2006 Raymond R Collection Cabernet Sauvignon

I loved the 2003 of this wine, so when I saw the 2006 the other day, I snagged a bottle without hesitation at about $18.

Licorice - black and red - on the nose.

More of that licorice - mostly cherry - mixed with some vanilla and blueberry. Smooth tannins, good acid, some sweet oak and mild tobacco, and some brown spice as it opens - well played.

The finish brings brown baking spice plus some chocolatey notes, along with black cherry.

Solid. The regular "Raymond" label Cabs tends to be very smooth, this has a little bit of an edge, some 'bite' if you will, that while perhaps suggests a less well crafted wine, I think makes a more interesting one.

Score: 91

2008 Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville

I was stocking up on some spirits and needed to get to six bottles to get a discount....this caught my eye as a reputable producer I had never tried, so I snagged a bottle for $22

Black cherry on the nose. All black cherry really.

Black cherry on the palate along with some vanilla and plum notes. Little depth, little acid, little backbone, little of interest.

Black cherry on the finish.

A bit simple...it's not awful, just dull. It's the sort of wine I'd deglaze a pan with - it's tasty enough and I wouldn't feel like I'm wasting something great.

Score: 85

2006 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Silver Oak - you have likely heard the name, it's a producer I think I've had by the glass somewhere, but really haven't had a chance to sit and enjoy.

Vanilla and cherry on the nose.

Solid. More of a plum thing on the palate, firm oak, bold tannins after six hours of air (though certainly approachable), black cherry comes through. Everything is well integrated and smooth, but it borders on too smooth, if that makes sense. I thought I'd have more to say about this one...

The finish fades with spices and eucalyptus.

A jolly good bottle of wine, but perhaps not as interesting as one would hope for in a $50 product.

Score: 89

2005 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Quick - what's the first thing you think of when you think of Beringer? I would not be shocked if the first thing was cheap wines you buy at the grocery store. This is one of their top of the line wines which retails at eighty big ones. Shall we see how it does?

Plum liqeuer, chocolate covered cherry - fruity, chocolatey, and even a bit funky.

Big! More of that straight up plum liqueur, perhaps some kir, more of that cherry cordial thing, a bit of vanilla, earth, all sorts of interesting spice notes - brown and green. I may be way off, but this does not really scream "California" to me...there's too much funk and earth.

Brown spice and a bit of a caramel thing on the finish fading away to raspberry tea.

A great wine to be sure. It would hold up in the cellar, but it's definitely ready now. I dig it.

Score: 92

2006 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

As long as you dig in above the whole "Private Reserve" thing, Mondavi makes some damn fine wines, so I'm quite happy to pay $25+ for a bottle I haven't even tried since prior vintages have been strong.

The nose on this is kind of blah, it reminds me of very mild grape bubble gum - in fact, there's a Japanese grape bubble gum, basically gum balls, that this is strikingly similar to...along with sort of a charred steak sorta thing.

On the immediate attack is that Japanese grape bubble gum thing and it does remain throughout but some other things certainly come through...cinnamon, black cherry, cedar.

I must have it stuck in my head, but I'll be damned if I don't get more of that grape gum thing on the finish, it fades away with more cedar, more black cherry in an ice cream sorta way.

It's enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but under close scrutiny I don't think it holds up honestly - tasty, but simple, and at $25 perhaps this would be a fine wine to bring to Christmas dinner if your host is making a roast - something solid, but not groingrabbing (grabbing your groin is best left for New Year's Eve). We really dug the 2005, but this vintage I'm not quite so sure.

Score: 87

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

2007 Kirkland Signature Series Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon

This was $17 at Costco. It was between this and a cheaper Kirkland offering, but I figured I'd be fancy with my Prime Steak. Seriously - Costco carries prime steaks for $11 a pound or so. That $40+ steak at Morton's or where ever can now be had at home for under $10. Outstanding. Just don't cook it beyond medium rare or you're a rube. I should've taken a picture of that steak...maybe the next one. Where was I? Oh yeah, $17 Cab, Costco's private label, Stag's Leap District, let's give it a whirl.

Plum, casssis, eucalyptus, and an odd sort of petrol thing on the nose.

Smoothalicious. More cassiss and plum, some blackberry, black cherry, a touch of vanilla, a bit of a Twizzler sort of quality, not much in terms of oak and mild enough tannins that I'd drink this sooner rather than later.

More of that black cherry on the finish.

For $17 this is pretty solid - it's not a crazy value that will have me buying it by the case, but it's definitely a recommendation and one I could easily see buying again.

Score: 87+

2005 Mas Des Bressades Cabernet-Syrah Vin de Pays Du Gard

We had this at a tasting a fair number of years back and were big fans so we snagged two bottles. About a year and a half ago we opened one and it was awful - imagine half Cabernet, half Listerine - even after many hours of air it was undrinkable. I decided it would be best to wait a while and see what happens with the second bottle. Here we go again, this time blind....

Cedar, strawberry, earth on the nose.

If this wine were a bear, his name would be smokey. The palate brings tobacco, cedar, cherry, blackberry. Nice acid, fuzzy tannins, good fruit, earth, and spice balance.

Everything's good, but the finish gets a bit weird - green spices overwhelm. Basil, oregano, mint, all with a bit of green bell pepper.

The finish bugs me - while not enough to ruin the wine, certainly enough to knock a few points off. Serve with food - red sauced pasta and sausage (braised in this same wine perhaps?) - and you should be set. If I had another bottle I might sit on it for a while. Not bad for $11.

Score: 86

2007 Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards Prologue Napa Cabernet Sauvignon

This retails for about $22 and is the entry level offering from Conn Valley. We had the reserve (or maybe that's just the standard Cab?) a while back and loved it. This bottle ran me $22.

The nose is a little tight with cherry vanilla, I suppose.

A bit of vanilla, a bit of oak, a bit of spice....black fruit all over - plum, black cherry, cassis. All very nice, all very drinkable - this paired perfectly with a steak. Excellent balance. Little to really write about, this is just a nice drinking, well integrated wine.

Some spicy qualities show up on the finish, definite clove and cinammon, as well as a bit of mint.

For $22, this is a solid effort. At 1/3 the price of Conn's standard cab bottle, if I'm paying I'd be quite content snagging three bottles of this.

Score: 91

2006 Almaviva Rothschild/Vina Concha y Toro Red Blend

This wine retails at various local stores for $89. I've seen it (and acquired it) for somewhat less than that. This was decanted for four hours before sampling. This is a Bordeaux blend with: 63% Cabernet Sauvignon 26% Carmenère, 9% Cabernet Franc and 2% Merlot

Cassiss and cherry on the nose. Way deep in there is some campfire - burn some chunks of cedar to ash, splash some water on it, and breathe deep. Here you go. Tobacco and even green pepper as well. An almost startlingly complex nose.

Smoke hits me first. Plum, vanilla, mocha, cherry, blueberry, a bit of bell pepper - dare I even say, a bit of a beet quality? Deceptively smooth and balanced - great tannins, acid, fruit, and earth. That being said, the nose on this one is more interesting than the palate.

A funkier finish than one would expect follows - roasted red pepper with qualities that aren't necessarily tobacco, but actually straight up cigar. Imagine a cigar dipped in pureed red pepper.

A very good bottle of wine, but I am cringing at the notion of paying almost $100 for this.

Score: 93+

2005 Cafaro Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This goes for $39 through the winery. I know nothing about this winery other than the bottle curiously does not have a barcode and I don't think I've ever seen it in a shop. I acquired this through a silent auction at a charity event.

Plum and blackberry on the nose, but cigar box dominates.

Smooth and nicely balanced - this is just a nice drinking wine. It's fairly big, but also elegant, you won't confuse it with something Old World, but it has none of the downfalls that plague many New World wines. A gentle giant, if you will - the Pete Steele of wine. Cherry and ripe blackberry come through with cedar, mint, and (very mild) anise. Mid palate, oak and/or cedar come through considerably as do some more spicy qualities including a bit of brown spice.

An almost Grand Marnier quality comes through right at the start of the finish, as that fades a cherry, currant, and a vague mint quality linger for some time.

Forty bucks is a tad more than I'd prefer to spend on a bottle of wine, but there's absolutely nothing to complain about here. Nicely done.

Score: 91+

2006 Chateau Ste Michelle Canoe Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

You may recognize Chateau Ste Michelle as a producer of widely available inexpensive wines - reds, whites, and sparklers - many of them quite good. In Chicago you can pretty much find their wines at any grocery store. This one is from their higher end line which are somewhat less widely available, but a decent wine shop should have them.

A slightly tight nose - vanilla, plum, and oak. It does open a bit to bring some blueberry in time.

Chocolate, plum, cherry, a little bit of vanilla, a touch of menthol, and even a Twizzler quality seems to be coming through - definitely a fruit forward wine. Tannins are present, but just mild enough (and with enough of that candy quality) that I think I'd call this somewhat lacking in structure, though that gripe is minor.

A lengthy finish with cherry candy for the most part with just the tiniest bit of nutmeg.

I did have about half a bottle left over and retasted a day later - I give this wine props as it actually improved. The flavors are basically the same, but the tannins seem more pronounced with the balance more in line. If you bought this, sit on it for a year...

Quite tasty indeed. This is about $25 at retail and has received a ton of praise from the Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator....I'm less enthusiastic, but by no means do I completely dissent.

Score: 87

2006 Trader Joe's Reserve California Cabernet Sauvignon

I bought this on a whim figuring the Cabernet "Reserve" from Rutherford had to be decent, right? Let's find out - and I do remind you I didn't know what I was drinking when I wrote this.

Somewhat rotten raspberry with a bit of bubble gum on the nose.

Sugary - sort of like eating a cherry Starburst and washing it down with strawberry soda. There's a splash of acid that gives a bit of balance.

Several years ago we had some Charles Shaw which completely fell apart as the wine saw air - this one did the same. The first sip didn't seem all that bad, but after two hours this tasted like raspberries that came out of a fat man's jock strap post-triathlon.

Strawberry soda on the finish.

This tasted cheap on first pour and after a short amount of airtime became unbearable. The only reason I gave this that high of a score is because the first twenty minutes or so were at least drinkable. I have a policy where wines I'd score under 75 don't get reviewed unless they piss me off - if this was three bucks I'd still be offended - but ten? A failure of Bushian proportions.

Score: 68

2005 Souverain Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This one goes for about $22, but I found it at Target, of all places, on sale for about $15.

Plum, cherry, and tobacco on the nose.

The second this wine hits my palate it's like water - virtually nothing going on at all. After a second or so, things start coming together - blackberry, blueberry, and vanilla. Deep on the back palate, there's almost a nectarine quality with some cinnamon and very mild tannins - flabby is a word that comes to mind. Day two saw much of the fruit fade while the cinnamon began to dominate with some mint coming through.

There's just a bit of eucalyptus on the finish, with some bing cherry qualities as well.

This one is okay - kind of interesting how the palate presents itself, but not necessarily in a good way. Simple perhaps, but also pleasant to drink - I can't really bash it, but a low B is about right. This is the way blind tasting begins...not with a bang, but a flabby, inoffensive wine.


Score: 81

2006 Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

This is a half bottle which sells for about $30 – the full sized bottle was going for $60. Kudos to the winery for not charging a premium for half bottles. Though I understand why one would do such a thing, I've seen places charge $30 for a half when the full goes for $40. Not cool. It's probably too early to be drinking a wine of this quality so soon, so I gave it several hours in the decanter.

A very large nose - you can smell it from several feet away - plum and eucalyptus dominate.

While I can see why this will be better many years from now, I think this drinking rather nicely now. All sorts of things happening on the palate - plum, cassis, tobacco, mint, clove, eucalyptus, sweet tannins, vanilla and chocolate, black cherry. There's an interesting quality with the body of this one - it's thick, full bodied, but by no means hot - almost like a liqueur.

More plum, more black cherry, all with a bit of mint and linger eucalyptus on the finish.

An excellent, beautifully structured wine. Now to find a second and third job so I can afford this more often.


Score: 94

2006 Mollydooker Maitre'D Cabernet Sauvignon

I was not a fan of the 2007 at all, but I had this 2006 on the rack, so I figured I'd crack it open. The first glass was just heat and burn.

I recapped it, put it in the fridge, and forgot about it for ten days. The plan was to let it sit for only a day or two, but out of sight out of mind - I was about to pour it down the drain, but thought I should at least try it. Guess what?

Ripe plum, almost prune like, and red licorice on the nose.

Red licorice, blueberry, black cherry, a touch of eucalyptus, coffee, and chocolate are all nicely integrated on the palate. A big wine to be sure, plenty of heat, but we actually get "something" here - after a full week and a freaking half.

It's pretty much all black cherry on the finish.

Day one was not good in the least – tight, huge, silly, painful (think low 70s). After a full week and a half we have a wine that's tolerable. I'm sticking with The Boxer from here on out.


Score - 80

2004 Lynfred Winery Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot

We had a glass of this at the winery and a spot in the corner to take formal notes. The bottle goes for $35, but you can get a glass for $10 (a bit pricey considering a bottle should get five glasses, but it's cool they make the higher end stuff available to try). Two other minor issues - the glass was a bit too small for the pour (or the pour too big for the glass) and this was served hella cold. Hella cold. Ten minutes in the hand and it was fine, but yikes.

A very nice, pronounced nose with anise, cherry, and cedar.

An excellent balance of fruit, acid, earth, and tannin - none of the above dominate, but all contribute nicely. Cherry, red apple liqueur, licorice, earth, and cocoa all come through strongly. This is the kind of bottle that you could certainly crack open and see how it changes over a few hours.

Eucalyptus, black pepper, and dark red apple - I'm not sure I've ever gotten apple notes from a red, but here we are. It's different, but it works.

A fine offering, though a bit on the expensive side. My advice would be to do a tasting and see if something cheaper strikes your fancy, but I'd certainly not be disappointed if this were handed to me as a gift.

Wine: 8
Value: Pass

N/V Oak Leaf Vineyarads Cabernet Sauvignon

I want to hold back on going on a rant here, but I want to make this clear - I loathe Wal-Mart. I felt nauseous entering the store, but when the new Kiss album came out and it was only available there and then I couldn't find the various other Kiss merchandise promised - the Kiss M&Ms specifically - so I wandered around and was confronted with a giant display of this three dollar wine. This reminded me of an article I read some time ago about Wal-Mart getting into the cheap wine business. What the heck, Richard Speck, let's hope this wine is not a wreck. Actually, Wal-Mart does have some positive aspects. Check out the El Camino from October 27, I didn't realize you could make an El Camino any classier and then bam!

A sweet smelling nose - red candy mostly I suppose. Distinctly artificial - sort of like a cherry Jolly Rancher.

Sweet - red licorice, fake cherry/strawberry, no tannic structure but there is some acid. I think what makes this wine somewhat tolerable is that it's reasonably light in body - any heavier and this would be sickening.

Fake cherry and a tad of black pepper on the finish, but it fades quickly.

You know, I expected this to be truly awful, but much like that new Kiss album I have to admit this isn't nearly as bad as it should be. Don't get me wrong, it's not good by any means. I had roughly a glass and a half...I don't want more, but I don't feel it should go down the drain. A fine cooking wine for when you're sick and can't taste anything?

I don't even like Kiss all that much, but that new Slayer album? Holy moly - that shit is Premier Cru.

Wine: 3
Value: Nah

2007 Mollydooker Maitre'D Cabernet Sauvignon

Mollydooker's wines are ridiculously large - their wines can be a bit much for many people and situations. My experience has been rather hit and miss - I was lukewarm on the 2006, but grabbed a 2007 for fun. All the entry level offerings from this vintage went for $27 in these areas. One reviewer suggested giving this no less than 24 hours to open - I didn't even bother tasting this until six hours of air in the decanter. As you can see, I wanted to like this so much I decided to give it an extended period of time...

Six hours
Eucalyptus on the nose, in fact it's almost like a cherry cough drop. The palate is more or less ruined by heat - I can't say I taste much beyond the cherry cough drop thing from the nose and maybe some brown spice. Finish lingers for quite a while but nothing beyond a medicinal eucalyptus thing.

Twelve hours
No change on the nose. The palate has morphed a tad - more into a cherry cough syrup thing blended with a menthol cough drop.

Twenty-four hours
Some interesting overripe plum, bordering on prune things come out on the nose. The heat and medicinal qualities have faded (but not disappeared) leaving some dark, ultra ripe black cherry and raspberry, plus more plum, and even a chocolate thing.

Thirty hours
Eucalyptus, mint, even some anise on the nose - it's finally coming together. The heat has faded even more. I'm getting loads of spice - brown and green - with some black cherry for fruit. The eucalyptus does come through and linger for some time.

SIXTY hours
I normally wouldn't even bother with this, but I had a bit leftover and thought it would be interesting. Cherry and eucalyptus on the nose. The fruit has disappeared leaving a minty, mentholly, clove spiced, alcoholic beverage.

Even when it finally came together - 30 hours in the decanter - it was still a rather uninteresting and disappointing offering. If you want to try a Mollydooker, stick with The Boxer Shiraz.

Wine: 4.5
Value: Nope

2008 Little Penguin Cabernet Sauvignon

We actually have been pretty forgiving to the Little Penguin - when we tried it several years back I recall liking it and feeling that it may not be great but it's also not total crap. I thought it was time for a revisit.

Plum and red licorice on the nose.

Heavy on plum, blueberry, ripe strawberry - somewhat jammy with no hint of tannin or structure to speak ok. A tad of vanilla is present as well, but overall we're talking about a very sweet wine here - so sweet it has destroyed any good will I may have had for it.

The finish almost brings out a tomato soup like quality, plus more strawberry, but in a clearly artificial sorta way. Imagine a piece of strawberry candy in a bowl of soup - not good.

Though the prices on this vary, $5 - $8 is about right. I'm curious if this vintage/bottle variation or if my palate has just changed so much. Either way, look elsewhere for value.

Wine: 3.5
Value: No