Continuing with the current theme of zinfandel, tonight we’re reviewing a cult classic of sorts in the zin drinking world. 7 Deadly Zins is a trusted favorite of many zin fanatics. It has a fun and memorable name. It’s got some tasty juice in it. And it’s affordable. What more could you want from a zinfandel?
7 Deadly Zins is produced by Michael David Winery, one of the producers that’s on my “yes, please” list. I can’t recall ever tasting a wine of theirs that I didn’t like—but more importantly, I can remember tasting several of their wines over the years that have made me say, “Wow, that’s good! What is it?” Unfortunately, some of those wines have been in a price range that’s above what we typically consider a bargain. But they do have some, like 7 Deadly Zins, that are priced just right.
This is a Lodi zinfandel, meaning it’s from the Lodi region in California. If you’re a zin junkie, you probably already know about Lodi. If you’re just getting into zinfandel, make a note of it and try several from this region.
7 Deadly Zins is made with grapes from seven of the best growers in the Lodi region. That’s where the name comes from… well, the fact that the grapes came from seven growers and the fact that it’s a fun and memorable pun. The zinfandel is blended with a little bit of petite sirah and petite verdot.
The color of this wine is a dark, dark purplish-red. The nose has outstanding intensity and complexity, with an aroma that’s like blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. It also has a cola-like note in the bouquet. The palate is brimming with spiced blackberry and cherry flavors. Dark chocolate flavors come in on the mid-palate and stay through the finish, which also reveals a spicy pepper note. The acidity is great, the mouth feel is nice and the finish is long. This is a really nice zinfandel.
Wine: 7 Deadly Zins
Variety: Zinfandel
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 15%
Rating: 89
Price: $16.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Summer is quickly approaching, and that means grilling season. And grilling season means it’s time for zinfandel. While summer is a great time to try some cool, crisp white wines, if you’re looking for a wine to go with your burgers from the grill, then it’s zinfandel you should be grabbing. I’m not talking about that disgustingly sweet white zinfandel, I’m talking about red, bold, spicy zinfandel. To get you ready for the season, I’m going to present a number of zinfandel reviews over the next couple weeks.
This one from Redwook Creek is a bargain-priced Lod zin, at only $8.00. I don’t have a whole lot of story to go behind this wine. It’s an E&J Gallo brand — one of many.
My first impression of this wine is that it’s pleasant, but not extraordinarily exciting. The nose has aromas of vanilla and berries, with moderate intensity. The palate is a fruit bomb, with very concentrated black cherry and raspberry flavors. It leans toward being sweet, without being jammy. A bit of spice comes into play on the finish, but it dances with the sweetness from residual sugar.
It’s an approachable, easy-drinking wine. But it doesn’t scream “zinfandel” to me. I expect wine snobs would turn their nose at the residual sugar, but most average wine consumers will find it pleasant.
Wine: Redwood Creek
Variety: Zinfandel
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 83
Price: $8.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
We review a lot of wines here, but surprisingly only a handful of them end up on my personal list of trusted favorites. This is one of those wines.
Brazin if fairly young as a brand, although the winemaker behind it, Sue Hofmann, has plenty of experience. We first discovered it with the 2007 vintage, when there was just one wine offered by Brazin. Now they produce four different zinfandels under the Brazin brand, including some single vineyard releases. But their Lodi Old Vine Zin is the most widely available, and the most affordable of the bunch.
Although it’s only $15.00, this is a serious zinfandel. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s fruity and it’s spicy. The wine is matured in oak barrels to give it a bit of spice. And at 15% alcohol by volume, it has a kick.
We did a mini-review of this Brazin back in March, when I met up with Sue Hofmann before the Cincinnati International Wine Festival. But I didn’t score the wine then, as I wasn’t tasting it in my typical fashion. So, I thought it would be good to do a formal review of it.
The first thing to stand out about this wine is the intensity on the nose. When you pull the cork and pour it, it instantly has outstanding intensity without decanting or giving it time to open up. It has plenty of fruit aromas, like cherry and raspberry, but there’s more to this wine than fruit. The nose is also a touch smoky and it shows some coffee aromas. The palate it bursting with spiced fruit flavors. It’s like a blend of plums and black cherries sprinkled with nutmeg. The concentration is outstanding. It has good acidity and a pleasant mouth feel. Mid-palate brings a bit of a black tea flavor and it finishes with cherry and black pepper flavors. This is an extraordinary zinfandel for the price.
Wine: Brazin – Lodi Old Vine Zin
Variety: Zinfandel
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 15%
Rating: 90
Price: $15.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Tonight we’re checking out two Portuguese wines from Alente, which is a producer in the Alentejo region of Portugal.
As I’ve commented in the past, I think some of the best values in wine are from Portugal. Unfortunately, I’ve found that distribution of Portuguese wines is a bit spotty in the US. In my region, I don’t find many of them and they are usually tucked into the Spanish section of wine shops.
These two wines were not tasted blind. I feel like I’ve been saying that on a lot of reviews lately, but that’s mostly because I’m going through some odds and ends for which a blind tasting would be pointless. I have no preconceived notions about these wines, other than the fact that I think Portugal has some great value wines to offer. But at the same time, I’ve had plenty of Portuguese wines that have left me unimpressed. So… let’s find out what these two are all about.
Alente – Antão Vaz | Arinto
The Antão Vaz and Arinto names on this wine are the grapes varieties used to produce it. Have you had them before? I hadn’t, so we’re exploring with this one. This is a white wine, fermented in a combination of vats and new American oak.
As a wine made from grape varieties with which I’m not familiar, I find myself looking for familiar references to compare to this wine. And the nose strikes me as being somewhat inbetween a chardonnay and a sauvignon blanc. It has some of the apple, melon and oak I’d expect from a chardonnay, but also a good bit of tropical fruit aromas. The palate is really interesting, with very nice peach and melon flavors and a creamy mouth feel. But what’s really interesting is the mid-palate, which brings a hot and spicy note for a second that fades into peach flavors on a lingering finish. I’m impressed with this wine. It’s fun.
Wine: Alente
Variety: Antão Vaz and Arinto
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $9.99
Alente – Trincadeira | Aragonez
Similar to the first wine, Trincadeira and Aragonez are the grape varieties. At least one of these is a more familiar grape, as Aragonez is a Portuguese name for Tempranillo.
This red wine was fermented in small vats and aged in a combination of French and American oak barrels.
The nose on this wine is pleasant, with black pepper and berry aromas. The wine comes to life much more on the palate, where the acidity is outstanding. It has a raspberry and cherry flavor, with good concentration. The tannins are firm, giving some texture to the mouth feel and slight black tea flavor on the finish. But there is also plenty of cherry flavor on the finish to keep the tannins from making the wine seem bitter. This is another interesting wine, with an old world edge.
Wine: Alente
Variety: Trincadeira and Aragonez
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 85
Price: $9.99
Disclosure: Thees wines were received as a sample.
A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to take part in a Chilean wine tasting with several other wine bloggers around the country. It was a virtual tasting, meaning that we were connected “virtually” not that we virtually tasted… we really did taste the wines. But we were connected via a web conference with all the other bloggers participating and with the winemakers in Chile. I’ve done a few of these before, and it’s always an interesting way to taste and learn about a few new wines.
The theme for this tasting was “cool climate reds,” which means red wines produced in cool climate regions. You see, some grape varieties perform better with cool conditions versus hot. And some just perform differently. In this tasting, it was pinot noir and syrah. Pinot noir is exclusively a cool climate variety, as too much heat ruins these grapes. Syrah, on the other hand, can be produced in cool or warmer climates, but the results are different.
Some of the best wine growing regions are coastal, like Chile, and the cool, maritime influence is big part of what makes these regions good for growing wine grapes. But there is a lot of variation in climate within these regions, creating some areas that are better, consistent cool climate regions as well as some warmer micro-climates. For a number of years, Chile has had a good reputation for producing exceptional cool-climate white wines, but it’s really only been within the last five years or so that they’ve done well with cool-climate reds, like pinot noir. And there’s certainly more to come.
Given the setting for this tasting, these were not tasted blind. Here are my notes.
Valdivieso 2009 Pinot Noir Reserva
The nose is pretty powerful on this wine. Spicy cherry and strawberry aromas are the first thing that stand out. It also has some bacon fat and cola aromatics. The palate provides a good amount of fruit, without being at all jammy. It’s kind of a cherry/cranberry thing with a touch of smoked meat on the palate. The acidity is just right and the soft tannins provide a nice mouth feel. The finish is relatively long, with a strong cranberry note.
Wine: Valdivieso Reserva
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $16.99
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Viña Casablanca 2009 Nimbus Estate Pinot Noir
This wine shows the smoky and spicy side of pinot noir on the nose, with nutmeg, cocoa, and toasted aromatics. There’s some fruit under all that too, but the spice is what makes the music on this one. Unfortunately, there’s also a touch of sulfur/egg on the nose, which isn’t a good thing, although it’s not overwhelming. On the palate, the fruit comes out to play, offering plum and raspberry flavors. But there’s plenty of spice on the palate, with a nice black pepper characteristic. There’s some cocoa on the mid-palate too. The acidity and tannins are good. Aside from the sulfur, is a fun pinot.
Wine: Viña Casablanca Nimbus Estate
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 84
Price: $19.99
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Veramonte 2009 Ritual Pinot Noir
This is a nice, earthy pinot noir with intense tree bark and truffle aromas. It also shows plenty of cherry and a touch of cola fragrance. The palate is filled with cherry and cranberry flavors with vibrant acidity. The palate also gives a touch of spiciness. The tannins are slightly velvety in the mouth. The finish is long, with lingering fruit and spice. This is a great wine.
Wine: Veramonte Ritual
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 90
Price: $19.99
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Cono Sur 2008 Ocio Pinot Noir
The nose of this wine is screaming with intensity. The fruit on the nose is a bit darker than a lot of other pinot we’ve had, favoring cassis and blackberry. There’s some red fruit in it too, cherry. It has a nice smoky quality on the nose too, with notes of sandalwood and tobacco. The palate offers concentrated cherry and blackberry flavors, with outstanding acidity. It borders on jammy. The finish is lasting with the powerful fruit and spice from the palate taking you for a long ride. This is an exceptional, although somewhat pricey, wine.
Wine: Cono Sur Ocio
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 94
Price: $65.00
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Tamaya 2009 Reserva Syrah
The first impression I got from the nose of this wine is bubblegum. But it’s not overly sweet/artificial, there’s just a hint of that fragrance in the nose. It also shows some red currant, pepto bismol and licorice aromas. The palate has plenty of ripe cherry and raspberry flavors and a good bit of spice.
Wine: Tamaya Reserva
Variety: Syrah
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $16.99
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Loma Larga 2006 Syrah
This wine has a nice, deep red color. The nose is very earthy, with aromas of eucalyptus, leather, chocolate, grilled meat and raspberry. The mouth feel is really nice. Very velvety. The palate offers loads of ripe blackberry and currant flavors, that are slightly jammy. It gives a little white pepper kick in the mid palate and finishes with more of the fruit. This wine is begging to be served with lamb. I like this wine, but the eucalyptus aroma may be a turn off for some consumers.
Wine: Loma Larga
Variety: Syrah
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 89
Price: $29.00
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Undurraga 2009 T.H. Syrah
The “T.H.” on the label of this wine, stands for “terroir hunter” and this is a single-vineyard syrah, produced with the goal of featuring the terroir in the expression of the wine. The intensity on the nose of this wine is outstanding. It has loads of red fruit, raspberry, cherry and red currants. It also has some black pepper and soy sauce characteristics adding to the complexity. The palate has a vibrant acidity with concentrated cherry and raspberry flavors. There’s plenty of spice on the palate of this one too. It also has some soft tannins, rounding out the mouth feel. It’s a tasty wine.
Wine: Undurraga T.H.
Variety: Syrah
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 90
Price: $24.99
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Hacienda Araucano 2009 Reserva Syrah
Cherry, raspberry and grilled meat aromas make up the nose of this wine. The intensity on the nose is good, but not overwhelming. This is a big wine on the palate, filling every crevasse in your mouth with flavors. Plum, chocolate and leather all combine to make a interesting palate. The mouth feel is very good. This is a big wine with a lot of flavor, but it’s not refined or integrated. Still, it’s a tasty wine.
Wine: Hacienda Araucano Reserva
Variety: Syrah
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $13.00
Disclosure: These wines were received as a sample.
A couple weeks ago, I did a lengthy writeup about my recent visit to Paso Robles. But I didn’t highlight any of the specific wines I tasted there. Tonight I want to touch on a few wines I tasted on that visit, from Villacana Winery.
Villacana is a small winery run by a husband and wife team, Alex and Monica Villacana. Of course “small” is all relative. The property, which they purchased in 1996, is 72 acres on the west side of Paso Robles. Now you may be thinking that 72 acres seems big not small, but only 13 acres of the property are vineyards and their total production is under 2,000 cases. Therefore, I’d say they officially qualify as a “small winery.”
The soil in the vineyard varies from calcareous soils to acidic shales and the Villacanas have chosen locations for different varieties of vines where they will perform the best. They produce a combination of Rhone varietals, which do better on the calcareous soils, and Bordeaux varietals, which do best with the shale. The vineyards are also at a high elevation, which brings some challenging winds.
Part of their philosophy in wine production, consistent with others I met in Paso Robles, is they let each vintage express the wine uniquely. They don’t want to manipulate the juice to achieve consistency from one vintage to the next.
In addition to their wines, they are making plans to get a still so that they can produce grappa and vodka.
I had the opportunity to taste three of their wines, the viognier, the cabernet sauvignon and the syrah. Here are my notes on each. I should point out that because I didn’t taste these in my normal environment, with my normal process, I did not score the wines. But, I assure you that they were all good.
Villacana Viognier 2010
This wine has a light, almost watery appearance, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s going to be a thin wine. The nose has good intensity with very nice floral aromatics, apricot and a touch of mineral. On the palate, it shows a pleasant apricot and lime flavor, with good concentration to the fruit. Priced at $24.00, it’s a nice wine.
Villacana Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
The appearance of this wine is a shimmering brick red color. It has outstanding intensity on the nose, with big black cherry aromas and a hint of red raspberry. The palate offers deep black cherry flavors without being jammy. The acidity is excellent. It has a very long, very rich finish, filled with fruit and vibrant acidity.
The wine is a blend of 80% cabernet sauvignon with 20% merlot. It was oaked in neutral barrels. This is a very good wine and sells for $28.00.
Villacana Syrah 2008
Purplish-red in color, this wine shows complex aromas on the nose, including smoked meats, blackberry, cherry and nutmeg. On the palate it has a really nice mouthfeel with rich tannins. The acidity makes it lively too. The flavors are ripe blackberries and spice. It has a long finish with plenty of berry flavors. This is another tasty wine and sells for $30.00.
Disclosure: I visited Paso Robles on a press junket with the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. My travel and accommodations where covered as a part of this trip and these wines were provided as samples. I was not required to write about Paso Robles or Villacana. The opinions expressed here are 100% my own.
The May/June issue of Mutineer Magazine will be on shelves any day now, including my Wine Steals column. In this issue I do a roundup of sauvignon blanc from California and Chile, including this one from Rodney Strong.
Wine is an interesting thing when it comes to brands. There are so many of them, that the options are nearly endless. And for me, a few brands stand out in my mind that I have an affinity toward. It’s not that they are necessarily better than other brands, but they’re connected with memories. I imagine the same is true for other folks too. Rodney Strong is one of those brands for me.
Back in the mid 1990’s, a Rodney Strong cabernet sauvignon was one of the first wines of quality that I tasted. Sure, I had tasted a number of crappy wines before that one. But when I tasted the Rodney Strong, I knew there was more to wine than the plonk I had been drinking. It was a pivotal moment in my wine appreciation. Since then, I always get a good feeling when I come across a bottle of Rodney Strong—even if there may be better wines right next to it. It’s a personal connection. And I think those personal connections are an important part of enjoying wine. You shouldn’t like or dislike something just because I, or any other reviewers, say it’s good or bad. If you have a personal connection to a wine that makes it more enjoyable to you, then embrace that.
Now that I’ve revealed my affinity and bias for Rodney Strong, I should make it clear that I tasted this particular bottle in a blind tasting. Therefore, I didn’t know what it was when I tasted it and my bias could not influence the review.
This wine shows the softer side of sauvignon blanc, with cooling fruit aromas like cantelope and mango. But it also has an edge to it with a lemon aroma revealing the acid in this wine. That acidity is perfect on the palate, which offers crisp apple, pear and lime flavors. The finish is farily long with apple and citrus flavors lingering on your tongue for some time. This is a good sauvignon blanc, particularly if you prefer a gentler style of this wine.
Wine: Rodney Strong Charlotte’s Home
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 87
Price: $11.00
Wow. The name is a mouthful on this one. I get just past the “Marchesi de” and I start to sound like a clumsy mid-westerner—which, I suppose in a way I am. But while some of the names on Italian wines can pose challenges to me, I still have a great appreciation for them. At one time, I was a Chianti nut. But in the last couple years Brunello, Barolo and Barbaresco have been my Italian wines of choice. Of course as a “cheap” wine guy, I don’t get to taste those very often.
While Italy isn’t at the top of the list of regions for value wines, there are still some bargains to be found. And some Chianti offers good value. But to be clear, “Chianti” is a relatively broad term. The name is based on the region where the wine is produced, and there are guidelines that must be followed in order to label the wine as Chianti. The wine must be made with 75-100% sangiovese, but it can have up to 10% canaiolo and up to 20% of other approved varieties. As you can imagine, this will create a bit of variation from one Chianti to the next. There are also several sub-zones within the Chianti region which end up as designations on the wine. There’s a lot to it, which I won’t go into detail about here. But if you want to learn more, start at the Chianti page on Wikipedia. Nonetheless, as far as regions go, this one from Nipozanno comes from the Rufina DOCG.
This happened to be the only Chianti I had in the house, so I did not taste it blind. Although, in a way I did. Before tasting it, this was a brand I was unfamiliar with, and as such I had no preconceptions about this wine. And that’s really the point of tasting blind.
The nose is quite pleasant, with a nice blend of fruit and spice aromas. Cherry, blueberry and raspberry aromas are the first to hit you, followed by undertones of cedar, clove and cinnamon. The intensity isn’t overwhelming, but it’s good. The palate shows plenty of cherry flavor, some astringent black tea tannins (remember, this is an Italian wine, not a California fruit bomb), some chocolate and black pepper. The acidity is great. It finishes dry and earthy, with a bit of a cherry and peat aftertaste. This is definitely a food wine, and a pretty good one at that.
At $22 it’s a little pricey for some consumers, but I’d still say it’s a good value. And remember, that’s the “suggested” retail price. So, you should find the actual to be less. An online search showed it available for under $13.00 at the time I’m writing this. NOW you’re talking about a bargain!
Wine: Nipozzano Riserva
Variety: Chianti
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 89
Price: $22.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
When I first launched this site, nearly four years ago, Spanish wines were what I was excited about, especially garnacha. But since the first few months of the site, I find myself tasting less and less Spanish wines. I have nothing against them, in fact I still have some trusted favorites in the Spanish section. I just seem to be coming across Spanish wines less often these days. I’m sure some of that is due to the outstanding bargains coming out of Chile, which are really overshadowing some other value regions.
Nonetheless, I still love a good Spanish wine and I was glad to have the opportunity to taste this one. I should note that I did not taste this wine blind, as I generally prefer to do for reviews. But without a lineup of a few different Spanish blends, it just wouldn’t work.
This wine comes from Rioja, which is probably the most well-known of the Spanish wine regions. But it’s not one I generally think of for “value” wines, and at $20 this one may not be considered a bargain by some consumers. Although, that is the “suggested” retail price and you may find it as low as $12.
The wine is a blend of 60% garnacha, 35% tempranillo and 5% manzuelo — a very Spanish blend. There are a couple other things that make this wine interesting to me too. It was bottled unfiltered, for one. When it comes to inexpensive wine, I actually find this to be rather rare. Probably due to the fact that this can leave some sediment in the bottle, which can be a turnoff to some consumers. But others think the wine is more true if it’s bottled unfiltered. I’ll let you be the judge of that.
The other thing that caught my attention is that the wine was fined using egg whites. Fining is a process in which winemakers add “fining agents” to a wine in order to clarify it. Think of it as the egg whites grabbing a hold of solid particles in the wine and pulling them to the bottom, leaving a clear wine at the top. It’s not that big of a deal, really. But there’s something natural (i.e. non-chemical) about using egg whites to do this that I find appealing.
While all of that’s interesting, we all know that it’s the smell and taste that really matter. So, on with the tasting.
This wine shows a combination of fruit and earthiness on the nose, with some plum and blackberry aromas contrasted with tree bark, herbs and allspice. On the palate, it offers sour cherry and a hint of strawberry flavors up front with a black tea quality in the mid-palate—which has a touch of bitterness. The finish is relatively long with soft fruit and leather flavors. The tannins are soft and the acidity is strong. This is more of a food wine than a sipping wine, to be paired with red meats, perhaps with game.
Wine: La Montesa
Variety: Red Blend
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 87
Price: $19.99
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
We go through a lot of wine in our household. Now before you get the wrong idea, let me add that it’s usually no more than a glass (roughly 6 – 8 ounces) a day. But between my wife and me, we can easily consume about 4 – 5 bottles a week. And as you can imagine, the neighbors just love to hang out at our place, particularly with all the great wine. So 4 -5 bottles can easily turn into 8 – 9 a week. That can add up, particularly if you like the expensive stuff. But having a restaurant in the family has it’s advantages, and none better than being able to buy wine at wholesale!
So, recently we were running a little low, which prompted me to begin searching for good, high value reds to stock the cellar with. My dad, who now handles all the wine buying duties at the restaurant, had actually just sampled the latest MontGras Cabernet, the 2009; and, he recommended that I pick up a case to replenish our stock. So I splurged, solely on his recommendation, having not tasted the wine. But I wasn’t too concerned. I figured that if he thought is was good (and he has great taste), that, most importantly, my wife would love it.
So, as I finally got around to tasting the MontGras, and reviewing it here for Cheap Wine Ratings, I noticed that what was once a stock of nine bottles (MontGras Cabernet Sauvignon comes in a nine bottle case) was now only two! Where did all the MontGras go? Well, let’s just say my wife really loved it. But how good was it really? Let’s find out.
On the nose the MontGras offers rich currant, vanilla and traces of other black fruit, but I was also picking up heavy levels of must. Is this what my wife was loving so much? Or, could I have gotten the one corked bottle that’s presumably in every case. Well before I began seriously doubting my wife’s taste in wine, the mustiness had cleared. Maybe it was me. Maybe there was some taint, but the wine wasn’t the worse for it after a bit of breathing.
On the palate the wine offers up fine, yet lush tannins with a deep dark fruit core on the mid-palate. This fruit is cradled in roast coffee bean and peat, but it’s not harsh at all. On the contrary, this is a very smooth wine for as much as it has going on. The MontGras is actually quite complex, and offers great balance for the money. Ok, now I know why my wife loved it so much.
The MontGras is a crowd pleaser. It will provide something for those looking for some character and complexity, but it will also satisfy those who are looking for an easy drinking red, and quite nicely I might add. Which reminds me. I need to order another case.
A Salute!
Wine: MontGras
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $11.00
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