This wine is a definite Best of 2010 contender, not just for the taste but for the ridiculous price they’re selling it at.

Okay, we’ve done the Liberty School Cabernet, the Liberty School Chardonnay and told you all about the Hope Family Wines story. These awesome people found the Cabernet review I did a couple of months ago and decided that in order to be revered as one of the most awesome wineries to ever exist, they had to get on WineWelfare.com. Rightly so. I even have a page for applicants!

That said, you all know the story, so I’m not going to go into it anymore. I just can’t keep explaining every little thing to you people. My time is far too valuable and there is just too much vino to drink out there.

The Liberty School Cuvee is a rock star blend of Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenach, Mourvedre and Viognier. Just think about all of the possible combinations you can get out of those, then think about the resulting wine being under $15, and you can see what we’re dealing with here.

Color

Bright and not heavy. The nose and taste were rich but the color was not, despite the blend.

Nose

Very floral and bright. Every bright red fruit pops up here. Currants, cherries, raspberry, strawberry and smoke.

Taste

Far and away one of the best wines I’ve had in my life. I shared it out at dinner with my wife, step-dad and his wife, and let me tell you that I’m glad I did. For some reason, good wine just kicks more ass when you’re sharing it with people you care about. Bright red fruits and a real back-of-the-throat smoke come through, followed up by a stiff, velvety mid-palate with a shot of vanilla, finished off with firm but benevolent tannins, a little little leather, and a stewed prune notes. Out of this world structure, complexity and class. I still can’t believe the price.

With Food

As usual when I share wine with my family, we ate it with kabobs, gyros, hummus and the like. I’d recommend it with either nothing or a roast meat and game. Nothing else.

Where to Buy

$10.83 at GrapeDiscounts.com!

Also check out:

Oh, except that it’s a bitch to find if you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you.

Color

Sturdy, solid and rich. It’s red. Give me a break.

Nose

Extreme aromatics. Black licorice, violet, cherry and strong poached plums. Beautiful nose.

Taste

Fruit-forward, but not a bomb. Good mix of tobacco and fruit salad elements. Dark berries, saddle leather, chewy. Great structure, I mean seriously. This wine has a brilliant attack, mid-palate and finish. Great tannins back up a full, Ribena-like mouthfeel (look it up).

With Food

A fruit and cheese red. The flavors are so dang delicious, yet delicate, I wouldn’t want to ravage them with red meat or even red sauce. Try salad, though I know how odd that sounds. A bacon, blue cheese, tomato and pears poached in red wine salad. Perfection.

Where to Buy

It’s around $8 bucks at Trader Joe’s but I don’t know where else, dammit.

Remember to subscribe to get all the latest cheap wine reviews from Wine Welfare!

Also check out:

The only problem was, Denner is not home to many cheap wines. Couldn’t find a single bottle under $20. Oh well. After eating a perfect homemade lunch (prepared by my sister-in-law), we went in to taste. Since the focus here is cheap wine, I’ll just briefly recommend two Denner wines that you should absolutely splurge on:

Denner Vineyards 2008 Theresa (Roussanne and Viognier)

Holy crap, it’s like a pina colada mixed with french toast. $27.35 at WebWine.com!

Denner The Ditchdigger 2006 (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault)

This wine will destroy your face. That is all that needs to be said. $39.90 at WebWine.com!

I cannot describe this country to you due to the overwhelming chances of my failure in doing so. My wife and I have now explored a great deal of California’s central region, and its landscape is always beyond jaw-dropping. Endless rolling hills, some clotted with gnarled trees while others are vast, brushed with wildflowers of orange, yellow, purple and support only one stoic, paint-worthy tree per hill every mile or so.

The landscape is so stunning that the one thing that keeps recurring in my mind whenever I see it is, “Is this really in the same state as Los Angeles?” The contrast is planetary in scale.

Then it was off to downtown and Ortman Family Vineyards, home of one of the best Pinots I have ever had: Ortman Santa Rita Hills 2006 Pinot Noir. My brother and his wife had given it to us for Christmas.

I will be blunt: At this point I could not taste anything. I was smashed. I remember tasting the wines, I remember them tasting like something, I remember asking/slurring a request for the 06 Pinot Noir I’d had a month earlier, but I failed to remember the name. The pouring dude took pity on me and poured me a reserve Pinot of theirs, which was almost as good despite being more expensive. I even remember buying a bottle of the Syrah after my wife’s emphatic endorsement: “And it’s only $22!”

Still, $22 is too high to do a somewhat more intimate review of a wine here on Wine Welfare, so I’m going to go with another wine I tried at Ortman:

Ortman Cuvee Eddy 2007 Rhone Blend

COLOR: Nice purple but with some clarity.

NOSE: This was what I remember most about this wine. Nice big blackberry and plum smells with a little bit of licorice. After a minute or so it started to give off some of that gold ‘ole grandma’s basement scent.

TASTE: Not the most balanced wine in the Ortman portfolio, but at less than $20, you could really enjoy this anytime. Good black fruit again and even more licorice, but it kind of lags towards the end, leaving you with only the heat. Just a good, solid Rhone blend. Nothing leaning too far one way or the other.

WITH FOOD: You could enjoy this on it’s own or with pizza, red sauce or even a steak. It should hold up fine. Don’t get to crazy with the fancy foods and multiple ingredients. This thing asks for you to keep it simple.

WHERE TO BUY: $15.99 at KLWines.com!

Denner Vineyards

Ortman Family Vineyards

Paso Robles Wine Country Information

Stay tuned for more wines from Paso Robles wineries!

Remember to subscribe to get all the latest cheap wine reviews from Wine Welfare!

Also check out:

The Zaca Mesa Z Gris is a Rhone Rosé play, and it is pretty stellar, despite the pretentious popularity of the Zaca Mesa Tasting Room in Santa Barbara Wine Country. I made my inaugural visit a few weeks ago and am now stained for life. Let’s just say that most people were either hitting on one another, buying copious amounts of $10 jarred olives, or simply claiming that the wines “tasted like shit.”

To put it bluntly, it was a Douchebag Pit Stop, no doubt a mistaken rendevous on the way to Douche Mecca: Las Vegas. It almost pains me to tell you how much I enjoyed this wine, because I almost want the tasting room to burn down. Anyway, we’re not here to wax poetical on what’s wrong with the young wine industry today. We’re here to tell you about this delicious rosé.

COLOR: Well, it’s pink. Deal with it, sissy.

NOSE: Unlike any wine I have ever had. Oranges, 50/50 Bars, more oranges, dirt, and finally a sharp shot of strawberry. Someone tell me a white wine that smells like oranges, strawberries and dirt. It can’t be done. This wine defies all logic. AHHHH!

TASTE: Great structure and mix of flavors. Very complex flavors of strawberry, sharp minerality, peaches, a little poop perfume invading the nose as you drink, and finally: ORANGES. The oranges won’t go away. By the way, by “poop perfume” I mean that there is a very Old World, earthy barnyard scent that invades your senses as you drink. The wine is made from Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, Counoise and Cinsaut. Caramel finish that is so common among rosés.

WITH FOOD: Great with a firm-fleshed fish or a barbecued chicken. Don’t use BBQ sauce. Instead, season whatever the white meat is with some simple salt and pepper. Try it with a spinach, avocado and strawberry salad tossed with a homemade vinaigrette. Preferably for a hot day.

WHERE TO BUY: $13.69 at CheaperCigars.com!

Check out our other Rosé reviews!

Remember to subscribe to get all the latest wine suggestions from Wine Welfare!

Also check out: