N/V Emeri de Bortoli Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc

Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc from Australia - interesting. The bottle ran me $13 - I haven't seen this producer's products before, so I snagged this one first and foremost.

A bit grassy on the nose with some pink grapefruit.

As the nose suggested....pink grapefruit and some grassiness. At the risk of this becoming the worst post ever, this tastes like a serviceable New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with a bit of fizz...I mean, it's so Sauv Blancy, the fizz almost isn't noticeable.

This is the worst review ever....grass and pink grapefruit on the finish...slightly sweet, lingers for a while, all quite pleasant.

You know...it's almost like this wine is a gimmick, it's the kind of thing you'd expect from a crappy molecular gastronomy sorta place...."ooh, this is like a Sauvignon Blanc, only carbonated" and then you try it and think "yep."

Score: 85

N/V Emeri de Bortoli Sparkling Pinot Grigio

I stumbled across a display of a bunch of Emeri sparklers each for $13 each, so I snagged a couple - one doesn't see Sparkling Pinot Grigio often, especially from Australia.

This smells vaguely like white grape juice - in fact, this could totally pass for sparkling Welch's white grape juice.

Shock of the year with this one - this tastes like sparkling Welch's white grape juice on the attack and then once you get to the mid palate, some alcoholic heat as if some vodka were mixed in.

Yep...fizzy white grape juice on the finish, maybe some grapefruit as well.

While I suppose it doesn't taste that bad, it barely qualifies as a wine....I'm not about to dump it down the drain, but I will dump into a glass of ice with a dash or two of maraschino cherry juice.

Score: 70

2008 Raphael Cabernet Franc

You know, I thought for sure we've never had a wine from New York, but it turns out four years ago we had a Marshall Field's brand sparkler from New York. While the new Macy's brand is tolerable, you can't tell me the stores haven't gone downhill since the name change, but that's a post for another blog. This wine ran me $14.

A garbagey nose - chocolate, rotten berries, and almost a red pepper thing.

Odd. Quite odd. Tasted blind I would've guessed some odd hybrid grade from the Midwest. Chocolate, raspberry, plum, eucalyptus, dirt, tobacco in a fuzzy feel sorta way...the tannins are mild on the palate, but there's quite a bit of weight on this...almost a Port feel without the burn or sugar.

Some black raspberry, fruit and leaf, on the finish and way in the back there is something strikingly reminiscent of the original green colored NyQuil.

Interesting? Yes. Beyond that though....

Score: 82

2006 Le Cadeau Diversité Wilamette Valley Pinot Noir

Don't know when or where I got this bottle, but the current vintages sell for S47 direct from the winery.

The nose is all chocolate covered cherries and coffee beans.

Chocolate. Cherry. Blackberry. Black, ultra ripe blueberry. A bit of an herbal quality. Medium body, but not much in terms of tannin or wood really.

Plum, black cherry, and just a hint of cola on the finish - it lingers for quite some time. There's something else going on mostly on the finish but also mid-palate that reminds me a bit of fruit roll up.

I don't know. After finding out the price, I felt compelled to reconsider this one, but I have to call it meh. Well made, not explicitly flawed, just meh.

Score: 85

2008 Carpineto Dogajolo

I wanted a cheap Italian red and found this one for nine bucks. This is a bit of a trend here at The Wineauxs - wanting cheap Italian red and snagging one at random.

Raspberry, blackberry, a bit of funk, a bit of earth - I dig it.

Blueberry. Maybe a light dusting of some brown spices, but there's not a whole lot going - nice acid, good light to mediumish body.

Some tobacco lingers, as well as some stemminess, and some earth.

At nine bucks, I don't feel ripped off - it's a simple Italian red, fine for pizza or pasta, but the fact is there are so many wines just like that...tasty, acidic, excellent with red sauce...that I'm just sort of meh about it. If I want something cheap and simple, I wouldn't avoid this, but I also wouldn't go out of my way to snag it.

Score: 84

2006 Mollydooker Two Left Feet Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon

My records say this ran me about $26 a few years ago - I seem to recall seeing the newest vintage for a bit cheaper than that though...

Blackberry jam and vanilla ice cream on the nose - almost like a sundae.

Black fruit dominate - dark blueberry, blackberry, plum. Somewhat sweet and I can't say I get much wood, but I do get some nice spicy qualities, perhaps some fresh basil and oregano, but mostly a minty.

A surprisingly short finish, anise, black fruit, and mint fade quickly with only some alcohol heat lingering for some time - it's worth nothing there is almost no heat on the palate.

It's big, it's fruit bomb like, it's stereotypically Aussie - it's also quite good. As potent and huge as it is, it's really not all that over the top - if this is your style, I give it a go.

Score: 88

2008 Acquaviva Winery Brianna

Acquaviva is a winery in northern Illinois, we visited them a while back and wrote it all up here. Honestly, I'm bordering on desperate to get back - the food was excellent and while the wine is defintiely of the hybrid acquired taste variety, it's Italian styled enough to work with the food perfectly. I don't recall the retail, but it was defintiely under $20.

Peaches, almost peach Jolly Rancher, candified, in other words.

A fair amount of sweet whites from Illinois bring this sort of flavor profile - loads of acid, loads of sugar, limeade, peach, and grapefruit.

Pineapple comes through on the finish, with a more mellow grapefruit quality as well.

Treat as a dessert wine. I can't say I think it would work with chocolate though, it would compliment key lime pie, though maybe too much....some sort of ginger cake dessert maybe?

Score: 88

2007 Kirkland Napa Valley Meritage

This is a blend of mostly Merlot, a good chunk of Cab Sauv, and just a splash of Cab Franc.

A bit of heat on the nose, black fruit - cassis and plum mostly, though - and this may sound strange -a raw chicken sorta thing.

Smooth and balanced, though not exactly complex - plum, blueberry, black cherry, vanilla. This is a solid middle of the road red, the kind of wine you can pop open and eat with anything from pizza to a steak and be set.

Blueberry lingers and way way on the back end some cherry.

Eleven bucks? Beyond sold - snag it.

Score: 87