WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘2-Star’

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At some point in this lifetime, I see myself falling head over heels in love with South African wines.  I want to love them – I really do – but it sure is difficult when you feel like you’ve been shot out of a hookah pipe when tasting them.  However, I’ll be damned to write off an entire varietal, let alone the wines from an entire country!  My tastes have evolved over the years, so I won’t let my reservations – most notably towards smoky South African wine - stand in the way of finding some exciting South African wines to share with you.

Last night…

There we were, the two of us in our little bat cave in the basement, enjoying a stack of burritos topped with charred and fried sweet corn niblets (I’ve been dying to use the word niblets in a post ), green chilies, spicy salsa and a mound of sour cream.  Not a pretty sight for a Kodak moment, so I’ll spare you the picture.

I grabbed two South African wines from Partnership Vineyards.  Partnership Vineyards is the result of a partnership between farmers and Riebeek Cellars in South Africa’s Riebeek Valley. Since 2004, they have planted nearly 60 hectares; 15 hectares dedicated to Sauvignon Blanc plantings on the farm they aptly named Partnership Vineyards.  This fair trade venture is divvied up 40% farm and cellar workers, 40% farmers and 20% Riebeek Cellars. Riebeek Cellars serves as the marketing and production arm of this unique, empowering initiative.

Our first wine was the 2009 Partnership Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc (Sample, MSRP: $13).  I’ll sum this wine up in a few words:  a mouthful of fresh pineapple laced with an herbaceous smoky undertone.  A piece of advice:  don’t over-chill this Sauvignon Blanc like I did.  Once it warmed up, the flavors really shined and paired well with those spicy burritos.

2 Stars out of 4 for the 2009 Partnership Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc.

The second wine of the night was the 2008 Partnership Vineyards Shiraz (Sample, MSRP: $13).  Unfortunately, this red gave me flashbacks of my less than stellar encounters with other South African reds.  Right off the bat, its savory smokiness had me gasping for air.  The combination of Slim-Jim, tobacco, vanilla, menthol and a slight hint of plum was all a bit much for me at first.  This wine needs a lot of time out of the bottle to let off some smoke before consuming.  It was much more approachable and appealing on the second day.

2 Stars out of 4 for the 2008 Partnership Vineyards Shiraz.

Ok, what word in this title doesn’t quite fit?  If you said, “Bordeaux” – give yourself a big attaboy (or girl) and slap yourself on the butt!  Most wine drinkers (at least the ones I know) wouldn’t include ALL of these words in a sentence meant to describe wines from one of the most storied wine regions.  In an effort to change this perception and to elevate awareness about reasonably priced (i.e., under $20) Bordeaux wines available in the US, the folks at Planet Bordeaux initiated a campaign to educate, share and showcase examples of what Bordeaux, and in particular Bordeaux Supérieur AOC wines, has to offer consumers in the under $20 category.

Yesterday, we decided to try the 2006 Château Cablanc Bordeaux Rouge and the 2008 Château Majoureau Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge with grilled salmon and a thick piece of grilled steak .  

The first wine we tasted was the 2006 Château Cablanc Bordeaux Rouge (Sample, MSRP: $13 US).

Right off the bat – before ever seeing the vintage date on the label – I thought to myself, “this wine has seen a few moons.”   Reason being that the color of the 2006 Château Cablanc Bordeaux Rouge was a tad cloudy and had a dull ruby color to it.  That being said, though, we don’t judge any wine by how pretty it looks in the glass – it’s all about how it tastes.  As my wife and I tasted the 2006 Château Cablanc Bordeaux Rouge, I commented several times that it tasted a bit tired; it was not at all vibrant and tasted one-dimensional to me.  Made of 60% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, it lacked any interesting herbal and spice flavors.  I kept it open for a few hours, in hopes of tasting some violet and black currants; unfortunately, over the course of the evening, I just couldn’t find them.  2 Stars out of 4 for the 2006 Château Cablanc Bordeaux Rouge.

Our second rouge of the evening was the 2008 Château Majoureau Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge (Sample, MSRP: $15 US).

Like the Château Cablanc Bordeaux Rouge, the 2008 Château Majoureau Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge is comprised of 60% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon.  Unlike the first red, though, the 2008 Château Majoureau Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge exhibited a beautiful vibrant ruby color.  How did it taste?  This claret coats your entire palate – front, middle and end – with raspberry, strawberry, cloves, violets and black current.  AND…I absolutely loved the chewy tannins gripping my teeth and gums with every sip!  Now this is what I was hoping to discover in an everyday-sipper, red Bordeaux!  3 Stars out of 4 for the 2008 Château Majoureau Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge.

For more information on these and other Bordeaux wines check out Planet-Bordeaux.com.

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I don’t know about you, but I’m not quite ready to stow away my flip flops and shorts for the season just yet.  For some reason, the Summer of 2011 seemed to slip between my toes, retreating out to sea rather quickly this year.  Maybe my family and I did so much that everything is just a blur to me now, or maybe (deep down inside) I just want to take in a few more warm and sunny days to put an exclamation point on the Summer of 2011.  If I were to ask my sons right now how to accomplish this, they’d probably say, “Let’s go noodling!” 

Ummm…sorry guys:  diving into murky water and sticking my hands and legs into a hole to be bitten by a 70lb catfish isn’t quite the ending I had in mind.  Unfortunately, for lack of better plans, it seems that the earthquake, hurricane and tornados experienced in the northeast will be the exclamation point(s) on the Summer of 2011. 

The other night, in the midst of yet another summer rain storm, I whipped up a simple steak stir-fry and grabbed two bottles of wine that were produced by Château de Jau.

Now, I don’t typically make my wine pairing selections based on the way a label looks, but for some reason Benjamin Vautier’s artwork made me think happy summer thoughts. 

We started with the 2010 Le Jaja de Jau Sauvignon Blanc (Sample, MSRP: $10 US). “Jaja” is an old French slang word for a glass of wine – an everyday or house wine.  This jaja was a big zap of lemon with some lime and granny smith apple flavors.  It finishes clean, but had a little too much pucker for my liking. 

2 Stars out of 4 for the 2010 Le Jaja de Jau Sauvignon Blanc. 

We moved on and closed out the evening with the 2010 Le Jaja de Jau Syrah Rosé (Sample, MSRP: $10 US).  The 2010 Le Jaja de Jau Syrah Rosé is made from 100% Syrah grapes and is a straight-forward fruity rosé that fills your mouth with strawberries and hints of violets.  Although it was a nice jaja, maybe a splash of Grenache, Cinsault or Mourvèdre would have made me gaga.   

2 Stars out of 4 for the 2010 Le Jaja de Jau Syrah Rosé. 

Cheers to the last days of summer!

You’ve made your list and think you’ve got all your bases covered for a romantic evening.

Romantic essentials:

• Flowers – Check
• Romantic table dressed with long, flickering candles – Check
• A romantic dinner for two- Check
• Perfect bottle of wine – Check
• Romantic Music – Check
• Bubble Bath, massage oils or whatever else you’ve got stashed that’ll light your Sweetheart’s fire. – Check

Dissolve to:  Wine Shopping Day.

So let’s talk about the wine:  I selected the 2009 Apothic Red ($12).  It seemed to be an easy choice; an older vintage of the Apothic Red came highly recommended by the most influential wine critic on the planet.  Not to mention, the wine store that I purchased this at had a shelf-talker prominently displayed, that read:  “Top 50 Wine Values.”  So I thought to myself, “Oh, yeah- SCORE!”

Apothic Red reveals intense fruit aromas and flavors of rhubarb and black cherry that are complemented by hints of mocha, chocolate, brown spice and vanilla. The plush, velvety mouthfeel and smooth finish round out this intriguing, full-bodied red blend.

Cut to:  The Romantic Evening.

Everything is going exactly as planned until…I opened the wine.  My honey and I start to drink it.  We both quickly notice that there’s no trace of intense fruit aromas nor any sexy, velvety fruit or spice component that makes either one of us long for another sip.  Instead, the moment is lost as our minds began to drift off to thoughts of eating Tootsie Rolls at Grandma’s house, while sipping on an ice cream soda (minus the bubbles).  A fond memory (maybe), but not what I’m looking for in my wine; and I certainly don’t want thoughts of Grandma creeping into my head at this point.  I digress…  We found this wine to be so overpowering with the mocha, chocolate and vanilla sweetness that we promptly put the cork back in it, and my wife turned to me and said, “Please baby, can you get another bottle of red – I don’t want our night to end like this!”  Luckily, I was prepared…

In all fairness, if you like a dry style red wine with a heavy hand of sweetness to it, you might love it.  If you prefer your reds with lower levels of sugar, the 2009 Apothic Red will not be right for you.  With that said…

2 Stars out of 4 for the 2009 Apothic Red.  Somewhere inside this very attractive bottle was a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and Merlot.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get past the sweet chocolate and vanilla taste to distinguish anything else.