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!

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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.

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Color

Deep, dark, inky, rich.

Nose

Plum, cherry, wooden chair and some cigar. A big, bombastic nose. Such is the case with Shiraz.

Taste

Full-bodied as hell. Hard to find a Shiraz review that doesn’t note how big and fruit-bomby these wines are. The plum and cherry really powers through, though I have to admit the mid-palate was, well, lacking. It’s as if the wine disappeared for a moment and then reappeared in the form of saddle leather and too much alcohol, leaving an unpleasant caramel taste on the tongue. Not quite the finish we want.

With Food

Good food wine, seeing as how it needs something to fill in those gaps. I’d stay away from fruits and cheese and go with entrees. Try some sort of breakfast-cut beef, something thin, maybe with some tomato sauce. Veal is too delicate, but a thin carne asada taco would work well, as strange as it sounds.

Where to Buy

$8.99 at Premium Wine Group!

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Color

Great violet color, vibrant and looks well-made from the start.

Nose

Wow, tropical fruits: Pineapple, papaya, what the hell is this? Some tobacco and red fruit is there, but I can’t make out what.

Taste

Holy crap, the tropical fruit is still there. The pineapple, the papaya. This tastes like one of those orange juice combo drinks they make. Almost Sunny Delight-ish, if you can believe that. I don’t know quite how to describe this. I want to say “fruit-forward” but I’m used to the usual red fruits. Those red fruits are there, but not in any force at all. And all along with these strange fruits comes structure. The tannins are weak, but they are there. No hollowness, and a great finish of cherry mixed with pineapple. Like a sorbet.

With Food

You know, I wouldn’t mess with this one. This is far too unique and complex to be a food wine. ‘Nuf said.

Where to Buy

Under $20 at the winery: http://www.oreanawinery.com/.

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The Ventana Dry Rosado is a definite winner. I had never heard of Ventana and I barely knew where Arroyo Seco was before buying it (despite visiting Monterey, for God’s sake). Back to the point, this wine is a stud. I’m not even sure it should be referred to as a Rose, as every Rose I’ve had before is a crying little girl compared to this. Perhaps that’s why they used “Rosado” as the specific name. I’ll have to look it up.

Color

Cranberry juice cocktail. Deep rich ruby. Stiff for a Rose, but like I said, it’s a stud. Red wine is often referred to as ruby in color. I disagree. Look at a ruby and tell me if the color is more like a Gamay or this wine. You’ll see what I mean.

Nose

Skunk. Pure skunky cherry and cranberry notes. It dominates the nose. Tart strawberry, moldy blueberry, dry carpet.

Taste

More tart but juicy as can be. This is explosive strawberry, cranberry and some gasoline. Almond sneaks in to finish you off. Huge mouthfeel like velvet. This is not Granny’s $5 Rose.

With Food

Give it it’s due. Don’t pair this with just salad or fish or even light chicken as you would a typical Rose. We’re talking 10% Syrah and 90% Grenache here, left to soak with the skins longer than usual for a Rose. Stiffen things up by putting some time of slightly darker sauce on the chicken or fish. Actually, now that I think about it, grilled fish or chicken with lime and salsa, or even a good ceviche would work perfectly with this. Hey, look at that! Another wine that works with Mexican food, and from the most unlikely of varietals.

Where to Buy

$18 at TasteMontery.com, which by the way is an awesome little wine store right nextdoor to the Steinbeck Museum in Salinas. Go get some culture and then get buzzed off the beautiful wines Monterey has to offer.

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COLOR: Fresh and dark. Nothing cloudy or thick, but very clean. A bit of Welch’s Grape Juice mixed with Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail.

NOSE: Black pepper that only presented itself after about an hour of decanting. Forest floor, leaves, and some dampness.

TASTE: Strong blackberry and prune flavors coat the tongue first. Then it moves into the Old World flavors of basement, wet leaves, black moist soil with a bit of saddle mixed in there. No tobacco on this one to be sure, and I was waiting for it. But you definitely get a major hit of the woods in this baby. Very good balance of the fruit and earthy tones. Tannins are present but nothing violent. Lengthy finish.

WITH FOOD: Honestly, this would work great with a loaded pizza. Apart from that, aim for something with some tomatoes. Though the wine has some big big flavors, they don’t knock the teeth out of your mouth.

WHERE TO BUY: $8.99 at SkyviewWine.com!

WINEMAKER WEBSITE: Perrin & Fils

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So last week we left off at Ortman Vineyards in downtown Paso Robles, and for the conclusion of our little 2-day sojourn to Paso Robles, we’re going to get past the blur that was Saturday night (after Ortman) and jump straight into our Sunday tastings. However, I would be remiss not to mention where we ate dinner on that Saturday night, a fantastic place called Villa Creek, right in the heart of downtown.  Since this is a wine review site for the poor, I won’t go into too much detail concerning the meal. I will only mention three things:

1. My wife had the rabbit, which was outstanding.

2. I had the brisket-stuffed poblano chile, which was for some reason even better than the rabbit.

3. I spilled an entire glass of wine on myself (If you remember where we left off last time, we were at Ortman and I’d lost my sense of taste. Add a visit to a nearby pub to that just before dinner, and it was really partytime).*

Cut to the next morning. A brilliant start at Margie’s Diner (also near downtown) with the biggest plate of breakfast I’ve ever seen, and it surely did the trick. This place was serious. There had to be like an entire bag of potatoes on that plate. Anyway, onto the wines!

Pomar Junction Winery

This was a great place. A former railroad junction (go figure) the place boasts a great old tasting room, and out back you can climb into an authentic caboose car and admire the view of what was once a fairly busy California crossroads of sorts. Besides Pomar’s awesome website, they had some pretty good stuff for a new winery. Their under-$20 standouts are as follows:

Pomar Junction Syrah Rose

COLOR: A nice strawberry juice. Dare I say that it looks like a hearty white zinfandel?

NOSE: Strong strawberry, metal, cheese rind. All good signs of a great rose. A good nose for a cool summer wine.

TASTE: Here come the strawberries again along with the the cheese rind. The metal dissipates among a strong mid-palate of hard candy and a hint of marsala. Absolutely delicious and unfortunate that this has to come in the form of a rose when such a wine is difficult to market to the general public with their current perceptions of rose.

WITH FOOD: Like I said, a good cool summer wine with barbecued chicken and a strawberry salad.

WHERE TO BUY: $12.00 from the winery itself.

Pomar Junction “Picnic” Chardonnay – Canvas Series

COLOR: Pale. Almost too pale. Usually I look for at least some semblance of straw color, but this looked like a Sauvignon Blanc.

NOSE: Green apple, caramel corn and a nice shot of minerality.

TASTE: Good mouthfeel. Rich for a Chardonnay at this price. Good acid, strong finish, a little empty on the mid-palate, but the green apple is there for the most part throughout the whole movie.

WITH FOOD: Honestly? Keep this solitary. No sense in pairing this with food that will most likely destroy it; even lemon chicken. It’s on the cheap side, so treat it as such.

WHERE TO BUY: $12.00 from the winery itself.

So we had soaked our stomachs in the first wines of the day with Pomar Junction, and now it was time on to some even more serious wines.

Wild Horse Winery

We were lucky to have stopped at mostly wineries I had never heard of before or seen on store shelves. Wild Horse was the only exception. You will recognize the label immediately and I think I have even seen some of their wines in grocery stores. While everything we tried here was absolutely delicious, take note of the “Unbridled” Merlot and the Cheval Sauvage, there were only a couple that were under the $20 mark, and among those there was one standout:

Wild Horse 2008 Malvasia Bianca

COLOR: Rich gold but not to the apple juice level. Looks very calm in the glass. What did that even mean?

NOSE: Strong, strong aromatics here, even though it was chilled. Once you plow through the initial honeysuckle smells, you get into some tangerine and cantaloupe and some ruby red grapefruit juice.

TASTE: The melon is strong with this (*cue Darth Vader breathing*). Great lychee flavors (go out and by some, their nuts) support a very rich mouthfeel and strong honey flavors. It feels like it would be too rich for even a hot day, but once you get to the finish, which stays but doesn’t really make it’s presence felt, you will know that this stuff will be good all summer long. Plus, I should point out that my brother bought an entire case.

WITH FOOD: This is a tough one, but I can’t see anything wrong with fish or even some spicier foods. It’s not going to really cut through the buttery dishes, since the acid is not the lead here.

$20 from the Wild Horse Winery

And finally, we reach the grand finale of our trip, wherein I experienced the best California red wine I have had thus far in my life. This will be a tough one to beat because the flavors were wacky and the varietal is Italian.

Bella Luna Winery

This place was the spitting image of an Italian home, right down to the half-dead dog in front and the custard paint. Run by two old fellas, both veterans of the Vietnam conflict, named Kevin Healy and Sherman Smoot. Kevin served us that day in the “tasting room” which was basically their enormous garage. The most interesting thing, other than the taste of the wine I’m about to go over, is that their Sangiovese vines are head-trained, meaning no trellises (those T-shaped things you normally see holding up the grapevines). this makes the vines grow, well, everywhere. Sort of like your lazy neighbor’s bushes.  Also interesting is that all of their fruit is dry-farmed, meaning no water unless it rains.

Bella Luna 2008 “Lot One” Barbera – San Benito County

I’m not going to go through the whole spiel here since this isn’t an under-$20 bottle, so I’ll give you the gist of my thoughts on this wine.

BUY IT IMMEDIATELY, EVEN IF IT IS $38

Basically, if you like red wine or have even the slightest interest in Italian varietals, this is a wine worth checking out. The fruit is definitely there but it doesn’t explode, and there are strong vegetal characteristics like asparagus, broccoli, green beans, and green bell pepper. Great firm tannins that don’t muscle their way in. Everything is perfectly, PERFECTLY balanced. I can’t wait to open this thing again. I even asked Mr. Healy for another try of it at the tasting room, which I’m not used to doing.

$38 at Bella Luna Winery

So that concludes our little Paso Robles Wine Country adventure here at Wine Welfare. Other trips are coming, including a number of trips up to the Edna Valley region, Santa Ynez, including Los Olivos, and a trip up to Napa, so stay tuned. AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS SERIES IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

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Cheers!

*My wife will probably repeat that I have obsessed over this embarrassing accident since it happened nearly three weeks ago.

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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

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Been meaning to write a post on this wine for awhile now. The Merkin Vineyards Chupacabra is made by Caduceus Cellars, owned and operated by Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of the bands Tool, Puscifer and (the now disbanded) A Perfect Circle. I’m going to just come out and say this to get it out of the way:

TOOL ROCKS

Tool is far and away my favorite band on the entire planet, so it was only natural that when I saw Mr. Keenan had started his own winery and vineyard in the stunning Verde Valley of Northern Arizona, I had to try the wine.

Note: While Caduceus Cellars is an Arizona winery, the Merkin Chupacabra is made from California Cabernet and Syrah (hey, he had to start with something, right?). But you can buy his 100% Arizona fruit wines online at the website.

Northern Arizona is the epitome of “burgeoning wine country,” and based on the the wines I have tasted from this region, Arizona is going to be a major, major player in both the High-End and the more vital “Value Wine” world. The flavors are as stunning and complex as any other wine region (maaaaybe not Italy, but that’s because I also think Italy rocks). Beyond all that, what will truly set this region apart for wine makers and wine lovers is that these flavors are NEW. Brand new. Like nothing you have ever tasted.

Cheers to Mr.Keenan and Eric Glomski (owner of Page Springs Cellars, one of the first Arizona wine makers to bring attention to the region) for the success of their vision, because if this California-fruit wine is any indication of their combined talents, we will be seeing quite a change in the U.S. wine world (now get going on the next Tool album).

So, let’s get into the juice:

Disclaimer: DECANT THIS WINE. We’ve said it before and we’re saying it again: IF POSSIBLE, DECANT EVERY RED WINE YOU DRINK, NO MATTER WHAT.

COLOR: I’m not sure if this is filtered or not, but this looks like tomato juice on an iron binge. Seriously deep, dark, rich burgundy colors. You’ll be smacking your lips right away.

NOSE: Black stewed cherries and grandma’s basement. An odd, yet delicious combo.

TASTE: Every summer when I was a boy I would go to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in tiny little Munich, North Dakota (population approx. 350). Those days spent there were some of the best in my entire life. The flatness, the quiet, the landscape, the farm, the machines, the people and of course, the food. I basically loved everything about the place (of course, I’ve never experienced a winter there, but that’s another post on another site). Now this will sound strange, but it’s the one thing that popped into my mind when I tasted the Merkin Chupacabra: This wine reminds me of North Dakota.

I know, I know. I don’t understand it either, but it did. The smell of basement, the flavors of dark cherry, the slight mint, the brief and out-of-left-field-flavor of baked bread. It reminded me of a dessert my grandmother used to make that I am going to spell wrong called “Cherries Jus” or something like that. Basically, it was sweet, creamy cherry soup, served warm. It was delectable. This wine’s structure is solid, with awesome, awesome fruit and good balance of tannins to the sweetness. It’s not too dry in the least. The alcohol is there only to support and intoxicate, and believe me, you will be intoxicated by this stuff.

WITH FOOD: While it seems almost sacrilegious not to savor this on its own, I am a firm believer that food came before wine and so all wines should be able to pair with foods. In this case, you could do worse than a traditional filet mignon, roast lamb, ostrich steak or even buffalo.

BEST PRICE: $19.98 at WineLibrary.com!

Further Info on Arizona Wines/Wineries:

http://www.arizonastrongholdvineyards.com/

http://www.doscabezaswinery.com/

http://www.arizonavinesandwines.com/wineries.html

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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!

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If ever a smell was evocative of school, it’s the scent of pencil wood. That earthy, dusty scent that lingers no matter what. That hand-cranked pencil sharpener with the adjustable wheel on the side. No one ever emptied that stupid thing, so eventually it would jam up, and you would be the lucky one to empty it and inhale a nice cloud of saw and lead dust.

Sorry to jog down the memory lane of banality there for a moment, but the point is, that’s what this wine smells and tastes like. Read on, Brave Soul.

COLOR: A nice dusky red with flecks of amber. Great rich purple hues.

NOSE: And the pencil shavings have arrived in full force. Great musty basement, dark raspberries and a bit of the barnyard.

TASTE: Too young. This will improve after a couple of years, but it is drinkable now if you really want to have it. Not the best value at this price point. Complex except for one simple aspect: That handful of pencil shavings that were just shoved down your throat. Great fruit and a solid mid-palate. Syrah is always a winner, and this one brings those raspberries again and a delicious hit of vanilla-coated cherries. Enough tannins to balance the fruit with a real grip.

WITH FOOD: Quality red meats, but there are better wines we can think of around this price point to serve with a good filet or ostrich steak. Like the Peachy Canyon Petite Sirah.

SCORE: 6/10

WHERE TO BUY: $14.99 at WineLibrary.com!

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One of the fondest memories I have is of watching my grandfather eat chili. He loved a good chili the way most men love a good steak. It was one of his two favorite foods, the other being peanut butter. Needless to say, he never could find a way to combine his two favorites, but he certainly was able to ingest ridiculous quantities of each, separately. Many times when he would watch me during summer days or whenever my parents went out for a Saturday night dinner and a movie I would go to the pantry in his house (which was really a makeshift closet) and stare and shelf upon shelf of canned Hormel chili. There would literally be thirty to fifty cans at a time in there, next to which would most likely be a jar of Jiff Peanut Butter. Point is, whether it was a can of Hormel at home, or a homemade pot of bubbling goodness, when you have a favorite food, it should be indulged whenever—and however—you damn well please.

So it’s still winter time for much of the world (despite the 80-degree weather here in Los Angeles), and that means it’s one of the best times for that most American of dishes: Chili. There’s nothing like a hot bowl of tomato sauce, beef, pork, beans and spices all mixed together to warm you up on a freezing 60-degree night. There are three wine reviews today, and all of these go great with with this after-dinner-room-clearing classic. Sorry, but that had to be said.

Cardinal Zin Zinfandel – $11.69 at LowestWinePrices.com

Besides the kick-ass label created by the immortal Ralph Steadman (just think of Hunter S. Thompson), this wine brings serious fruit and kick with it. Chili, depending on who’s involved in the cooking, can be either wild or mild. This wine is equipped to handle both with big fat plums, fig, and syrupy black pepper, if that makes any sense.

San Simeon Syrah 2006 – $14.98 at FineWineHouse.com

With a sissy-ass label denoting the former regional home of overweight publishing maniac William Randolph Hearst the San Simeon Syrah packs enough of fruit punch to handle the spicier, Texas-style, four-alarm, melt your teeth, pants-dropping, blah blah blah my jaw is falling off-type of chilis with ease. Good acid that is surprisingly enjoyable after a mouthful of kidney beans and ground pork. Also, I have to point out how good this wine tastes with the flavor of onions.

Orfila Malbec 2006 – $4.99 at Hell If I Know

I’ve had this wine on multiple occasions at one of my favorite restaurants in Southern California, Inka Trails: a Peruvian restaurant located in the extremely dull town of La Verne. Just go eat there and leave quickly. Anyway, they always have this Malbec that I eat with my “Bisteak a la Pobre”, but I’ve never been able to find it anywhere else. I’ve seen other Orfila varietals, and I know that it is an extremely cheap wine (we’re talking like $4.99 here), but when I asked the owner of the restaurant about his distributor and how I could get my hands on some, he shrugged me off like I had just complemented the glass of water he handed me. Basically, the wine tastes like the perfect mixture of olives, spice, raisin, green pepper and gorgeous blackberry. This is a wine that was born for chili (insert lame “Chile the country” quip here). So we know it’s unorthodox to not give a link to where to find the wine, but it works so well with chili that we figured we’d mention it anyway. If you do find it, please let me know ASAP, as my life is not complete without it.

Check out our other Zinfandel wine reviews.

Check out our other Syrah wine reviews.

Check out our other Malbec wine reviews.

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The Black Mountain Shiraz was a chance find, and it turned out to be a winner of a Shiraz. Though we’ve only been able to find it at Trader Joe’s (which makes no sense given that it would probably cost the same if not less to sell it online), you might be able to find it at your local grocery store or wine shop. Just to be clear, this is actually  a California wine, but the folks at Black Mountain are calling it a “Down Under Shiraz,” whatever that means. If you remember, Shiraz is made from the Syrah grape, but down under they just call it “Shiraz.” So, basically, Black Mountain just wants to confuse people. We even read somewhere that the Black Mountain company had actually trademarked the term “Down Under” in the U.S.

Color

Light for a Shiraz.  Syrah is usually dark, somewhat inky, a rather fruit-forward, solid wine. This one looks like Pinot Noir.

Nose

Rhubarb, black cherry and black currants soaked in rum. There was quite a bit of heat on the nose. After a few minutes you could smell some cinnamon and pepper.

Taste

At least it tastes like Syrah: big blackcurrant jam, boysenberry syrup, cinnamon and white pepper. The wine doesn’t have much more than that. No real structure, and it kind of just sits in your mouth, giving off the fruit and spice flavors and then…leaves. Not much of a middle or end, so you can’t really call it hollow. It’s just, light and dull, but at $6.00, you can probably move past all that and serve to your guests during Thanksgiving.

With Food

Since the wine really has no structure but a lot of fruit, you might want to save this as an “end-of-the-evening-and-everyone-is-drunk-off-the-good-stuff” bottle.

Available at Trader Joe’s for around $6.00!

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The Delas Saint Esprit Côtes du Rhône is a rather different Rhone blend. The wine is made up of 75% Syrah and 25% Grenache. Generally, Rhone blends are made up of Syrah and some of the typical whites from the region, such as Viognier, Roussanne or Marsanne. Still, this was suggested to us by a friend and was out of this world.

Color

Great color exhibiting bright red fruits like red currant and strawberry.

Nose

A playful nose, which sounds weird, but it basically means that it’s pleasing with a variety of smells. In this case, it’s pepper, black currant jam, cinnamon, and bright strawberry fruit rollups.

Taste

Again, the wine is playful and bright, exhibiting lots of varied flavors and textures. At once it’s like velvet, but then the tannins kick in and it takes on a whole new flavor. The fruit is delicious and very strong despite most vintages being rather young right now for under $20. We had the 2007. The spices kick in on the finish, leaving you with the sensation that you’ve just had a spiced berry pie of some sort.

With Food

Not for BBQ or tomatoes; too much smoke and acid that could overpower this baby. This wine has some varied and wacky flavors that should be underscored rather than bluntly matched. Try it with some sharp cheeses, nuts and berries. As a full meal wine, roasts would work well, especially some roasted game like mutton or antelope.

$9.99 from WineExchange.com!

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As far as we can tell, this wine is pretty much only available at BevMo stores. We assume that you might be able to find it at some smaller, independent wine shops, and at their winery, but we can’t be sure. If anyone has seen it anywhere else, let us know in the comments.

Color

Good thick ink. Exactly what we would expect.

Nose

Vanilla, tobacco, plums, dark cherries and some coffee.

Taste

Silky and smooth. Great vanilla (probably from too much oak, but we liked it this time) and dark fruits: Prunes, stewed cherries and some fig. Meaty and full-bodied. The acid is low, but the tannins kick in fairly well. The coffee on the nose appears on the finish, but it really depends what you eat with it. All in all, a good buy at the BevMo sale, but after that, there are better Syrahs at lower price points.

With Food

Grilled pork, coffee-crusted steak, and game. Don’t drink it without food.

$16.99 for 2 at the BevMo 5 ¢ Wine Sale!

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The Wine That Sounds Very Familiar, Though You’ve Probably Never Had It

The whole purpose of this site is to ignore things like names, labels, even price and to let the wines speak for themselves. That said, the name “Bridlewood” sounds instantly familiar when you hear it. Almost like “Beringer.” You’re certain you’ve had it, but odds are you haven’t. What a shame.

Color

Good dark cherry. Not black and murky like many Syrahs. There is still enough red showing to not call it purple or “inky.”

Nose

The woods. Hey, maybe we were wrong in bashing the name. They got the “wood” part right. This thing smells like deforestation: damp tree stumps and crackling campfires. Hints of pumpkin spice and vanilla come in as well.

Taste

Delicious. This one will be a crowd pleaser, epsecially at this price. The less-sour-but-just-as-sugary fruits make a big appearance here. Figs and prunes are the star of the show, along with vanilla bean and some silky tannins. Not too much acid. The alcohol level is low enough to really push the fruit forward. Delicious.

With Food

BBQ without BBQ sauce. Lamb, steaks in general. This would even work with a light red sauce or pizza.

$9.99 at BoozeBros.com!

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A Spanish Table Wine consisting of 45% Monastrell, 25% Tempranillo, and finished off by Syrah, Garnacha, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Color

Deep and inky. Looks delicious and rather heady for a table wine. Very intense.

Nose

The intensity continues on the nose and blasts you with a strange concoction of smells. Heavy, heavy smoke, Maine blueberries, and spiced wood. This is no ordinary table wine.

Taste

The smoke is very present still in the flavor. Aged six months in French and American oak, the wine gives off a bit too much wood. However, the layers are balanced and very very ripe. Blackberry cobbler and rich stewed cherries. The finish is long and clean with the acid lasting all the way. Basically, the wine totally overdoes it.

With Food

Red sauce, lamb, beef, ostrich, the usual suspects. Also, for a table wine, it would work on it’s own as a tasty party wine. This wine goes on forever.

$8.99 at WineLibrary.com!

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Qupe Syrah 2006 Central Coast

A very reliable producer with lucscious fruit from Santa Barbara. This is our first Qupe wine on Wine Welfare, but everything we’ve had from them has been stellar.

Color

Deep inky purple. Not sure if this is filtered or not, but the this is not a very clear red. Looks gorgeous.

Nose

Smoke, deep red cherries, very ripe blackberries, moist earth. Give it a few minutes to open up and you will get some pine and a touch of rhubarb, which seems strange for a Syrah. Usually the tartness is reserved for Pinot.

Taste

Wow. A fruit explosion. The cherries and blackberries really come through and are joined by smoked meat and a healthy dollop of vanilla cream. Not too much oak, and the heat is very well balanced. The wine does not let up all the through to a lengthy finish.

With Food

BBQ steak or ostrich only. Very balanced acidity and fruit that can tear through a good cut of red meat.

Qupe Syrah 2006 Central Coast – $11.98 at WineLibrary.com!

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Castellani La Cattura – Our First Super Tuscan

Super Tuscans are rebels. Back in the day in Italy, the DOC (Denominazioni di origine controllata), which is basically the Wine Police of Italy, said that Chianti always had to consist of no more than 70% Sangiovese and at least 10% of  a local white grape. As time passed, Chianti sales started to suck, so some of the winemakers decided to break the DOC rules by blending the Sangiovese with other varietals like Cabernet. The Castellani La Cattura, for example, is made from Teroldego and Syrah grapes. By breaking DOC regulations, these wines could no longer be called “Chianti,” but that didn’t matter to these new winemakers of the Rebel Alliance. They decided to give these wines a new name, one that best described the kind of wine they were creating and where it came from.

Thus, the “Super Tuscan” was formed. Though it has never taken on an “official” status, it stands to this day as the signifier of some of the best wines Italy has to offer.

Color

Inky red withe purple tint. Much darker than most Chiantis you may have seen. Think of a thick-looking Hawaiian Punch.

Nose

Wood. Pure oak all the way. A bit too much if you ask us, but some might dig it. Letting it breathe for an hour or so may help. If the oak dissipates enough, you will find scents of dark raspberries, rich cherries and soil. Early morning forest, dead leaves, and…despite all of the scents we just described…peaches.

Taste

The oak stays put and doesn’t fade much on the palate. Since the wood/vanilla elements the oak brings forth are so prominent in the front of the wine, the mid-palate is flabby. Basically, you get a nice expolosion of vanilla and then it’s like there is water on your tongue. Swallow and then you will find the fruit, and it’s raspberry all the way; nice and tart, but a little late to the party. We were going to sleep by the time the cherries or anything else even bothered to appear.

This wine received an overall 90 point rating from some wine dudes, but…nope.

With Food

Pasta with red sauce. Not much more you can do with this because it’s not as full-bodied as we would like. Ironically, it would not go with rabbit.

$12.98 at WineLibrary.com!

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