WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘2004’

From: France

Price: $12.99

After experiencing a stream of “lab rat” red wine concoctions from California so far this year, I thought that it was time to get away from the US and taste some French red wines to see if they were any better.  I grabbed a bottle of this French Rhone blend in the hopes of finding a solid, old world style red wine that would excite me. 

Unfortunately, this French country wine or “Vin De Pays” did nothing to restore my confidence that a great tasting red wine under $15 bucks could be found, if you were willing to look for it. 

I found this red Rhone blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 10% Carignan, and 5% Merlot grapes to be rather boring.  In my opinion, the fruit lacked the spiciness and richness of other red wines that I’ve experienced from this neck of the woods in the past.  Additionally, the label on this wine indicates that it has an alcohol content of 13% – and believe me you can taste it.  Finally, the herbal flavors that also characterize wines from this French region were also rather subdued and bland tasting to me.

All in all, I found the 2004 Montirius “Le Cadet” just to be pleasant, but rather uninspiring.  I did however appreciate that it tasted like a “real” wine and not manufactured.

I give it 2 Stars – there’s just not enough flavors popping to warrant a 3 Star rating.

WineLife365 Rating: 2-Star

From: Hungary

Price: $7.99

Hungary is known for two different types of wine that it produces. The best known of the two is called Tokaji, (which Americans pronounce “toe-kay”). Tokaji is a very sweet dessert wine that was prized by the Russian Tsars and is made in a style similiar to sherry.  The other well-known Hungarian wine is called Bull’s Blood.  Which is- you guessed it – a red wine.  The legend of the name “Bulls Blood” began in the small town of Eger, Hungary. 

The full story can be found at: http://www.bullsblood.com/, but here are some of the “highlights”: “The town of Eger made history when 2,000 soldiers led by Captain Istvan Dobo withstood a month-long siege of 150,000 Turkish troops back in the 1500′s. During the siege, the citizens of Eger opened their wine cellars and drank red wine to give them strength to fight off the Turks. The wine spilled over their beards and onto their armor, coloring them blood red.  As the citizens continued their fight against the invading Turks, word spread quickly that the Hungarians were drinking the blood of bulls to make themselves strong and fierce. The superstitious Turks were fearful and demoralized.  As a result, the siege was broken.”

Bulls Blood is not at all a bold or fierce red wine like you might envision it to be when you see its label containing an imposing black bull or learn about its storied history.  It’s actually a rather light and very simple red wine.

I give the 2004 Egri Bikaver Bull Blood 2 Stars – which is probably being generous.  However, the history behind this wine made me appreciate it probably more than I should.

WineLife365 Rating: 2-Star

I’ve said in past posts that the “wine life” is about enjoying the small things in life, everyday.  Each day brings us all some ups and downs, but spending time with the special people around you is what really matters.  What better way to share this time together than over some good food and wine?

We recently had a wonderful Wednesday evening with our friend Val.  Val has shared with us some awesome juice from her travels, and loves red wines that just flat out kick her ass.  So when she stepped through our front door with this California Cab, I had a gut feeling that this wine was going to be some killer stuff. 

The 2004 Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon’s label really grabs your attention with its beautiful Arts & Crafts, California Mission style artwork on the label.  What comes next is the sheer explosiveness of this 100% Napa Valley Cab.  So far in 2009, I’ve been rather critical of a lot of California red wines.  They’ve tasted odd, manufactured, and flat out mediocre to me.  However, the 2004 Heitz Cab however is a monster of a red wine!

Here was my account of this wine:  It’s like a tightly compressed spring busting loose and smacks your taste buds with an intense powerful blow of chocolate, raspberry, dark cherry, and spices.  It’s definitely been a while since the last time I’ve tasted a red wine as good as this one.  The 2004 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon is by a long shot the best red wine that I’ve had an opportunity to try so far this year.  There is one minor problem:  A slice of heaven like this one comes at a price.  This wine runs nearly 40 bills.  But if you’re looking for a special red wine to share with a good friend or family, this one is truly a wine that people will not soon forget.

I give it 4 Stars.  I don’t know if it gets much better than this.  Thanks for sharing, Val!

WineLife365 Rating: 4-Star

From: Washington

Price: $7.99

Is this wine wearing panty hose???  My wife and I drank about half of the bottle before realizing that nearly ¾s of the bottle had a funny looking brown tint over it that reminded us of panty hose.

As far as the wine is concerned, it’s just “aw-ite”.  There’s nothing exciting at all about this simple plum and choco-bits of a Syrah.  It just barely passed muster with me.

However, I did find the bottle rather amusing.  I guess the folks at Covey Run didn’t want us to see just how truly thin and watered down their 2004 Syrah really is.

WineLife365 Rating: 2-Star