Today we have a double-header from William Cole, with two of their 2010 pinot noir releases. Both of these come from the Casablanca Valley, a superb cool-climate region in Chile.
2010 William Cole Albamar Pinot Noir
This wine presents some really intiguing herbal aromatics that I would describe as “stalky”. Think dried grasses and herbs. That’s the smell. It also shows some tree bark, rhubarb and raspberry aromas. On the down side, the alcohol is a bit strong on the nose. On the palate, this wine brings rich raspberry and cranberry flavors, along with plenty of spice. I often say that I enjoy the nose of a wine more than the palate, but in this case it’s the palate that I enjoy the most. The nose is interesting, but the herbal characteristics are almost overbearing. But still, this is a fun pinot noir.
Wine: William Cole Albamar
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 84
Price: $13.00
2010 William Cole Columbine Special Reserve Pinot Noir
Last year, we reviewed the 2009 vintage of this wine and it was outstanding. And while the 2010 is still enjoyable, it’s not quite as good as the 2009. This is one of those occasions when I’m reminded how much difference a vintage can make.
True to form with other Chilean pinot noir we’ve tasted this year, including the William Cole Albamar, the Columbine Special Reserve pinot noir has some very strong herbal notes on the nose. In this wine, I would describe those aromas as a cross of tomato leaf and sage. The nose also offers some raspberry and cherry aromas. In the mouth, this wine is very approachable with a tasty red berry blend of raspberry, cherry and strawberry flavors. It has a little bit of spice and mineral on the finish. While I enjoyed this wine, the herbal fragrances are a bit intense and won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
Wine: William Cole Columbine Special Reserve
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $15.00
Disclosure: These wines were received as samples.
Fat Monk wines are produced by the Villa San-Juliette Winery in Paso Robles. You may recall a review we did of the Villa San-Juliette Zinfandel earlier this year, when we shared the background of this winery which is owned by the producers of American Idol. Fat Monk is their bargain brand, although the prices aren’t too out of control on the Villa San-Juliette wines either.
While the winery is in Paso Robles, the appellation designation on Fat Monk is “Central Coast,” indicating that the grapes are not necessarily from Paso Robles, but they are from the same general area.
The nose is slightly on the tight side, but it still has plenty of good stuff to offer. Baking spice aromas, like nutmeg and allspice, give this wine some real character and those spices are layered over the cherry and raspberry aromatics that you might expect from a California pinot. The palate is brimming with ripe fruit flavors, like strawberry and cherry. It gives a touch of spice in the mid-palate too. And the finish is surprisingly long, although a touch bitter.
Overall, I’m impressed for $15. The bad news is that they didn’t produce a lot of this wine. In fact, they’re already sold out on their website. But you may get lucky enough to stumble across this in your local wine shop.
Wine: Fat Monk
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 87
Price: $15.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Yesterday, we reviewed the Godwin Family Vineyards 2004 Merlot and we found it to be quite impressive. “The wine does a nice job of mimicking a Pomerol, but with a traditional California style all it’s own”, is what I said of that wine. You can read more on the 2004, but it’s time to review the 2005. Does it offer the same experience as the 2004? Let’s find out.
I was expecting a balanced wine offering smooth, lush tannins, well integrated with a core of plum fruit that is typical of California merlot. For the most part the Godwin 2005 did not disappoint, but it didn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations set by it’s predecessor.
Throughout my initial sampling of the 2005, the wine put out some hints of ammonia; although, this dissipated as the wine had time to open up. Ammonia can be an indication of some extra nitrogen from the fermentation process. It’s not unusual in some vintages for nitrogen levels to be supplemented. When the fermentation process becomes “stuck” or sluggish, due to low nitrogen levels, some winemakers may add a supplement such as di-ammonium phospate (DAP), which is an ammonium source. The result is accelerated fermentation, but with the potential of some off-putting aromas.
Now, this is not to suggest that this is what caused these aromas. It’s simply one potential explanation. The point here is that some aromas in fine wine, (or odors as others may choose to refer to them) stem from the winemaking process, and given appropriate time to aerate, wines are capable of shedding these aromas and providing a perfectly fine wine experience. And this was certainly the case with the Godwin 2005.
It has all the great balance and structure of the 2004, but with less intensity. The fruit is also there, but again with less intensity. It offers a different aroma structure than the 2004, which was more fruit dominant, but the 2005 is still nuanced and complex. So while I rated the 2005 highly, it doesn’t rate as highly as the 2004. Nature made the 2004 very good. Winemakers made the 2005 very good. But when it comes to winemaking, nature always wins.
A Salute!
Wine: Godwin Family Vineyards
Variety: Merlot
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 14.8%
Rating: 88
Price: $35.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Occasionally here at Cheapwineratings.com we receive wines that don’t necessarily meet our criteria, meaning they’re not exactly “cheap”. But if we believe these wines may still represent a value to our consumers who may be looking for something a little more special, we’ll certainly pass on our perspective. So when Godwin Family Vineyards sent us a pair of their Sonoma Valley merlots, one from the 2004 vintage and the other from 2005, both at the “suggested” $35 price point, we didn’t pass up the opportunity to sample and review the wines.
Godwin specifically uses the words “Bordeaux varietal” on the back label to reference the blend. While completely accurate, it’s use coupled with a comparison to Pomerol wines should give you an indication of the style that Godwin is aiming for. And at $35 a bottle, if they can “rival” the quality and style of French Pomerol, then it would definitely represent a strong value. Godwin sources merlot grapes from two different vineyards. While 5% of the grapes come the Stagecoach vineyard near Atlas Peak in Napa, 95% of the blend is made up of grapes from the Nelson Vineyard in the foothills around Sonoma Mountain. Winemaker Kerry Damskey ferments the blend in open top tanks for 21 days. Then the wine sees 23 months in 100% French oak barrels, about half of which are new. Production is relatively small at 650 cases.
The 2004 vintage was favorable in Northern California, and while crop yields were about 20 – 50% below normal in some cases, the grapes ripened well, particularly Sonoma-grown merlot, which faired very well in 2004. Sugar levels in the grapes achieved 10% even as most grapes in Sonoma in 2004 were harvested early. The result is a wine with a not-so-Pomerol-like 14.8% alcohol by volume. But it seems to work well with the style that Godwin has produced.
The wine has an absolutely wonderful nose that I would have enjoyed all day long. It’s quite complex, offering rich blackberry and black currant, with sage and cedar. Initially, the wine offers hints of fruitcake or sweet bread that dissipate and get lost as the wine opens up. The wine is quite opaque with a rich purple plum color with garnet hues. On the palate, the wine doesn’t offer overwhelming fruit, but it is well balanced against the lush tannin and acid. It may have displayed some characteristic plum at one point, but the fruit at the moment is decidedly darker with blackberry and currant. The finish is long and expansive with lush cedary tannins lingering for what seems to be minutes.
The wine does a nice job of mimicking a Pomerol, but with a traditional California style all it’s own. Which is to say big alcohol and rich tannins. But when you’re blessed with such ripe fruit as you get from the region, it’s hard not to exploit that. Still I have to applaud the winemaking here, as I found this a very enjoyable wine, both with food and as a quaffer.
But is it a value? Well, I’ll leave that ultimately up for you to decide. But if I were you, I would buy a bottle and stick it in the cellar for a few more years. And if you happen to find the 2004 Godwin Family Vineyards Sonoma County Merlot for less than the suggested $35.00 retail, first let me know, and second, buy 2!
A Salute!
Wine: Godwin Family Vineyards
Variety: Merlot
Vintage: 2004
Alcohol: 14.8%
Rating: 91
Price: $35.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Continuing the theme of not-so-cheap wines this week, AND continuing our exploration of pinot noir tonight we’re revisiting a brand we love, X Winery. I know, it doesn’t sound too impartial when I introduce them as a brand we love. But we love them because they seem to be pretty darn consistent at producing tasty wines.
Unfortunately though, they’re making an appearance here during our not-so-cheap week. Meaning that this wine retails for over $20 a bottle. So while we love X Winery, we’d love them even more if they could bring the price of this pinot noir down just a touch. And it is just a touch, as it’s not way, way, way over our typical price limit. There may even be a chance you’d find this on sale for $20, if you’re really lucky.
Now for all my griping about price, it’s understandable why this isn’t a $10 bargain bottle. The grapes in this wine come from Truchard Vineyard in the Carneros AVA in Napa Valley. That’s some premium vineyard land. And quite frankly, the quality is a step above most of the less expensive pinot noir I’ve tasted.
Vanilla aromas jump from the glass and tickle your nose with this wine. You’ll also find cherry cola, plum and a slight floral fragrance. The palate is absolutely smooth, offering an exceptionally nice mouth feel. Rich plum and cherry flavors on the front of the palate make this wine very approachable and a touch of spice on the finish makes it interesting. Admittedly, it’s not the most exotic pinot noir, but it’s very tasty.
Wine: X Winery Carneros – Napa Valley Truchard Vineyard Pinot Noir
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 145%
Rating: 91
Price: $26.99
Find X Winery Carneros – Napa Valley Truchard Vineyard Pinot Noir with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
OK, so we’ve been posting some reviews for bargain-priced merlot lately but how can we really know how these are measuring up if we don’t taste some higher-end pinot noir? Well, I’m not going to taste any really high-end pinots, but I’ve gotten a couple that are over our typical $20 price limit. And rather than let them go to waste, why not taste them? 😉
In fact, let’s make it a full week of not-so-cheap wine ratings. I’ll review a couple pinot noirs that are over $20 and David has a couple pricey merlots to review. But don’t worry, we’ll get back to the cheap stuff after this week.
The wine I’m reviewing today is from Hahn Family Wines and their SLH Estate, which stands for Santa Lucia Highlands. This is a cool climate wine region where the vines are planted on the southeast facing terraces of the Santa Lucia mountains, overlooking the Salinas River Valley. As a cool climate region, it’s particularly good for pinot noir and chardonnay.
Hahn has four different vineyards within this appellation, totaling 650 acres. These vineyards range in elevation from 200 – 1,200 feet. And the wine they’re producing from it is nothing short of impressive.
Some people hate this descriptor, but I find the nose of this wine to be nice and round. By that, I mean the opposite of sharp. With some wines, the aromas hit you in one spot and have a sharp feel to them as you smell them, but this wine has a soft feel to the aromas. One that gently hits your nasal passages. I guess you could call it “smooth.” The aromas are ripe plum, cherry, tree sap and a little bit of nutmeg.
The palate also has a smooth aspect to it, with a really pleasant mouthfeel and flavors that spread across your whole tongue. It has flavors of blackberry, black cherry, cola and bacon fat. The finish is exceptionally long and brimming with mouth-watering plum flavors. This is a really, really nice wine.
Wine: Hahn SLH Estate Pinot Noir
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 93
Price: $35.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
One of the things I like about Irony, the wine producer that is, is that their approach to business is to not spend money on lavish estates and such but they keep their expenses focused on the production of the wine. The result is good value for us, the consumers.
For a couple years I’ve heard some chatter about Irony pinot noir and what a great value, but until this year I hadn’t taken the time to taste it for myself. But I’m glad that I finally did. They actually have two pinot noirs, this one from Monterey County and another from the Russian River Valley, which I have not tasted.
The nose on this wine is nice, with cherry and floral aromas, plus a touch of mushroom giving it an earthy quality. The palate is filled with rich cherry and strawberry flavors. The acidity is sufficient and the tannins give a pleasant texture to the mouth feel, although I wouldn’t call this wine “velvety.” It has a nice, tart spark to it on the mid palate. The one downfall of this wine is that the finish falls off. There’s just not much there. But still, it’s a very drinkable and tasty pinot noir.
Wine: Irony Monterey County
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 113.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $12.00
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Want another opinion? Here’s what other’s thought of the 2009 Irony Monterey County Pinot Noir:
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
When one thinks of wine from New Zealand, sauvignon blanc is typically the first wine that comes to mind. I’ll raise my hand and say that I too am guilty of ignoring New Zealand wines, other than sauvignon blanc. But there’s no reason for this. They produce plenty of other great wines. But I guess the sauvignon blanc is just so tasty that it overshadows the others. Well, I have to tell you, if I keep tasting pinot noir like this out of New Zealand the sauvignon blanc will be the one in the shadows.
The Stoneleigh pinot noir comes from vineyards in the northern side of the Wairau valley in the Marlborough wine region of New Zealand. The area where this wine is produced is covered with smooth stones, which the producers call “sunstones.” These stones reflect the sun’s heat onto the grapes, which is said to help ripening.
The wine was matured in French barriques, which add a nice spicy characteristic to the wine.
I really dig this pinot noir. The nose is beautiful, with a lot of spice which I would describe as a combination of nutmeg and rose petals. It also has plenty of cherry and rasperry on the nose. The palate is really nice too, with plenty of cherry and raspberry flavors, a bit of spice, good acidity and a nice mouth feel. But best of all this wine has drikability, which is arguably the most important quality for a wine to have.
Wine: Stoneleigh
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 87
Price: $15.00
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Want another opinion? Here’s what some other folks thought of the 2009 Stoneleigh pinot noir:
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
When I review European wines, I often find myself telling a story of several generations within a family carrying on a tradition of winemaking. But it’s not often that I have the same story to tell about an American wine producer. Concannon Vineyard, however, is one American producer with a long history. The vineyard was first planted and the winery built way back in 1883 and the family is now into their fourth generation of winemaking.
It’s also one of those brands that I think of as being somewhere between the ultra-cheap and premium. But it’s not much more expensive than the ultra-cheap, with a suggested retail price of $10. And while it’s not exactly sex in a glass, for the price it’s not a bad wine.
This pinot noir is spicy on the nose with nutmeg, cherry and tree bark aromas. The palate brings really crisp acidity and a soft-textured mouth feel. This wine is loaded with fruit flavors like strawberry, cherry and plum. And while it is fruit-forward, I wouldn’t call it a fruit bomb. It’s still balanced and structured. The mid-palate brings a lively burst of strawberry flavors, that just sing. The finish adds some tea-like tannins to the fruit flavors and is relatively long. While this is not the most mind-blowing pinot noir I’ve had, it’s a decent bottle of wine for a bargain hunter.
Wine: Concannon Central Coast Pinot Noir
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $10.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
The weather has started to turn to autumn here and that means it’s time to start drinking some pinot noir! Let’s start the pinot noir exploration with one from Chile.
Five years ago, if you had offered me a Chilean pinot noir I probably would have reluctantly tried it without expecting much. But things are changing when it comes to chilean pinot. They’ve figured out what works for pinot noir in their terroir and they’re producing some nice pinot these days.
Pinot noir is a cool climate grape and Chile’s Casablanca Valley is an exceptional cool climate appellation. And that’s where this Veramonte pinot noir is produced.
The nose on this pinot noir is absolutely fascinating. There’s a really intense cherry aroma, which gives a good base to the nose. Alongside the cherry, you’ll find lots of spice and herb aromas that give this wine a lot of charcter. It does have some mint fragrances, which were a little aggressive at first but once the wine opens up that aroma becomes more integrated and approachable. It also has some black pepper, truffle and cola aromas. The palate has a really nice mouth feel with cherry and raspberry flavors. The acidity is perfect. It finishes with a little bit of nutmeg and cherry.
Wine: Veramonte
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 88
Price: $13.99
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
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