Rombauer used to make awesome zins in the early 90’s. Now they are over ripe and over extracted. This is so typical of California zins these days. The once present black pepper is no where to be found. It is a fruit bomb verging on a dessert wine. Some love this newer style zin. Not me. I pine for the glory days when they were spicy, not too fruity and complex as hell. Bring back my favorite grape. It’s not expressed in this bottle. That being said, for today’s zins, this is one of the better ones. There is structure and interesting flavors. It’s just way too sweet for my tastes. I would give this one 85 points for the memories of Rombauer zins of the past.
Rombauer – over the top
July 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Innisfree
March 4, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I’ve been a big fan of Joseph Phelps wine for a long time and I was pleased as punch to see Wine Spectator name the 2002 Insignia wine of the year for 2005. The insignia is a great wine. I have a bottle of the “off year” 2000 in my cellar. I’m waiting for a special occasion to drink that 92+ point wine. Perhaps not quite the same caliber but certainly a perfectly quaffable wine is the Phelps Innisfree cabernet sauvignon. I recently opened a bottle of the ’04 vintage. For about 1/4 to 1/5 the price of the insignia you can spend only $25 for this really excellent wine. I’ve had several vintages of the innisfree and have enjoyed them all. I generally love this wine but I have to say I was a little disappointed in the body on this one. The nose was very nice with presentation of mocha, cherry and a hint of smoke. It was medium bodied on the palate with sweet strawberries and cherries. It had a lot of new world red fruits, soft tannins, and the mocha flavor came through nicely on the upper palate. It finishes long and smooth but it was a little bit awkward on the end. There were slight hints of maybe rotten tomatoes? I guess I just was expecting a heavier, satiny body that I’ve had before in the innisfree. Still, it’s a 90 point wine for sure and we didn’t waste a drop.
A hit and a miss
March 3, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I’ve been a little lax about posting lately. You know, life gets in the way sometimes of the fun. It’s not that I haven’t been tasting. I have lots of tasting notes to share. I just haven’t got around to putting them up here. So let me tell you about a couple of wines I had recently.
First let’s talk about the miss.
I had high hopes for this Artesa 2003 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. A $40 bottle of wine on sale for $30. Not a bad deal, I thought. And it might have been good. It had a gorgeous deep dark color. On the nose aromas of dark red fruits and caramel wafted in. It almost reminded me of rollo candies. It also smelle of dusty wood. On the palate it had initial big red fruits and beautiful cherries, firm tannins, and a nice acidity. The big fruit dissipated quickly leaving a rather thin mid to end palate. However, it did linger for quite a while teasing you. I rate this wine a little bit lower because the alcohol was out of balance. It was noticeably hot. The label says 14.5% but it tasted like it was even higher. For $40, or even $30, I expect a balanced wine. I don’t think I would spend that money again for this wine.
Now, for the hit I had to go across the pond to France.
The 2005 Domaine Grand Veneur Côte du Rhône Village I found to be extraordinary! Just what I like in a French wine. It had a really nice, dark, ruby red/purple color. The nose was amazing to me. On my first sniff my mind thought – “Hmmm, chokecherries!” It had bright red fruits, chokecherries, red licorice and raspberries on the nose. It was even better when I tasted it. Super balance of the red fruits, raspberries, cherries, licorice, and hints of like roasted green vegetables. It had smooth but firm tannins, a balanced acidity and a lingering long finish. Just delicious! It didn’t taste hot at all, though the alcohol was the same 14.5% as the previous wine. This was one excellent bottle!
From CA to Australia
January 27, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I’ve got three wines to talk about tonight. The first is from Australia. Everyone has heard of Yellow Tail. I find their mainstream wines to be rather boring and one dimensional. However, if you pay just a couple bucks more you get something actually worth drinking. Their “reserve” line of wines tend to be a significant step up from their regular fare. I like their reserve shiraz the best I would say. The 2006 had a gorgeous deep dark color. On the nose I got a complex mixture of vanilla and spice mingling with blackberries and coffee. There were nice big dark fruit flavors and cocoa on the palate and the wine had solid tannins. The only flaw I detected was that the alcohol was out of balance a bit. You did notice the hotness of the ethanol. Other than that for it’s 12 buck price point it is not a bad wine at all.
I also got a taste of California recently. The first is a cabernet sauvignon from Napa valley. This is also a step up from their average “California” cabernet. I had the 2004 vintage last evening. It had nice plum and cherry aromas that carried through on the palate. There were chocolate flavors mingling with the fruit. The chocolate mostly came out on the mid palate. The finish was a little bit short but it was certainly a solid cab for $12.
This evening I made a wonderful garlic, ginger, soy, mirin glazed fish for dinner. I was looking for a crisp fruit sauvignon blanc to go with it. I was first thinking of one from New Zealand but I stumbled across a bottle fo the 2005 Kenwood from Sonoma county. This one paired very nicely with the steelhead trout tonight. It had a very pleasant nose of pears and grapefruit. It tasted of green apples and citrus. It had a nice silky texture and a reasonably long finish. There were also very nice grass and herbal components that married with dinner. It had a crisp enough acidity to cut through the fish. Overall I’ve had 3 for 3 this weekend.
The Winery and The Wines
January 4, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I was so happy that The Winery in Fargo reopened. It is a nice cozy place with some great values on wines. They have an all new menu and wine list offering very affordable options. I was there on Wednesday evening and had the opportunity to taste some nice ones. We started with a Bogle Petit Syrah. This is usually a nice affordable quaf and it didn’t disappoint us. There are two wines that I want to talk about though.
2005 Langmeil Three Gardens
The 2005 Three Gardens was an incredibly complex and interesting wine. When first poured it had a very interesting mossy nose with earthy sweat sock smells that mingled with black cherry and spice. The pungent socks diminished with a bit of air time. On the palate this was full and lush. Actually I would describe it as soft and creamy. It had flavors of roasted vegetables, corn silo dust and sour black cherries. It had a good tannin structure and a long finish. Secondary notes were full of complex interesting things like green hickory nut hulls and spice. An excellent wine that I will be looking for again.
2004 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon
We also opened a 2004 Franciscan. The bouquet was full of cloves, tart cherries, green peppers with a side of blueberries. Another interesting nose. When I put this in my mouth I immediately knew this was opened way before it’s time. Can you say TANNIN MONSTER? So dry and puckering this one had more tannins in it than I can remember tasting before. It definitely needs a good five years in the bottle before it is drinkable. Aside from that it had flavors of chocolate covered cherries dusted with unsweetened cocoa and cassis. The finish was very dry and woody, undoubtedly due to the huge tannins. Because of that the alcohol felt quite hot. I think this will be a nice wine some day but that day is not now.