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:

Color

Not as dark as it should be. Petite Sirahs are known for their inky depths but I could see my fingers through this one.

Nose

Very floral with bubblegum. Some good dark blackberry and cassis.

Taste

Grape candy flavors and more bubblegum. It tastes a bit fake, as though it were dressed up. I get the sense that something is being masked. Some nice dark plum and blackberry again, but I can taste a bit too much oak, which I guess is what’s giving it the fake aspects. Weak tannins don’t help much either. The finish is pretty much non-existent. The wine just disappears.

With Food

While the dark fruit and candy flavors stand up at the beginning, the wine loses it pretty quickly, making it difficult to pair, so I would say stick with simple barbecued chicken. No red meat or red sauce. If anything, save this for the end of the evening when you’ve finished eating.

Where to Buy

$15.99 at TheWineCountry.com!

Remember to subscribe to get 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 Peachy Canyon Petite Sirah is a beast. We’ve done our fair share of wine reviews here at Wine Welfare, but holy crap. This was like opening a can of blackberry jam. It’s not often that I need a sip of water between tastes, but my tongue felt like it had been lifting weights after this. There is so much fruit packed into this that it makes you never want to swallow. And at this price, you should not pass it up.

Basically, I’m saying it was good.

COLOR: Thick. Do things get darker than black ink? Oil? The ocean at night? Tiger’s marriage?

NOSE: Ok, this is where the real ridiculous aspects of this wine begin. At first it has absolutely no scent. Nothing. Then, after a few minutes, it’s like a hand holding a wad of blackcurrant, blackberry, plum, black preserved cherries and mushy figs comes rocketing out of the glass and smashes into your face.

Subtle.

TASTE: The hand with all that fruit is now punching you in the face repeatedly, particularly in the mouth region, thanks to all of this fruit. To top it off, it’s also on fire because there is a smoke quality to this that makes it even more enjoyable. You’re basically being destroyed. It is out of this world good. Despite your mouth being a WWI battlefield after drinking this, you should find a way to gum the following: “More, please.”

WITH FOOD: Uhhh, in case you didn’t read the above parts, drink this on its own. This stuff could overpower a raw buffalo. There’s no point in pairing food with a wine that is the equivalent of a baseball bat made of fruit bashing your face.

SCORE: 8/10

WHERE TO BUY:$16.98 at WineLibrary.com!

Check out our other Petite Sirah reviews!

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

Also check out:

Bogle Petite Syrah

Petite Sirah‘s are big, jammy, unctuous reds. Petite Sirah’s are usually used in blends (Bordeauxs, Meritages, etc.) to add a bit more of a black fruit explosion.

Color

Inky, inky, inky. This should be obvious. If you buy a Petite Sirah and can see through the glass, you might want to tread carefully.

Nose

A glass full of jam. Ripe, dark fruits coming through strongly. You don’t even need to have your nose over a glass of it to catch this nose, just open the bottle. It’s like opening a bottle of tequila.

Taste

Ex. Plo. Sion. Gigantic fruit with a good balance. This is teeth-staining juice here. Big bold blueberries, blackcurrant, blackberries, plums, extremely soft cherries. There is a brief flash of tart from those cherries, but the real star here is obvious: black black fruit. Might not be for everyone due to its enormity. If you like more subtle, nuanced reds, head on over to Pinot country.

With Food

Might be too much fruit in here, but you should stick with non-BBQ meats and non-salty red sauces. This would work well with game.

$8.90 at WineAnthology.com

Check out our other Petite Sirah reviews!

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

Also check out:

Line 39 Petite Sirah 2007

Good News: Before we launch into the Line 39 Petite Sirah, we have to say that this one was pretty exciting. This stuff looks like a glass of black ink. Petite Sirah’s are always going to be inky; they are one of the most exceedingly dark wines available. Prepare to have to leave some warm water in the glass when you’ve finished.

The nose is stiff and there is so much smokey black fruit that it smells like someone set the glass on fire. The flavor is round, full and supple. A completely balanced and solid mix of blackberry, black cherry and ripe ripe plums. This wine is ridiculously good for it’s price point. Note the long finish and the lingering hints of that smoke.

NOTE: Because it is a young wine, there is a little bit of under-ripeness at times, so we suggest you leave it open for a couple of hours before drinking.

With Food: More BBQ and plenty of it. Ribs would be perfect along with anything smoked. Enjoy it with plenty of BBQ sauce, potato salad and fruit. If you’re feeling really adventurous, grill some peaches, pineapple or anything else and put that on top of some vanilla ice cream. This stuff would even work with that.

$15.04 for 2 bottles at the BevMo 5¢ Wine Sale!

Remember to subscribe to get all of the latest recommendations from Wine Welfare!

Also check out: