Boxed wine seems to be taking on new shapes lately with both the shape of the containers and the quality of the wine inside. There are several wines on the shelves these days in what’s been named Octavin packaging. It’s an eight-sided box (an octagon) and is really just a new shape for bag-in-a-box packaging. The Octavin packages hold 3 liters of wine, which is the equivalent of 4 average-sized wine bottles. While you may be reluctant to open a package with so much wine in it for fear of it going bad, you really don’t need to be as the wine will stay fresh for up to a month after opening. This is due to the fact that exposure to air is what causes wine to go bad after opening, but with bag-in-a-box technology the wine isn’t exposed to air when you open it.
The wine in this Octavin is Monthaven Chardonnay, named for the location of the winery in Monterey County, California. While the fruit in this wine is sourced from vineyards throughout the Central Coast, the majority of it is from Santa Barbara and Monterey. 35% of the wine is barrel fermented, and the majority of it is barrel aged for at least four months.
This one is somewhat nutty on the nose, with aromas of hazelnut, flint and citrus. The palate is apple, pear and bit of citrus. The citrus comes to life even more on the finish. The acidity is outstanding, which is one thing that makes me like this Chardonnay. Although it’s barrel aged, it doesn’t come across as over-oaked. Overall, it’s a solid Chardonnay, but I wouldn’t call it exceptional. I would, however, call it a great value.
Wine: Monthaven Winery
Variety: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $23.99/3L (equivalent to $6.00 per bottle)
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Here’s what some others thought of the 2008 Monthaven Central Coast Chardonnay:
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Ricardo Santos is the former owner of the Norton Winery and thirty-some years ago he was the first wine producer in Argentina to export Malbec. Unless you’re new to wine or have been living under a rock you know that now Argentine wine is almost synonymous with Malbec.
Given Santos’ history with Malbec, I was really excited to taste this wine. What I found was not a typical Argentine Malbec. It was much more earthy and not as “big” as a lot of other Malbec. We usually taste blind, so in full disclosure I’ll have to say that I didn’t taste this one blind.
There is not as much intensity on the nose as I was hoping for, but it opens up after a while. I am surprised at how strong the alcohol fumes are, given that it’s just 13.9% abv. That’s not really a low alcohol level, but the fumes would suggest a higher level. Fruit is not dominant on the nose, giving way instead to coffee, smoky cedar and soy sauce. There’s a little fruit, but it’s restrained. On the palate, the fruit comes to life a bit more with blackberry and black currant flavors. There’s a touch of chocolate on the mid palate and sour cherry on the finish. In a way, it tastes under ripe to me. It’s a decent Malbec, but not a big-juicy-ripe-fruit one.
Wine: Ricardo Santos
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.9%
Rating: 84
Price: $19.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
I was actually a little surprised when I saw that Redwood Creek had a Malbec. I typically think of them as producers of Californian wine. After all, the brand name “Redwood” makes you think of northern California. But Redwood Creek is ultimately part of E&J Gallo, who distribute wines from all over the world. You’ll see Frei Brothers referenced on Redwood Creek wines too, and they are also part of E&J Gallo.
It turns out that Redwood Creek has been producing Malbec for a few years, I just never noticed. Most Malbec that I come across I expect to come from either Argentina or Cahors, France — not that other regions couldn’t grow it — and this one is from Argentina.
This Malbec has big ol’ juicy blackberry aromas with an undercurrent of licorice, salami and tobacco. The palate is filled with bountiful dark fruit flavors. Blackberry jam, currant and plum fill your mouth. The tannins are slightly silky, however I would have liked them a touch heavier. It’s a little bit tart on the finish, but still has plenty of fruit flavors. I don’t find this to be an incredibly elegant Malbec, but it is still yummy. And and extreme bargain!!!!!
Wine: Redwood Creek
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $7.00
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Here’s what some others thought of the 2009 Redwood Creek Malbec:
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
This past week I took part in a Taste Live event featuring Stepping Stone wines from Cornerstone Cellars. Taste Live events are wine tastings where numerous wine bloggers and media from around the country all taste the same wines and share their thoughts via Twitter.
Cornerstone Cellars is a Napa Valley, California producer and is still relatively young—1991 was their first vintage. It was founded by two Memphis physicians, who jumped into winemaking when they purchased left over grapes from another producer in Napa Valley. The wine they created from those grapes was a hit and they’ve been at it ever since.
The wines we tasted were from the Stepping Stone line of wines, which is an effort from Cornerstone to produce good wines at affordable prices. So, a “step” lower in price than other Cornerstone Cellar wines. Get it?
Unlike most tastings we do, these wines were not tasted blind. A few of them are within the price range of wines we typically review here, but a couple are more expensive than our typical wines. All the wines were provided to us as samples.
Stepping Stone by Cornerstone
Napa Valley Cuveé Musqué Sauvignon Blanc
The aromas are nice, but I would not call them “intense.” This is definitely a different style of Sauvignon Blanc that the explosively tropical ones from Chile or New Zealand. This is more of a Loire Valley style, and it’s a nice wine. The aromas are mostly melon and some soft tropical fruit — including a clear banana aroma. Some wine aficionados might not peg this for a Sauvignon Blanc right off the bat, but I did get a touch of green bell pepper aroma — which makes it clear to me that this is Sauvignon Blanc.
The palate has a bit more intensity than the nose. Up front, it gives a melon and apple flavor, and finishes with a touch of citrus acidity. The acidity is adequate, but not nearly as crisp as I usually expect from a SB, but again, it’s a style difference. It does have a creamy mouth feel, which is nice. The mouth feel might make you think it went through a malolactic fermentation, but the winemaker says it’s from lees contact in neutral oak. This is a good wine, but only for those who like this style of Sauvignon Blanc.
Wine: Stepping Stone Napa Valley Cuveé Musqué
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.9%
Rating: 87
Price: $16.00
Stepping Stone by Cornerstone
Red Hills Lake County Rosé Corallina
The color of this Rosé isn’t bright pink, like many others, but rather it’s kind of a copper-pink. I really like the color of it. The nose is a little tight, but citrusy and slightly floral. The palate has flavors of red apple peel and cranberry. There’s a bit of cinnamon and a bit of heat to it too. It’s a pleasant wine, but more of a rosé for food than for sipping.
Wine: Stepping Stone Red Hills Lake County Rosé Corallina
Variety: Grenache/Syrah Rosé
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.9%
Rating: 85
Price: $16.00
Stepping Stone by Cornerstone
Napa Valley Syrah
Wow! The nose is really fun and interesting, with a definite smokey quality, grilled meat, black cherry and black pepper aromas. The palate has outstanding concentration in the fruit, with intense cherry and black raspberry flavors. It has a little spice too, which makes it interesting. The tannins are silky giving it a great mouth feel. This is one of the best Syrahs I’ve tasted in a while.
Wine: Stepping Stone Napa Valley Syrah
Variety: Syrah
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14.9%
Rating: 89
Price: $20.00
Stepping Stone by Cornerstone
Napa Valley Cabernet Franc
This wine has a really nice purple-red color. It has an herbal quality to the nose, which I would expect from a Cabernet Franc. I’d describe the aromas as tarragon, black currant and cherry. The acidity is bright on the tongue, making this a great wine for fatty foods. The flavor is mostly cherry, and it has outstanding concentration. The tannins are also well-structured. It’s a really nice wine.
Wine: Stepping Stone Napa Valley Cabernet Franc
Variety: Cabernet Franc
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 91
Price: $30.00
Stepping Stone by Cornerstone
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
The nose is really pretty on this wine, although lacking some intensity. It shows dusty blackberry, leather, cassis and vanilla. The mouth feel is silky-smooth. The flavors begin with rich, ripe, juicy blackberries, moves into a cassis flavor and adds some carmel notes on a lengthy finish. This is a luscious Cabernet.
Wine: Stepping Stone Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14.9%
Rating: 90
Price: $35.00
You may recognize the logo on this bottle from those tasty Clif Bars you’ve seen, and yes they are related. The folks who make Clif Bars also produce wine, and what I’ve tasted has been pretty good—including this one. We previously reviewed their The Climber Red, which was also good.
The Climber White Wine is primarily Sauvignon Blanc from Lake County, Lodi and Monterey. The full blend is 88% Sauvignon Blanc, 4% Muscat, 3% Riesling, 3% Chardonnay, 2% Chenin Blanc. It was fermented 100% in stainless steel and did not undergo any malolactic fermentation, which results in fresh tropical fruit flavors.
The nose is full of both tropical and slightly floral aromas, like pineapple, orange blossom, honeydew melon and fresh cut grass. It’s really nice. The primary grape being Sauvignon Blanc is evident with one whiff. The palate has great acidity and great flavors to boot, like grapefruit (lot’s of it) and apple. A subtle apricot flavor comes in on the finish. This is a really nice wine.
Wine: Clif – The Climber White Wine
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc Blend
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.4%
Rating: 88
Price: $14.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
I have a secret to share. Every time I grab a bottle of Rosé I start singing a song in my head. It’s the music of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” but the lyric is changed to “Don’t Fear the Rosé.” I don’t know how that started or why I keep doing it. It actually kind of annoys me, but it happens every time. I guess, in a way, it’s a message I want to send to wine drinkers who avoid Rosé. It can actually be a fun and interesting wine. It’s not all disgusting, cheap White Zinfandel.
This is a bottle we got as a sample from Terra d’Oro and I was glad to see it for a couple reasons. For one, we don’t get many Rosé samples. In fact, I think this is the first Rosé review to be published on this site in our three years of existence. **Side note: We just turned three at the beginning of June. I forgot to celebrate. Yay, us.** OK, back to why I was happy to get this Rosé. So, another thing that makes this wine really intriguing to me is that it’s made from mostly Nebbiolo grapes—and I’m nuts about Nebbiolo.
Nebbiolo is best know as the grape used to produce Barolo and Barbaresco, two exceptional (and expensive) types of wine from Piedmont, Italy. Prior to this, I had never tasted a Rosé-style Nebbiolo. And to make it even more intriguing, Nebbiolo is rarely grown outside of Piedmont, but the grapes in this wine were grown in Amador County, California. So, this is a unique wine in a couple ways.
On the nose, there’s not much to this wine. It’s tight and simple, with only light melon, pear and cranberry aromas. It’s pleasant, but rather subtle. Even after giving it plenty of time to open up. The palate, however, is little more rewarding with light apple, cranberry and lime flavors. It’s just slightly off-dry. I would have liked a touch more acidity, but it’s acceptable. I can’t say it’s the most exciting or interesting rose I’ve ever tasted, but it’s still solid and enjoyable.
It didn’t quite live up to the hype I had created in my mind before tasting it, but it’s still fun to taste a Nebbiolo-based Rosé. And I would buy this wine for that reason alone.
Wine: Terra d’Oro Amador County Rosé
Variety: Rosé
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 84
Price: $14.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Before jumping into the next big series, I thought we’d review some odds and ends. Wines that we’ve received as samples, but are unique enough that we don’t get the quantity needed to do a full series. Today, we’re checking out a Sangiovese from Dievole.
Wine production at Dievole dates back to the 12th century in Tuscany. Of course, many things have changed over the years but in 2006 they began undergoing a renewal. A renewal focused on preserving traditions while using modern technologies to ensure quality. They focus on native mother vines, but use modern techniques of vineyard management. Also, in 2006, they brought in agronomist Dr. Valerio Zorzi as a consultant.
If this wine is an example of the results from this renewal, then I want to taste more.
I love, love, love the bouquet from this wine. Aromas of ripe strawberry, roses, vanilla and oak are delightful. And the intensity is just right. The palate is slightly understated, compared to the nose, but it’s still quite good. Raspberry and strawberry flavors, with good acidity and moderate tannins. I’d like a touch more concentration on the palate, but it’s still good. While it’s not overly sweet, the finish leaves me with the flavor of pure cane sugar on the back of my tongue — again, not the level of sweetness you would find in sugar, just the flavor. I like this wine. Now I just need a good pasta to enjoy with it.
Wine: Dievole Dievolino Rosso di Sangiovese
Variety: Sangiovese
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 86
Price: $12.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
We’ve been reviewing Cabernet Sauvignon for the past several weeks and now it’s time to do the roundup of all the reviews.
Usually, we name a specific wine as the top pick in these roundups. But this time we’re going with a wine region: Chile. Chilean wines took the top five spots in our showdown. To be fair though, Chile also has one at the bottom of the list. And we did review a couple California Cabs recently that were 90-pointers, but they were also over $20 and therefore didn’t make this list.
Based on the numbers, you could say that the Ortega Fornier Urban or Santa Ema Reserve are the best choices from this lineup. But I’d highly recommend any of the top five in this list.
In terms of real value, I picked up the Ortega Fornier Urban for a mere 11 bucks. It’s filled with rich, dark fruit flavors and has an interesting spiciness. It’s an outstanding wine, especially at this price.
The Santa Ema Reserve is also a really exciting wine and only a couple bucks more than the Urban. With aromas like sage, coffee, cocoa, raspberry and blackberry, there’s a ton of complexity in this wine. The fruit flavors are equally solid, making this an easy pick.
Another great deal in terms of quality-to-price ration is the Black Box Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a bag in a box wine that comes in a 3 liter size and the price is equivalent to $5.75 per bottle. You might be reluctant to buy that much wine because of a concern about it going bad before you can drink it all, but no worries it stays fresh for about a month after opening.
Here’s the full list of the Cabernet Sauvignon we reviewed.
Although Viña Carmen has been around since 1850, it was reborn in 1987 when it was acquired by Claro Group. Today, their main vineyards are in Maipo Valley, but they also have vineyards in Rapel, Casablanca and Curicó Valley. And they are one of the top producers in Chile.
This wine continues the trend we’ve found of Chilean wines delivering exceptional quality for the price.
Although it’s labeled as Cabernet Sauvignon, technically it’s only 85% Cab, with 10% Syrah and 5% Merlot. This is a well-oaked, but not over-oaked wine, with 80% of it aged in a combination of French and American oak for 10 months.
There are some interesting things going on in the nose of this wine with some nice herbal and spice characteristics, like mint, tobacco and cedar. The palate has good acidity, tannins and fruit. In fact, the tannins are superb. Intense cassis and blackberry flavors make the palate rich. It has good structure, good complexity, and it’s just a really good wine. I highly recommend it.
Wine: Carmen Reserva
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 88
Price: $16.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
You might be surprised to find out how many of the wine brands you see on the shelves come from the same company. There are a few giants in the wine business, plus thousands of small wineries. One of the giants whose brands you’ll come across in just about any grocery store that sells wine is Bronco Wine Company. They produce multitudes of brands and most of them are bargain-priced wines. One of those brands is Napa Ridge.
When you get into wine it can be easy to cop an attitude about cheap wine brands and paint them all as bad wines. And while there are some bad ones out there, the truth is that production technology has advanced to a point where even the cheap, mass-produced wines can be pretty tasty. They may not have the complexity, concentration, structure or character that some premium wines have, but some of them are still tasty. I try to have an open mind with every wine that I taste and I have been surprised by some.
This one I found to be drinkable, but not surprisingly awesome.
While in some ways this smells like an average Cabernet, there are some nuances that make it interesting. On the average side, it does have cherry, blackberry and oaky aromas. But there’s also a touch of tobacco and black olive on the nose, which give it a little interest. But it’s only moderate in overall intensity. The palate has mostly fruit flavors, like plum and cherry. It’s somewhat on the tart side, not offensively so, but it does take the mouth feel down a notch. The finish tastes like an under ripe plum with a hint of oak. There are a couple aspects to this wine that could be better, but it’s still drinkable.
Wine: Napa Ridge
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 81
Price: $12.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
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