WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘Blend’

…or need to spend an arm and a leg to live high on the hog!

Produced and bottled by Barrel 27 Wine Company, the 2008 High On The Hog White Wine is a magnificent blend of 39% Grenache Blanc, 36% Viognier, 20% Roussanne and 5% Marsanne grapes.

It possesses an incredible juicy concentration of tropical fruit flavors with a massive round and elegant finish that, dare I say, rivals some other top notch California Chardonnays and the “M” word…France’s Puligny-Montrachet.

I’d like to give a special shout out to Steve Kogler@ Teller Wines in Lewes, DE for introducing me to this wine – I’m completely addicted and want more!

4 Stars out of 4.  For $18.99/bottle you can afford to show off your great taste to all your wine buddies and have enough dough leftover to pay for dinner.

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Words like “exceptional”, “superb”, “finesse”, and “powerful” have been thrown around by many wine critics and French producers to describe the 2007 Rhone Valley vintage.  After trying a few 2007 Cotes Du Rhone red blends this past week, I’d say they were all pretty harmonious, fit for a king, and scrumpdillyicious.

However, there was one in particular that stood out from the others.  It was the 2007 Chateau Beauchene Grand Reserve.  The tasting notes on the label of the 2007 Chateau Beauchene Grand Reserve describe this wine as “rounded and unctuous”.

Unctuous…huh? 

Unctuous – 1. (adj.) buttery, fulsome, oily, oleaginous, smarmy, soapy, unctuous
Unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech.
“buttery praise”; “gave him a fulsome introduction”; “an oily sycophantic press agent”; “oleaginous hypocrisy”; “smarmy self-importance”; “the unctuous Uriah Heep”; “soapy compliments” ~definitions.net 

I’m not sure I would want to drink something based on that definition, but in “wine-speak” it sounds much better:

“Rich, lush, intense wines with layers of concentrated, soft, velvety fruit are said to be unctuous.” ~erobertparker.com

Composed of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah grapes, the 2007 Chateau Beauchene Grand Reserve was thumping with vibrant and youthful red fruit, florally violet notes, and a punch of black pepper on the finish.  It was a naughty-good nightcap with some pita bread and a tub of roasted red pepper hummus.  I bet it would also be right at home with a variety of different meats and cheeses as well.

3 Stars out of 4.  The 2007 Chateau Beauchene Grand Reserve Cotes Du Rhone Red earned the right to call itself ‘unctuous’ or anything else in the dictionary that means, “really good”…and that’s not just buttery praise!

($11.99)

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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:  California

Price:  $9.99

Bare-knuckle boxing is recognized as the first form of boxing, and it involved two competitors fighting one another without the use of boxing gloves or any other padding on their hands.  During this era in boxing, John Lawrence Sullivan, who was nicknamed the “Boston Strong Boy”, was considered by most historians and boxing experts as the first ever US Heavyweight Champion of “gloved” boxing and also as the last heavyweight champion of “bare-knuckle” boxing.

Seeing this John Sullivan inspired label enticed me to go ahead and purchase it to taste what this “Heavyweight Red” was made of.  After only a few seconds into the first round with this supposed heavyweight, that is comprised of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Syrah and 10%, I quickly found out that this heavyweight had nothing more than a “glass chin”, in boxing speak.

Light, fruity, weak and hollow on its follow through makes this red blend a more formidable match in the Lightweight Division.  Unfortunately, in the 750ml and under $10 category this “Heavyweight Red” just doesn’t compete!

I award the “Heavyweight Red” 1 Star out of 4.  There’s a lot more blood, sweat and tears that need to go inside this bottle in order for it to live up to the legendary heavyweight status of its label .  

WineLife365 Rating: 1-Star 

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