Bargetto's: Chaucer's California Olallieberry Wine

L: Do you like pie? If the answer is yes - Try drinking your pie in the form of wine! If the answer is no - You are a weirdo. This wine is a delicious dessert wine that will probably be the best thing you ever drank. $15. 10/10.

McHenry Pinot Noir 2005, Santa Cruz

L: Yum. I've had this wine a few times before and it is always a pleasant experience. It isn't as full and earthy as other pinot noirs, but give IS perky, and zesty, and exciting! I've seen this wine described as having the flavors of plum and cherry and I would agree. Very fruity. BUT, there is a really interesting, peppery after taste. I love the tartness of this wine - it makes me pucker when it hits the sides of my tongue. It is also earns bonus points for being such a pretty color, a light fuchsia-ish purple. This is an interesting and tasty wine that hasn't failed me yet. 8.5/10

Roogle Shiraz 2006

R: Boring. Not peppery at all, flat in the mouth, weak finish. 4/10.

Goats In Villages Shiraz Pinotage 2006

R: That is a tiny picture. Ah well. This is a pleasant Shiraz/Pinotage blend. The intensity is all on the sides of the tongue, tannic and fruity. Long, dry aftertaste, but not much character in it. I don't know how to describe the way it tails off, but it's kind of 'thin'. Certainly doesn't engage the whole mouth. 6.5/10

Lano Barbera D'Alba 2005

R: It's been months since I actually drank this, but I saved the bottle, and it's been staring at me ever since. I don't recall anything about it except that I liked it. I'll update if I can track down another bottle.

Drylands, Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc, 2007

L: Yum, yum, yum, yum, YUM! This is the nectar that I imagine Hera and Zeus drink up on Mount Olympus. Unbelievably delicious. Daily Wine Tasting describes this wine as "intense, multi-layered nose of tropical fruit. Pink grapefruit, mango, lime, and, passion fruit blasts on the palate with intensity and restraint. Clean and crisp with a bone dry finish" All of that sound about right. It's also fairly inexpensive at around $15. I would give it a 10 but then there is nowhere else to go. 9.5!

Estancia Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

L: Uh oh. This wine is dangerous. It is mellow and drinkable enough to make me want to gulp rather than sip and it is interesting and tasty enough to make me want to go back for more. Just what I want in a wine in the $12-$15 range. The internet says that "On the nose black cherry, dutch chocolate and currant complement the spicy, peppery notes and hints of toasted sweet oak. The wine greets the palate with opulent dark fruit, soft velvety tannins, ending with a long, rich finish." And, most of that description fits pretty well. It isn't terribly fascinating, but it tastes yummy. A former alcoholic at my work today told me that her former "drug of choice" was wine. This sobering statement just may keep me from overdoing it tonight on Estancia. 7 out of 10

Lopez Panach Tempranillo 2006

R: It has berry flavors, and it's a bit spicy.

It's also thin and irritating. I couldn't even finish one glass of it, and smelling it later made me wince.

2/10

L: Um... I'm inclined to agree.

Barberani Orviéto Classico Superiore Castagnolo

R: I used up the majority of this bottle making a poached pear dessert, but the two glasses that remained in the end made me regret consuming so much in the cooking. Light, sharp, and fragrant. I'm generally not a fan of white wine, but this was pleasant. 7/10

L: Boo Ryan. Those pears were gosh darn tasty, but I wanted to drink my wine! Oh well, I'll just buy more. :-) 8/10

Casillero del Diablo Carménère 2006 Chile

L: This wine is dark and sinister. It has a picture of the devil on it. That alone makes me want to spend $9 on it. When you open up the bottle you smell wine and you're like, Yeah! Then you taste it and its all winey and you're like, Yeah! Overall, it's pretty nice to drink. It's a bit sour, but I'm in a sort of sour mood so that's OK. I thought Carménère was some special kind of Chilean grape, but it turns out that it's originally from Bordeaux, but now is mostly grown in Chile. At least that's what wikipedia told me. 5 out of 10.
R: I liked this a bit better than Lauren apparently. I didn't find it sour so much as tart. It was a bit heavy, and definitely winey. Winey wine. 6/10

Penfolds Shiraz Cabernet Koonunga Hill 2006

My friend, Erin, introduced me to the fantastic San Diego Wine Company last Saturday. After a fun, do-it-yourself wine tasting (10 for $10!), we stocked up on low priced, high rated wines from around the world. One of the wines I selected was an Australian blend of Shiraz and Cabernet. What drew my eye was both the high, 90 something rating and the low price of $7.99. I think we got a mini bottle of this as a wedding present, but I drank it when I was stressed out and was paying attention more to alcohol content than flavor.

L: I am impressed by this wine's flavor for the price. It is deliciously briny like all good cabs should be. Yum. My Internet research suggests that Aussies are big fans of mixing Cabernet and Shiraz. I think I approve. 7 out of 10

R: I didn't care much for this. I think the mixture diluted the best qualities of the Cabernet, and emphasized the Shiraz a bit much. I'll take these varietals separately please. 4/10

Trevisiol Prosecco, Italy

I haven't enjoyed prosecco in the past. Too sweet. I like my champagne dry as a bone and crisp as a winter wind. Wow, those are crappy metaphors. Anyway, I found Trevisiol to be surprisingly tasty. It had a sort of apple-y, pear-y taste but it wasn't TOO sweet. Very good with salty snacks. My research tells me that it costs about $13 a bottle. No bad at all for a tasty treat like Trevisiol. For bubbly, I give it a 6.

Toso Vino Espumoso, Mendoza, Argentina

A little Spanish lesson for you... vino = wine. espumoso = bubbly. You can probably infer what kind of wine, si?

I tried this sparkling wine last night at a local wine bar and was impressed by it's flavor and price. I'm always looking for non-nasty, non-bank breaking sparkling wines. I found Toso to be exactly as it was described in the menu, "crisp," "clean," with a finish that hinted of "citrus." I could have made up my own adjectives, but these did nicely. It wasn't the best champagne-type-beverage I've ever had, but a little research showed that I could get a bottle for $10! My teacher's salary finds that price muy sabroso. 5 out of 10.

Stump Hill Shiraz: Australia 2004

I just realized I am being sort of redundant labeling this wine as Australian since all shiraz comes from down under. This bottle came in the same shipment as the Paringa from yesterday's post.

• L: After doing a side by side taste test, I went back and changed my score of the Paringa. It is duller than today's wine. Stump Hill was drier, which I definitely like. It left my tongue dry and tingly unlike the Paringa which fell pretty flat. The Stump Hill also has a much more interesting aroma - nice and leathery. I am a big fan of aromas. My favorite beers all have really strong floral aromas - but I digress. I give the Stump Hill a score of 6 out of 10.
• R: Better wine than the last. More tannic, better flavor, better aftertaste, better aroma. I thought this one was slightly peppery. It also had a more complex set of flavors than the last. There wasn't really anything special that stood out about it, but it wasn't bland. 6/10.

Paringa Shiraz: Australia 2005

Our first wine subscription shipment came today! We thought it might be fun to keep a wine blog so that we can remember which wines we like, which we don't, which are good for the price, etc, etc.

• L: I looked at a list of common adjectives used to describe wine and was completely baffled. So I'll just have to do my best. This wine packs a punch up front with the standard fruitiness and pepperiness that shirazes are known for. There's a tartness that tickles the side of the tongue and I believe it has what is known as a "clean finish." It tasted pretty good with the dark chocolate I was eating, but you'll have to ask Ryan if it was good with Dubliner cheese. Based on my own preferences I'd give it a 4 out of 10.

• R: I too know nothing of wine adjectives, which I suspect are all ad hoc anyway. This wine was all up front, and not subtle at all. It trailed off fast and didn't have a pronounced aftertaste. It gave me a somewhat false impression of body. While pleasant, it didn't seem to possess any particularly salient quality. 5 out of 10.