I lived in San Diego in the early 1980’s, I drank more than my share of Franzia boxed wines and didn’t think much about it at the time. The wine was very reasonably priced and tasted good to me.

My impressions: Medium ruby in color. Gobs of fresh fruit with bright cherries on the nose and a slightly herbal character at the short, thin finish. There is a lot of fruit in this wine, but it does not linger in the mouth. Virtually tannin free. After a couple of glasses and consulting my tasting book I was reminded of a better Australian blend I’d sampled last year and enjoyed greatly (and recommend highly)– Moloto “Jester”.

It would complement the traditional simple red accompaniments such as hamburgers, ribs, grilled beefsteak or pasta with red sauce. I paired it with a Tombstone “Original” Pizza (pepperoni and sausage) and enjoyed each completely and thoroughly.

At $11.89 for a 1.5 liter box it is the equivalent of a $6.00 750 mL bottle of wine. It is a simple wine, but it is a decent simple wine and at its price it is a good value.

August 28th Update: It has been a couple week since I first opened the box and have intentionally not finished it - choosing instead to let it sit and see how well it holds up. My experience is that most bottled wines have a shelf-life, once opened, of only a couple of days.

How would the boxed wine hold up? Well, the answer is: quite good.

Should you choose to dissect the box (as I did) you'd see that the product is contained in an airtight, bladder-like sac which did a fine job of keeping out oxygen and hence preclude the oxidation of the wine. I did not detect the flatness nor sourness as I have come to expect from corked bottles forgotten on the countertop.

All-in-all one more reason to embrace good cheap wine sold in boxes.

~ Terry

2007 Mirassou Pinot Grigio

Terry post:

Another in a series of good/great wines which can be found in restaurants for less than $30.

Okay. You may ask what is the difference between Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Gris? The answer is, “virtually nothing”. They are essentially the same grape but the names vary based upon where in the world you find yourself. In the U.S. the grape is called Pinot Grigio. I am not sure about which nation calls it which other than Italy where it is typically known as Pinot Gris.

Many Pinot Grigio’s have“issues” when served with food:
1) Lacking sufficient structure to stand up to foods. A typical situation is a wine which has a subtle floral or citrus nose and nothing else. This issue is common for many of the Italian Pinot Gris which I have tasted. Or,

2) Overwhelming floral nose and too much residual sweetness. Wines like this don’t complement the meal – they overwhelm the meal. This issue, in particular, is far too common with American Pinot Grigio.

They are generally fine summertime wines suitable for sipping poolside.

We carried the Mirassou brand on-and-off over the years I was Wine Director at Restaurant 213. We never committed deeply to the brand due to the inconsistency of their products: quite a few “hits” and a few too many “misses” to be perpetually listed. With this wine they hit a homerun and I recommend it without reservation.

My impressions: Multi-dimensional, food-friendly Pinot Grigio with the guts to be more than a summertime picnic wine. Very dry and hugely acidic (a good thing) for a Pinot Grigio while retaining the typical citrus and spice characteristics on the nose and finish. I would not avoid it poolside, but it is so superior to most of its type that it would be a shame not to take advantage of its food-friendly traits.

I paired a bottle with a Pork Calvados (pork filet medallions in a veal reduction) entrée and it held its own quite nicely – though I would not push it any further. I think it is perfectly suited to complement fish (grilled, fried or in a broth-based soup), fresh cheeses or fresh fruit.

We carried this wine at $27 per bottle (restaurant price) making it a very good value. It is widely distributed with over 50,000 cases produced so you should not have any problem finding it at your local wine shop or grocery store.

~ Terry

2007 Provenance Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley California

Terry post:

This is another in a series of posts regarding good or great wines to be found in restaurants for $30 or less.

From time-to-time we'd find a really good wine at a really good price and we'd feature it on the wine list. We'd highlight the name in bold print and list it as
a, "Restaurant 213 BEST VALUE Selection". Now, our intention was to highlight those wines which were good, good with food, and a good (or great) value

Funny thing about customers: sometimes they don't pay any attention to what you tell them.

In previous postings I have highlighted the fact that virtually every restaurant's wine list contains a few clunkers. It isn't intentional. It just happens. Perhaps that was the issue when we highlighted this wine - that our customers thought we were trying to pull a fast-one on them by discounting a clunker. That certainly wasn't our intention. It was a great wine. In fact, sauvignon blanc's generally do quite well but this one didn't sell well as long as we featured it as a "Best Value". Curious. Once we took it off that feature, its sales picked up.

My impressions: Fragrant pear, lemons and wet stone notes. Very acidic. Medium bodied with the pears and herbs at the finish. We sold it for $27 per bottle (restaurant price, should be lower at the wine shop) and it was, in my opinion, a great value. There were over 12,000 cases of this wine producted, so it should not be too difficult to find.

As is typical with sauvignon blancs, this one is wonderful with most any white meat (fish, chicken, pork) but it would not stand up well to red meats. While very acidic for a sauvignon blanc, I still would not pair this with any dish whose base featured butter or cream.

My personal favorite pairing of this wine is with oysters broiled, Rockefeller or raw on the half shell.

~ Terry

Estrella Chardonnay 2006

Terry post:

Lest you think that I like all the wines which I taste, let me assure you that I have tasted some downright awful wine over the past few years and a few (for one reason or another) still find their way onto the winelist.

In an earlier postining I'd noted that there is alot of crap on the average winelist. A classic example would be that of a down year for a usually superior wine. For instance, the 2002 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Sinards, Perrin & Fils. This year was awful: bitter, fruitless, herbal with no depth whatsoever (a blessing acutally). This Châteauneuf-du-Pape is 9 times out of 10 a superb wine reflecting all that is great about this winegrowing region. But like a lot of other restaurants we purchased several cases in advance of bottling and advance of reviewing and were stuck with a dog. Of course we put it on the wine list, but we did discount its price somewhat. So even restaurants such as "213" will carry a less than great wine for one reason or another.

A second reason you'll end up with a sub-par wine is profitability. Take for
instance a bottle of Estrella Chardonnay 2006. This less-than-stellar wine will cost a restaurant about $3.50 to buy and sell four pours at $6 to $8 per pour. The first pour pays for the bottle and the remaining pours all contribute to the nightly gross. At "213" Estrella was the low priced leader and we sold it only by the glass for those individuals who wanted wine but would not pay the $30 or more per bottle to buy a carefully selected wine which, in most cases, was a vastly superior wine.

My impressions: Pale yellow color. Some fruit but more earthiness than I have come to expect from my white wines. A little apple. Crisp, perhaps too crisp. Refreshing. A great value, but a chardonnay engineered more for sipping in the shade than pairing with food.

Oh. An another downside of Estrella: it is widely available and the customers know how much a bottle costs at their local grocery store.

~ Terry

2007 Smoking Loon Pinot Noir California

Terry post:

I have enjoyed this mid-priced brand for several years and was somewhat taken aback last year when the logo for this brand changed. The formerly politically incorrect
logo featured a prominant loon with a big stoggie in it's mouth: as a cigar smoker, I found the logo irresistible. I note with some regret that the smoking loon seems to have been victimized by a new logo which renders the still present loon and its cigar to a very, very small image on a large yellow background. Enough marketing.

My impressions: Great color (deep, deep red), huge cherry nose with some bitter herbal notes on a long finish. It is pretty much what I expect to find in a low to mid-priced pinot - nothing special, but also no critical faults which would stop me from buying it again. At $9.99 for a 750 Ml bottle at my local grocery store is a good value, and not a great value.

I paired the wine this past Monday with a Salvadoran Cherizo and fresh cheese sandwich. I fried the cherizo and sliced it sidewise and topped it with fresh Mexican cheese on a small toasted baguette. The wine stood up very well to the spicy Salvadoran sausage.

Despite the move to an uber PC label (minus the stoggie), I still find Smoking Loon to be a solid mid-priced wine which is reliable and available across multiple varietals.

~ Terry

Gallo Family Merlot (NV)

Terry Post:

Okay you may ask. What about that Gallo Family Merlot (NV) you wrote about a week ago to accompany the Beef Burgundy?

My thoughts: Medium-weight wine and not at all like the agressive heavy-weight Bordeaux's. Soft and supple with obvious cherry and chocolate notes typical of Merlot. If it was blended with Cabernet Sauvignon it is a very subtle low-percentage blending because the tannic nature of the Cab is not evident. If it is there, it is very subtle indeed. Great color.

Gallo suffers when it tries to make something other than jug wine because, well, it made jug wine for so many years.

If I were in charge of Gallo I would acknowledge the branding issue that haunts the company and stand up a series of artisan small-scale brands to complement the mother ship. Were the label on this wine bottle anything other than Gallo, they’d be able to double the price without any push-back from the wine drinking population.

Do I like it? Yes.

Would I buy it again? Yes.

~ Terry