[Wine Log] Marshal's 2006 Barbera

Wine: Marshal's Winery - Tunnel Vision Red Barbera
Year: 2006
Region: Washington State
Alcohol: 13%

Recently married RJ and Hoppers drove on a cross-country climbing extravaganza, and were kind enough to return from their trip with piles of west-coast beer and wine. Among their generously-shared spoils was a bottle of 2006 Barbera, a varietal that I have tried once or twice, but rarely been impressed with.

The Tunnel Vision Red Barbera proved this grape to be quite delightful. The nose is rich and a lot like a (good) Malbec, with warm molasses notes, dark chocolate and spices. The color is extremely, extremely dark and opaque; very deep burgundy not at all leggy, and with a bit of sediment. To taste the wine is sweeter and more citrus than the nose would suggest, but still rich and filling with a long, spicy finish.

Absolutely excellent - I know I will regret not being able to get this wine in Atlanta.

[Wine Log] Mapreco Dão

Wine: Mapreco Dão
Year: 2003
Region: Portugal
Alcohol: 12.5%

Let it be known that wine is very pricey in New York City. In the little shop I found a few blocks from my hotel, this Dão was the only red wine under $10 I could find. It's a 2003, surely it can't be so horrible as that, right?

Anyway, the wine is one of the darkest I've seen - a deep dusky plum, edging more to the purple-brown end of the spectrum than the red. It is also very opaque and dark; I can't see through even a small amount.

The scent of the Dão is pleasant and rich - very much a "port" smell more than a standard red wine scent. Heavy brown sugar and caramel overtones at first, mellowing eventually into dark berries and currant.

The taste of the wine diverges hugely from the scent. The flavors in the wine are both sharp and dry, not at all heavy and sugary like the nose suggested. The most prominent flavor is a tart, lemony berry. At first I thought it was too sharp for me, but after breathing a bit it was quite drinkable.

I wouldn't seek this wine out again, but it will certainly do for an evening in the city - and being the cheapest bottle in the store.

[Wine Log] State Lane Orange Muscat

Wine: State Lane Orange Muscat
Vinyard: Goosecross Cellars
Year: 2007
Region: Mendocino
Alcohol: 8.7%

A recent Wine.Woot purchase rewarded us with four bottles of two different off-whites, one of which is the State Lane Orange Muscat. I admit that I bought this particular set just because I had no idea what an orange muscat would be like, and I was dying of curiosity.

Once this white is in a glass, I nearly think I wouldn't be able to distinguish it from a glass of water. If you stare at it really hard you can detect the slightest golden hue, but it's quite clear overall.

I had trouble categorizing the scents in the orange muscat at first, but once it was less chilled I had more luck. There are definite flowery notes, along with light fruit (citrus, banana, apple). There is also a vaguely spicy smell, like ground pepper - so subtle that I almost missed it, but it tickled my nose just enough for me to notice.

The flavor of this muscat is absolutely divine - I can already tell I'm going to be looking for a case. It is characterized by the muscat sweetness, but where so many wines edge towards "saccharine," the State Lane is just right. The spicy scent is definitely identifiable in the taste as well, and goes a long way towards balancing the sweetness and keeping it from becoming cloying. That spicy note takes on a sweeter note in the taste - more cinnamon spice than pepper spice. There are quite a few other bright flavors: a light honey flavor (honey suckle?), sweet lemon, and a very prevalent orange blossom and other flowers. It is wonderfully quenching to drink, and I can see it being great company on a hot summer afternoon.

Sorry, I thought I was done with this review, but I checked what the web site had to say about this wine... and I just had to gloat about how well my tasting notes lined up:

Vibrantly fruity and aromatic, it’s bursting with sweet orange blossom, honeysuckle, exotic lychee and fresh melon. An enticing sweetness accentuates the lush floral and tropical flavors, finishing with a mouthwatering kiss of citrus.

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all decade.

[Wine Log] Mandolina Malvasia Bianca

Wine: Mandolina Malvasia Bianca
Year: 2007
Region: Santa Barbara
Alcohol: 12.8%

A few weeks ago wine.woot ran a little special on a case of Mandolina wines. The price was too good to pass up, so we took the plunge and ordered one. All of the wines included are fairly simgular - lots of interesting, rare grapes grown only on very small plots. The Malvasia Bianca is from a plot of 4 square acres, and only 437 cases were released.

This white wine is so light that it's almost clear with just the tiniest hint of pale gold. The nose is perfumey and flowery with peach, but not cloying. There's a hint of something sharp in the nose that keeps it from being overwhelming.

To taste, the Malvasia Bianca is very sweet, but with a spicy kick. Lots of very fruity flavors including apricot, lemon, and something flowery - maybe jasmine or lavender. The flavor is easily as sweet as a moscato, but the sharp, spicy kick saves it from being overwhelmingly saccharine - the bottle describes the style as "off-dry."

We raced through the bottle - it goes down like sweet, refreshing water. Delicious!

[Wine Log] Girardet 2006 Gewürztraminer

Wine: Giradet Gewürztraminer
Year: 2006
Region: Southern Oregon - Umpqua Valley
Alcohol: 11.5%

Have we ever reviewed an ice wine in this blog? I don't think we have! A momentous occasion! For that reason I'll overlook the fact that the stamp on top of this particular bottle of wine looks a lot like a UGA endorsement and give it a fair shot.

This ice wine is syrupy to pour and is a pale translucent corn-silk color. The nose is very rich and warm, with heavy floral tones, especially honeysuckle. There's just a little bit of a tang to the end of the scent.

The taste is as thick as it appears when poured, with very fruity flavors including pineapple and apricot, with the latter lingering for a long finish. There's a very little bit of the floral smell also in the taste, and when you lick your lips afterwards (as you will inevitably have to do, because the liquid is so thick) it has a honeyed vanilla flavor.

[Wine Log] Terra Barossa Cuvée

Wine: Terra Barossa Cuvée
Price: $12.79
Vintage: 2006
Region: Australia

This wine is bright red, somewhere between ruby and magenta. It has a slightly toasty nose, with a strong blackberry note and maybe a bit of citrus - all in all a very subtle scent, rather than anything too glaring.

On tasting, we were caught off guard by how sweet the flavor was - without any sharp edges, tartness, or dryness. Lots of red fruity taste, and something that brings to mind sugared cranberries.

I'd like to point out that the web site for this Cuvée describes the taste as "medium to full bodied palate showing mouthfilling rich Satsuma plums, blackberry and liquorice," while the back of the bottle claims "full, rich, blackberry fruit characters and creamy oak." Apparently they couldn't make up their minds, either.

Overall: quite tasty and drinkable, but a little too dull. In the end it goes down nonchalantly, and isn't particularly remarkable to drink. We probably won't seek out another bottle - while good enough, we could buy any number of more interesting or less expensive wines.

[Wine Log] Medieval Rioja 2005

Wine: Medieval Rioja
Price: $11
Vintage: 2005
Region: Spain

This Rioja is a very dark burgundy, leaning more towards the brown-burgundy end of the spectrum than the plum or purple end. The Vintage Wine's website tells me that it's made from 80% Tempranillo, 15% Mazuelo, 5% Graciano grapes. It has a very sweet and fruity bouquet, with hints of cherry and apricot - it smells very wet and juicy.

The flavour of the wine itself is quite subtle, starting out almost too bland (the nice scent of the wine saves it from being boring, luckily), but finishing both sweet and tart - almost lemony.

[Wine Log] Tin Roof Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine: Tin Roof Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon
Price: $12
Vintage: 2005
Region: California

I'm in DC for work this week, so what better way to spend this gorgeous evening than curled up in a patch of sunlight with a trashy book and a glass of wine? And, while I'm waiting for it to breathe, why not write a quick review in this poor, neglected blog?

First and foremost, I want to give props to the Tin Roof website - any wine site that gives me recipes for meals that pair well with each of their wines wins in my book. Now, on to business!

This Tin Roof Cab has a very nice dark burgundy color. The nose is one of cinnamon and spices, with a heavy dose of flowery plumb. It has a very hearty flavour and is very wet and rich - very little dryness or acidity for a Cab... though it does seem to be gaining a bit more of both of those as I let it sit. I'm getting a lot of blackberry and cherry, with something a little woody on the end. Overall it's very tasty and quite drinkable - I think it will do well to keep me company this evening.

[Wine Log] Bodegas Montebuena Rioja

Wine: Bodegas Montebuena Rioja
Price: $12
Vintage: 2004
Region: Spain

My artistic eye serves me well on this wine! I still haven't really mastered the skill of picking out more than one or so flavor from smelling or tasting wines, but I nailed the color of this one on the head, looking at it and saying "wow, this is a really rich, almost crystalline ruby color!" JD looks at the bottle's description, and sure enough, the exact words the used were "rich ruby color." Damn I'm good.

As for the nose, I was getting something peppery and something flowery, maybe roses? When tasted the flavors detected were spicy and sweet, though very sharp. Looking at a couple of professional reviews, the "pepper" I smelled is more widely described as "herbs" and the "roses" were "red fruits." I suppose that's fairly close. Oh, actually, I just found this review:

"Dark red. Spicy red berries and cherry on the nose, with hints of cracked pepper and dried rose. Crisp and dry on the palate, with spicy redcurrant and cherry flavors, light tannins and a fresh, energetic finish. An excellent value, and surprisingly elegant for this price point."
- International Wine Cellar (July/Aug 2007), 88 pts

So maybe we were more dead on in our descriptions than I expected! How pleasing!

The other common thread in all of the reviews I'm reading is that this Rioja is excellent for the price, which I can definitely get behind. I very much want to purchase this wine again, it was excellent!

[Wine Log] Bogle - Pinot Noir

Wine: Bogle (Russian River Valley) - Pinot Noir
Price: $12
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol Content: 14.2%

I picked up a Bogle Petite Sirah on the recommendation form a very friendly and adorable shop keeper a few months ago (the night of Psiu's last initiation, actually). I liked it rather a lot, so when I saw the Bogle Pinot Noir at Total Wine I decided to grab a bottle.

It was a good call, as it turns out. The Pinot Noir is very, very drinkable... in fact, almost chugable - which isn't necessarily a word that wine-snobs should use, but it's still true. I fear I didn't do a very complete analysis of the wine's color, nose, and flavor, but I did have a couple of observations. Through blue glass the Pinot Noir is a very rich burgundy, which leads me to believe it would have a nice magenta color through a real wine glass (yes, we've been drinking so much wine lately that we didn't have any clean wine glasses, so we drank out of high-ball glasses. Again with the Bad Wine Snobbery). As for flavor, it was very very wet and fruity, with no sting or bite at all. However, it still managed to have a very "winey" flavor - which is to say that it didn't drink like Arbor Mist or a cheap Beaujolais.

My one complaint is that JD and I both woke up with headaches the morning after drinking only 2/3 of the bottle. I'd blame this on high levels of tannins, but wikipedia informs me that Pinot Noirs, Beaujolais and Tempranillos usually have much lower levels of tannins than some other varieties, so maybe this one can be blamed on the Lambic that was consumed later in the night.

I'll definitely be wanting to buy the Bogle Pinot Noir again, for a nice, easily drinkable, sweet wine.

[Wine Log]Terra Andina - Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine: Terra Andina (Reserva) - Cabernet Sauvignon
Price: $7
Region: Chile
Alcohol Content: 13.8%

Last night we hit up Total Wine and did our best to refill our wine rack by stocking up on 14 or 15 bottles. Sadly, they didn't have any of our usual favorite - the Terra Andina Carmenère - but they did have a Terra Andina Cab that we'd never seen before. Naturally, we grabbed a couple of bottles.

It definitely didn't disappoint. It was immensely drinkable and quite tasty. My first impression was that it had a bit of a bite to it, which JD didn't at all agree with... until about half an hour later. Hah. I noticed that it had a sweet aftertaste, and I was tasting a lot of plum and currant.

For this wine, I'll cheat and copy over what the Terra Andina site tells us:
Color: Deep ruby red
Aroma: Shows ripe red fruit mingled with a fine core of blackcurrant and blackberry, graphite, hint of eucalyptus, dry plums and black pepper.
Palate: Great balance with good structure and firm fine- grained tannins. Solid with a good depth on the finish.

Well. At least I called the plum. Also, I have no idea what "depth of finish" means - I'll have to look that one up.

Overall impressions: great price, quite delicious. Not as tasty as the Carmenere, but definitely worth buying.