WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘3-Star’

Like a lot of other people this past Sunday night, we were glued to the TV set sayin’, “Man, she looks terrible!” or “Wow, she looks really great!”  We were also wondering if James Cameron and Jon Landau’s 10 year project, “Avatar”, would runaway with all of the Oscar trophies.  But just like so many other past Oscar nights, there was that dark horse in the bunch that surprised everyone.  This year, it was a night to remember for the folks involved with the film “The Hurt Locker”, which won six Academy Awards including “Best Picture”.

As we watched “The Hurt Locker” put a hurtin’ on fellow nominees, we were putting a hurtin’ on a couple great bottles of wine!

The first of the evening was the 2009 Finca La Linda Torrontes bottled by Luigi Bosca.  This wine was produced in Argentina and consists of 100% Torrontes grape.  Torrontes is the wonderful and distinctively aromatic signature white grape of Argentina.  If you’ve never tried a Torrontes before, this one will certainly make a great first impression on you!  There’s a lot of interesting layers of flavors swirling around in this wine.  It’s a bombshell of racy, crisp acidity, packed full of tropical flavors, that reminded me of a Pina Colada.  The 2009 Finca La Linda Torrontes was a big winner and left us wanting more.  Costing less than $10, it secures a lofty 4 star WineLife365 taste rating and also earned itself many repeat visits as the weather in our neck of the woods continues to warm up.

Next up was the 2006 La Corte Solyss Negroamaro.  This red wine is from the South of Italy in the Puglia (Apulia) region.  Negroamaro, also known as Negro amaro, is one of the most widely planted native red grapes grown in the Southern regions of Italy.  It’s grown almost exclusively in Puglia (Apulia) and also in Salento, which is located at the “heel” of Italy.  The Negroamaro grape and the winemakers in this region tend to allow these wines to express rustic, earthy, and natural tasting characteristics.  This particular Old World red showcases some really interesting mineral, herbaceous and cherry twists that will undoubtedly make you question whether you’re a fan of it or not.  We were fans of 2006 La Corte Solyss Negroamaro and give it 3 stars out of 4 on our taste scale.  One final note on this wine – I paid $12 for it at a local retailer, but I’ve seen it as high as $25 online.  I’m not sure whether or not I’d be willing to fork over 25 bones for it, but if you can find it for less than $20, it’s certainly worth a shot!

With the 2010 Oscars behind us, I can’t say that there were many moments that will replay in my mind for any length of time.  However, I did find some winners that will have repeat performances in my glass.

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Hey baby don’t you worry, even though the road is rocky
I’ll be coming home to you again
And if you thought that I was lost, I have to bury my cross
Now I’m free from all these chains.  Stephen Marley

There’s a whole big world of wine out there just waiting to be discovered.  As I looked over my own experiences from last year, one whole big world that I sure was missing out on was Italy.  Italy is home to some of the oldest wine producing regions in the world.  Long before the Romans started planting vines, there were the Etruscans and Greeks. Two thousand years later, Italy has become one of the world’s foremost producers, responsible for approximately one-fifth of the world’s overall wine production.  

Located in the province of Verona, Italy, east of Lake Garda is the very hilly and marble rich soil of Valpolicella.  Winemaking has existed in this Italian region since the time of the ancient Greeks.  The name Valpolicella is derived from a Latin and Greek mixture, which translated in English means “Valley of Cellars.” Today, the “Valley of Cellars” economy rests heavily on the production of wine.  The hallmark or signature wine of this region is the recognizable full-bodied style red wine known as Amarone.

However, one not so familiar style of red wine from this Italian region is Ripasso.  Ripasso comes from the verb, ripassare, meaning to “pass over” or to do something again.  The process of making Ripasso wine is by first taking the leftover skins, pulp, and seeds of a previously made Amarone wine, then having this liquid go through a second fermentation that can sometimes last for as long as 3 weeks. The result of this technique gives the wine an increased level of alcohol that clocks in around 14%, yet compared to a traditional Amarone, Ripasso wine will be a bit softer, fruitier and less tannic in its youth. The process of creating a Ripasso wine only occurs in exceptional vintage years. Think of Ripasso as being the “Baby Amarone” that you drink today.  The best part about this style of wine is that it costs a fraction of what you’d pay for an Amarone.  

I recently had the pleasure of trying one of these “Baby Amarones” and sure was kicking myself for passing them over time and time again in the past.  The 2006 Tezza Corte Majoli Valpolicella Ripasso is a terrific example of “Old World” winemaking with just the right splash of “New World” style to liven it up a bit.  This wine is made with a blend of estate grown grapes, mostly Corvina. The double fermentation or ‘Ripasso’ method gives this wine big fruit flavors that reminds one of ‘New World’ wine, but being Italian, there’s plenty of dried cherry and rich spicy flavors that let drinkers know where this baby was born.

We paired the 2006 Tezza Corte Majoli Valpolicella Ripasso with a lobster mac-n-cheese dish that was, in a nutshell, pretty fantastico!  The 2006 Tezza Corte Majoli Valpolicella Ripasso is an outstanding value for under $15.

3 Stars out of 4.

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Is it possible to get a box wine that actually tastes as good as a wine that comes from a bottle?

After two lackluster experiences last year with Casarsa Pinot Grigio/Blanc Blend and Killer Juice Cabernet Sauvignon, I was asking myself that very question.  It sure seemed to me the stigma that box wines are cheap and of lesser quality than traditional bottled wine was holding as true today as it has in the past.

Believe you me – I wanna show some love for the box for lots of reasons:

1.) It’s supposed to stay fresh for up to 4 weeks after opening.

2.) The cool little tap is pretty nifty and very convenient.

3.) The eco-friendly component:  It’s recyclable, takes far less energy to produce and transport, reducing the carbon footprint by 50% versus glass bottles.

But in the end, if this bag and cardboard alternative to bottled wine doesn’t taste as good, does it really matter?

I was curious to take another stab at this box wine thing after a wine buddy of mine, who is accustomed to spending $20 per 750ml, became a loyal imbiber of this box.  I was even more curious after learning that this box wine was a two-time blind tasting finalist in, “The Wine Trials 2010“.  Ok then – Bring on the Black Box!

The Verdict:  The 2008 Black Box Cabernet Sauvignon is by far the best tasting box wine that I’ve ever tried.  For what works out to be about $5 per 750ml of juice, you’re getting a fairly decent dose of red berry and peppery flavors that’ll make you think that you’re drinking a more expensive bottled California Cab.  It’s a good, all-purpose, inexpensive red that most wine drinkers will enjoy – especially those that still think that good wine and cardboard box are not to be mentioned together in the same sentence.  Go out and try it for yourself – you just might get turned onto a box wine like I did!

Finally, I must mention that this box was a generous sample given to me by the Holden Family the day before my family and I were trapped in our house for 2 days after a blizzard dumped two feet of snow.  My sanity remaining in check during this time was due in large part to this glorious box of wine.  Holdens – Many thanks for your contribution towards our survival of the Blizzard of 2010!

WineLife365 Rating: 3-Stars

From: California
Price: $19.99 (Box = 4 750ml bottles!)

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This one’s for you, Casey!

A while ago, a dear friend of mine came walking through our front door carrying a big jug of wine in her hand, called Wine Garage.  I thought to myself, “Holy crap, she’s either homeless and never told us, or she’s smoked way too much Christmas Weed?!”  I wanted to say, “CHILD PLEASE!  Have you done lost your wine-soaked mind comin’ up in here with that jug-o-wine?!” 

After getting my wine snooty-side under control, I made my way closer to the jug to get a good look at its rather simple and generic looking label – it read, “Wine Garage Red Wine Blend B1″.  I’ve seen and tried a lot of jug wines, but this jug was completely foreign to me.  Besides that, what did the “Red Wine Blend B1” actually mean?

After doing a little Google search on Wine Garage, here’s what I discovered about this jug wine that sat squarely in the middle of our dinner table just waiting to be opened:

The Wine Garage store is actually housed in a former gas station/tire shop just south of Calistoga, California’s main street. The Wine Garage has approximately 200 different wines available for purchase.  They seek out and personally visit small wineries throughout the Napa Valley and other wine regions in California such as Lodi, Paso Robles, Amador and Mendocino looking for what they feel are hidden gems.  Another interesting snippet, is that they actually “pump” the wines that go into their half-gallon glass jugs with specially designed gas station nozzles.

The Wine Garage offers up two different jug blends to choose from:
1. The “B1”, (the one we tried) is a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet, Carmenere, Merlot and Petite Verdot.

2. The other jug is a Rhone-style blend consisting of Syrah, Zinfandel, Grenache, Mourvedre and Petite Syrah.

I’m gonna be completely honest and straight to the point about the “B1” red blend:  There were four of us that night that drank this jug to its last glorious drop, and out of the four only one said, “it’s ok”, while the rest of us thought it was hands down the best damn jug wine that we ever had the pleasure of sucking down.

Grab a jug of Wine Garage, round up a few close friends, and reminisce about the good old blotto days when the jug of choice was Riunite Lambrusco!  In the immortal words of Chad Ocho Cinco, “Just cause you got money, don’t mean you gotta spend it!”

WineLife365 Rating: 3-Stars

From: California
Price: $29.99 (1/2 gallon!)

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From: Argentina
Price: $8.99

This wine review was a tough one for me.  I personally love many different styles of red wines.  However, one group of reds that I’ve never been able to totally embrace as a whole is Italian Chianti.  The reason for my love-hate relationship with this style of wine is that I find many share a dominating and strong characteristic that I like to describe as an astringent, “alcoholly” aftertaste.  In other words, a peculiar burning or hot sensation that comes out on the back end of tasting these wines makes me feel as if I just swallowed rubbing alcohol or jet fuel, and leave me feeling like I should be calling 911 to get treated for alcohol poisoning.  But being the wine trooper and occasional “flame swallower” that I am, I’m not about to let a few “alcoholly” experiences stop me from finding a nice Chianti to pair with a plate of fava beans. 

Which leads me to a rather interesting experience that I recently had with one 2004 Trumpeter Malbec-Syrah.  This wine had me guessing from the first sip whether or not I was drinking an “agreeable” Italian Chianti or something that just tasted like Chianti that I really liked.  Here’s a wine experiment that I’d love for you to try – grab a Chianti Classico from Italy priced under $20.  Then grab a bottle of this Trumpeter Malbec-Syrah at under $10.  Taste them both blindfolded.  I’ll bet that your taste buds think that they’re both from Italy.  The 2004 Trumpeter Malbec-Syrah tasted like an “Argentinean Chianti Classico” to me, but without the astringent, “alcoholly” aftertaste.

All in all, I really enjoyed the oddity of this Italian tasting, Argentinean-born, red blend of 50% Malbec and 50% Syrah.  It had good ripe fruit, integrated very nicely with oak, to give it a full and rounded taste both on the front and backend.  It certainly wasn’t at all what I was expecting to taste, and at under $10 bucks a bottle there’s a lot to like about this wine.  If you enjoy Italian Chianti, I think that you’ll enjoy the value that this wine brings to the table.  Give it a shot one night with a plate of traditional spaghetti and meatballs (or even some fava beans) and taste for yourself.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

3 Stars out of 4.

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