Category Archives: Red Wines

Red Bordeaux Wine Review: Chateau Lassegue

Chateau Lassegue 2005 | Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux, France

chateau-lassegue-st-emilionWow. That’s the initial impression on the nose, which is generous with aromas of numerous black fruits, spices, mineral, and earth tones. I could sit here and smell the wine all day, the fragrance is so lovely — and continuously evolving. Which takes me to a vital point: decant this wine, several times.

At minimum, I recommend “triple decanting,” which means, pour the wine out of the bottle and into a clean, dry, glass vessel — such as a decanter — then pour it into another vessel (or, back into the bottle, using a funnel), then pour it back into the decanter, then repeat the cycle one more time. This back-and-forth effort from one container to the other will aerate the wine, allowing the deep aromas and delicious goodness to begin to emerge.

I say “begin” because this wine is still quite young, despite being eight years “old.” There are many layers to this complex juice, and only a hint of them are showing themselves right now. Generally speaking, I like to drink high quality (read: expensive) wines when they’re younger than most serious enophiles and critics would recommend, but in this case, even I would stash this in a cool cellar for another four or five years — at minimum. I’m certain this wine will continue to develop and mature for 10-15 years at least before it starts a descent.

As with all wines I’ve tasted by winemaker Pierre Seillan, Chateau Lassegue is Continue reading →

Red Wine Review: d’Art Zinfandel

d’Art Zinfandel 2010 | Lodi, California

d'art zinfandel red wine label from lodi californiaLodi, California (not to be confused with Lodi, New Jersey) is the place to grow Zinfandel. This particular example is evidence supporting that statement.

This zin offers big, juicy fruit on the nose and the palate. Nose is full of vanilla, butterscotch, cocoa, and red berry fruits. Palate is wide open, fruit forward with gobs of sweet raspberry, blueberry, and fruit compote, finishing with berry fruit and chocolate flavors. Acidity is mild, tannins are mild to medium. Alcohol is surprisingly low for a wine with so much fruit and concentration — there’s some heat, which is expected, but not so much that it takes away from the flavor.

This is a fine “cocktail wine” and a good match for foods that pack lots of flavor and intensity, such as the buffalo burger with which I ate it. Zinfandel is purely an American wine and burgers a purely American dish, so it’s nosurprise the two pair so well together. Drink this wine with burgers “with the works.”

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Disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample

This wine was also reviewed by Wine with Lisa, Ellen On Wine, Drink Hacker, and James the Wine Guy.

If you’ve seen other reviews, and/or have tasted this wine yourself, please let me know in the comments.

Red Wine Review: Grey Single Block Cabernet Sauvignon

Vina Ventisquero Grey Single Block Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 | Trinidad Vineyard | Maipo Valley, Chile

Vina Ventisquero Grey Block Cabernet Sauvignon wine bottle imageThis is a very pleasant, easy drinking wine, but I have to admit that at first it was a little disappointing. My problem is with expectations — for many wines, I have expectations. And for this wine, seeing Cabernet on the label, I expected firm tannins, bold acidity, good structure. In short, a big wine. I stacked up a lean filet mignon, broiled rare, to pair with it, and it fell on its face, turning into sweet grape jelly juice. However, once my expectations left, I tried it again the next evening. After 24 hours of breathing, and tasting it again without food, the wine showed much better. It has a spicy nose of vanilla, licorice / anise, cloves, wet earth, tobacco, bell pepper, black and red berry fruits — quite complex, and enjoyable to sniff. Similar flavors flood the palate, finishing with a good balance of tangy acidity and mild tannins. Refreshingly, there’s no heat at the end despite all the ripe fruit upfront. On its own, this is enjoyable and a wine I will drink again. However, to me, it’s not what I expect from Cabernet Sauvignon; I think it’s the tannins missing that make it incomplete for typical food matching. Don’t get me wrong — it will match with food, but go leaner than you would normally with a Cab. Instead of beef, go with barbecue chicken or roast turkey; I might even try this with a strongly flavored fish dish (crispy salmon? blackened catfish?).

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This wine was also reviewed by StonedWino (2008 vintage), Gabe’s View, Vine Geek, Dallas Wine Chick, and At First Glass.

Disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample

Red Wine Review: Thelema Merlot

Thelema Merlot 2007 | Stellenbosch, South Africa

Thelema Merlot - South African red wineSouth African wines have always had a special place in my heart, as they seem to me to be the forgotten stepchild in the family of fine wines of the world. Go into any wine shop — even a very good wine shop — and you will have a hard time locating the “South Africa” section; in many cases, it may not exist.

If you do find it, it will probably consist of one shelf at most. More likely, it will be a half-dozen bottles shoved to the very corner of a bottom shelf that also includes random labels from New Zealand and Australia. It’s a shame, really, because most of the wine coming from South Africa to the USA is very good, but it has no marketing behind it, and few people talking about it. But then, perhaps that’s your advantage; if more people were excited about South African wine, the prices would be much higher.

Many consider the wines of South Africa to be “New World,” but that’s kind of a misnomer, considering that vineyards and winemaking has existed there since the 1650s. The history is long and complicated, and we’ll discuss it further another day. To be unfairly brief, today’s South African wines are an intriguing mixture of both Old World and New World styles — a reflection of that history.

One example of those two worlds colliding — in a good way, is Thelema Merlot. Thelema is a winery situated in mountains of the same name, surrounded by towering oak trees, cackling peacocks, and lush vineyards resting between 370 to 640 meters (1200 – 2000 feet) above sea level. If you can ever visit, the view is breathtaking. In the meantime, you can experience the wine.

Tasting Notes: Thelema Merlot

Open, ripe, mature, almost jammy aromas of earth, black fruits, blue fruits, leather, tobacco. Also a hint of smokiness, almost like Liquid Smoke. I am loving this nose, which exhibits typical Merlot earthy and slightly bell-peppery character and is generously expressive. In the mouth it has juicy, jammy ripe black and red berry fruit flavors. Again, generous, and also complex. I keep wanting to say jam, because that’s what’s filling my mouth — what resembles a thick flavor of boysenberry and currant preserves. There is also some spice here, but it’s not overly oaky by any means. Finishes with puckering acidity and ripe, medium tannins. A bigger wine than I expected for its sub-$30 price tag. New World style.

The 2007 vintage is likely unavailable at this point, which does you no good unless you have a few bottles of this waiting in your cellar. If that’s the case, I suggest you uncork it and enjoy with a beef or lamb stew or a really robust burger — i.e., one made with a mix of short ribs and/or ribeye, which seems to be all the rage with gourmet burgers these days. With that hint of smoke, it would also go well with a smoked cheese and smoked meats.

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Disclosure: I received this wine as a gift from friends.

See Ken Hoggins’ review of this wine at Ken’s Wine Guide.

Red Wine Review: Pine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Pine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2008 | Napa Valley, California, USA

On first whiff the nose expresses enticing black and red berry fruits — both fresh and mature, but then as it sits in the glass it’s chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. In the mouth it is similarly dominated by a milk chocolate flavor mixed with blackberry and sweet black raspberry. It has a pleasant finish of more chocolate, vanilla, sweet red berry, black cherry, and boysenberry flavors that linger. There is ample, mouth-puckering acidity and mild tannins. Texture is smooth, with good weight, feeling almost syrupy.

I’m not sure what to make of this wine. It’s clearly complex with enough acidity to match with food, but when I drank it with a juicy ribeye, all I got from the wine was chocolate. Sometimes I like the taste of chocolate, but not when I’m eating steak, so perhaps it should be more of an after-dinner wine with a cheese plate. Though the acidity was ample, the tannins were surprisingly mild. Despite all the ripe fruit upfront, there was no heat on the finish, which was nice.

Also surprising was the sediment; generally I don’t expect that from a 4-year-old wine. Sediment doesn’t bother me and I don’t consider it a flaw, but I do find it curious.

My thought is this wine was going through a “dumb phase” when I poured it — a time in its evolution when it wasn’t integrated, and showing less than its full potential. I say this because there is clearly a ton of fruit, complexity, and attractive aromas and flavors, but for whatever reason it isn’t hitting on all cylinders. If you have a bottle of this vintage, keep it in the cellar for at least another 6 months to a year before giving it a try. How long can it age? Hard to say, as the acidity will hold it together, but the lack of tannin — which with acid is also a preservative — suggests that this isn’t a wine for decade-holding. On the other hand, maybe I don’t understand what this wine is — which is possible (probable?) as I consider myself a novice when it comes to California wine.

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Disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample

This wine was also reviewed by Drinkhacker, Bigger Than Your Head (2009 vintage), Pull that Cork, and The Wine Cask Blog, among others (if you’ve seen another review or written one yourself, let us know in the comments).