2009 Lynfred Winery Pinot Noir

To those not in the know, Lynfred Winery is located in Roselle, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago - they do not have vineyards, but get grapes from various places....Michigan, Washington, California are all represented, I think Illinois and Oregon are as well. My understanding of the process is they have contracts with vineyards, get the grapes shipped in immediately after they are picked, and then the wine is made at the winery itself.

This is an "American" Pinot Noir, I believe the grapes are from Washington, and the retail is about eighteen bones. This is a newish label, it seems some of the newer wines have it, and if I may say so - I find it to be an improvement over the (already nice) older style. Kudos to the graphic department!

Earth, mocha, chocolate, and carob on the nose with an undercurrent of raspberry.

Raspberry tea, dark (like ultra mega 94% dark) chocolate, mocha, super ripe plum and blackberry.

Almost a green tea like finish with more of that mocha.

Simply put, most under $20 Pinot Noirs aren't worth your time, but I'd say this one is. Nicely played.

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

2005 Mary Michelle Vidal Ice Wine

This is fifteen bucks for a half bottle, which makes it one of the cheapest ice wines I've even encountered. Mary Michelle is tied to Illinois Cellars which is located in southwest Illinois.

A little caramel and a bit of an odd turpentine quality on the nose.

Golden raisin, vanilla, butter, pear, honey, caramel - nice and complex but a bit hot. 14.2% alcohol in an ice wine? Odd.

More caramel on the finish.

A bit different than what I'd expect from an ice wine - bigger, bolder, hotter - so be advised. I'd say it may be worth a look, but it's definitely the sort of dessert wine you want to drink with food - poundcake or a nice cobbler, maybe?

Score: 86

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 Cooper's Hawk Winery Cooper's Hawk Red

Cooper's Hawk is a local chain of restaurants/wineries. After a few visits and some serious thought, I've decided it's a very good restaurant and the wines are more than acceptable when consumed at the restaurant. To take home? They strike me as a tad pricey (retail and wine list prices give different expectations). This is, I believe, their cheapest red - a blend - which goes for somewhere around $14 in the shop.

Almost a fruit bomb Australian Shiraz quality on the nose - powerful, potent, black fruit, all with, dare I say, a green bean thing going on.

On the light side of medium bodied, with mild tannins, solid acid, good spice - various dried Italian, anise, and black pepper - not to mention a good punch of plum and cherry, and yes - some of the green beans on the nose comes through here on the palate. It's curious, not bad, if you're eating when you consume this you may not notice, but it's there, somewhat on the back palate. .

Some minty notes come through on the finish as well as lingering anise and cherry, but it does fade quickly.

I've gone through a number of their reds, and oddly enough I think this is one of the better ones, even when price isn't an issue. For a take home souvenir, gift, accompaniment to a gift certificate, or just for something to take home and pop open with pizza, this is probably Cooper's Hawk best bet. If you're at the restaurant - snag a flight. To take home - this is it.

Wine: 7
Value: Yep

2005 Fox Valley Winery Cabernet Sauvignon

In my visit review of this winery I declared this as one of the two best red wines made in Illinois (that we've had). I am consuming this from a three liter box that runs at just about $40.

The nose and palate on this one is strange at first pour, but it blows off after a bit of time and doesn't seem to be present in the following glasses (some lingering gas I assume).

Cherry and vanilla on the nose. After letting a glass sit for a while, cinnamon and brown spice show up.

A very nice balance of cherry, vanilla, and cedar. Very nice tannic structure that would suggest if you just grab a regular bottle it would cellar fairly well. A fair amount of spice comes through as well - clove, cinnamon - making everything really blend together well.

The finish has more cherry and vanilla.

I avoided posting this until we worked through a good chunk of the box because I feared I may be being a bit too generous since it's an Illinois wine, but after giving it a lot of thought and consuming it over a few days, I think I'm being more than fair. In fact, if you go by the box pricing, this is among the best valued Cabs out there, from anywhere.

There is a slight issue with boxed red wine in general during the summer months - I don't know about you, but I don't keep our home at cellar temperature. I think the best way to handle this is keep the box in the fridge and pour a carafe or decanter an hour or two before you're going to drink it. Mildly inconvenient, but basically worth the hassle.

A word of warning though - many estimates on how long box wine keep after opening range from four to six weeks. Right around four weeks, I found all the fruit has blown off this one and has left it basically a spicy and oaky mess, perhaps okay for cooking, but not beyond that. By all means, buy it - but drink it within three weeks.

Wine: 8
Value: Absolutely

N/V Lavender Crest Miche Sepi

We visited this winery about six months ago and I figured it was time to crack this bottle open, which runs around fifteen bones. This is a red blend that includes an interesting hybrid varietal marechal foch.

A bit of fruit, but mostly green, earthy sort of notes – forest floor, if you will

This is actually far better than I remember it being. Raspberry, cherry, really nice tannic structure, with great acid – dare I say this is unique, but not necessarily like many Illinois wines.

Some dried – green and brown – spices linger on the finish.

Since this is not a blind taste test and mental bias is a factor, I admit I may be going slightly easy on this one. For a $15 red wine from Illinois, however, this is one of the better ones we've had and I'll definitely give it a go.

Wine: 6.5
Value: Yep

N/V Cooper's Hawk Blanc de Blanc

Cooper's Hawk is, I suppose, a chain of wineries/restaurants in Illinois. There aren't many, so I hate to say "chain" but whatever. They're sorta like a brewpub, though they make wine instead of beer. Since they make it, most bottles are open and you can pretty much get a taste of everything at the winebar or by the glass in the restaurant.

This smells sweet with pear and tangerine notes.

This is a very strange one. I have no clue what to make of this, actually. When you first sip it, it almost doesn't taste like anything with the exception of some sweet orangey notes...after you let it sit on the palate, some more comes out - tropical notes, mostly papaya and even some of that fuzzy thing pineapples sometimes give off with a bit of fake green apple.

More of that tropical thing going on on the finish, leaving a trail of pineapple - and not pineapple notes, like you just ate a pineapple and your tongue hurts - that sorta thing. Way back on the finish, like when you think it's over, you get a punch - and linger of a good minute - of green apple Jolly Rancher.

This is sweet enough that I wouldn't buy it again (too sweet for regular drinking, not enough for dessert), and I'd only suggest it for those who don't really care for most sparklers...and even then it's strange enough that they may not dig it. That being said, it's not to my taste, but it's certainly done well and for fourteen bucks, this Illinois wine is nothing to bip about all things considered.

Wine: 6
Value: Try a sample.

N/V Lynfred Winery Vin de City

This is ten bones at the winery and we dug it at a recent tasting, so I snagged a bottle.

Strong raspberry on the nose with some earthy notes as it opens.

Decent acidic backbone, no really tannins, tons of fruit. Black cherry and blackberry with a little bit of chocolate.

Raspberry sticks around for a while.

For what is – a simple, non-vintage pizza wine – this is fine.

Wine: 6
QPR: Yep

N/V Lynfred Winery American Sparkling Wine

This was twenty-five big ones, which is a fair amount, but it's important to support local business. Unfortunately...

Some interesting melon notes on the nose.

More melon notes on the finish, but the whole thing just tastes artificial, walking very close to the line of unpleasant, but not quite making it. There's that fake sugar – aspartame – quality not to mention an unpleasant oiliness.

Some tropical notes, almost some kiwi flavors, come through on the finish.

Part of me feels bad even writing this, but this winery is established enough to take it – if they keep up the work and start refining their sparkling wine products, there's potential. Lynfred makes some good products – we'll be reviewing a shockingly good ten dollar bottle from them in the coming weeks – but this is a giant miss.

Wine: 3.5
Value: No

Lavender Crest Winery – 10/31/08

http://www.lavendercrest.com/

In planning a trip, I found that we'd be passing a winery so we plotted it out that we'd stop here for lunch. This winery is western Illinois right outside the Quad Cities – Moline and Davenport being the most well known.

The winery is set up with a browsing area right when you walk in, a tasting bar to the left, and a restaurant straight ahead. The menu is mainly sandwiches and they do have recommended pairings.

The woman working the bar was the type who didn't seem to be thrilled with someone writings notes, so my apologies for these being somewhat useless.

Ritt's Reserve: plum and garbage on the nose. Light bodied, funky, earthy, decent acid, tart cherry, and spices – bay leaf perhaps. Somewhat Italian in style.

Colona Red: this wine both smelled and tasted sweet and grapey. There were some reasonable tannins and acid that gave it some balance but overall, blah.

Miche Sepi: black cherries were all over this one – I don't have better notes but I did buy a bottle so look for that in a while.

Catch of the Day: I found this light and crisp but the finish totally ruined it with a very woody quality – something some people may like.

Sweet Temptation: somewhat like a moscato, sweet and just a tad short on acid, though still fine.

There you have it. To me, Lavender Crest is certainly worth a visit if you're driving through the area or if you live within a reasonable distance. The sandwiches we had were quite good and the facility is very nice. The winery opened in 2004 and I feel it shows promise. The wines are not stellar – but that's something that should come with time. If you're driving along I-80 then you should definitely pull off and drop in.

2006 Galena Cellars Eric The Red Marechal Foch

We bought this from the winery's tasting room in Geneva, Illinois after enjoying a sample.

A bit earthy, a bit funky, a bit chocolaty, and a bit of rotten raspberry on the nose.

Fairly smooth, not much in terms of tannin but a fair amount of acid. Rich dark fruit – blackberry, plum – and a fair amount of chocolate.

Chocolate covered cherries that are just a bit too old is what the finish tells me.

Clearly a somewhat odd wine – it's the sort of thing that you try and know it's either an odd varietal or from a weird region – both are true. While not bad, my palate is forgiving of this style where others may not be.

N/V Galena Cellars American Cabernet Sauvignon

So my sister calls me at work and says “hey, we're at Galena Cellars, do you want something?” I figured I'd try their a cab, that's apparently non-vintage.

Very light cherry and spice on the nose.

I'd call it “soft” - a little bit of oak, but mostly cherry vanilla ice cream of sorts. There are no flaws here, it's just fairly simple – a very easy quaff.

A gently tannic, soft and fuzzy finish with linger cherry.

I can't help but cringe at the $20 pricetag here – it's not a bad bottle of wine at all, but it's also not terribly interesting. Considering it's an Illinois wine from a small, family owned winery I can't criticize this too much - I look forward to revisiting their tasting room and trying an assortment.

2003 GFWC Zinfandel

I picked this up for about $13 at the Glunz Family tasting room in Long Grove, Illinois. To be honest, most of the regular Glunz table wines don't do much for me, but I found this one to not only be better, but to be a pretty solid wine.

Before anything else – this had a ton of sediment so if you have a bottle you may want to keep it upright for a couple days before consuming.

Strawberry and oak on the nose.

A lot of Zins are fruit bombs but this one is very nicely balanced. Strawberry, cherry, oak, black pepper, and a hint of tobacco.

Some spicy notes come through on the finish – cherry pie filling and a bit of black pepper.

On the second day, some oak and funky notes come through. The palate still has a nice balance of fruit, oak, and spice but what's new is some strong overripe blueberry, cola, and root beer notes. Black pepper and cinnamon, plus a bit of strawberry and plum linger on the finish.

Well, this has got to be among the best Illinois wines I've had – excellent QPR – nicely balanced and a great overall bottle.

N/V Glunz Family Mission Angelica Solera

Glunz is an Illinois based winery which specializes an Illinois version of Port that's pretty solid. I recently visited their tasting room in Long Grove and got t try a sample of this which compelled me to grab a bottle – I forget the exact price but it was in the $35 range for a 500 ml bottle.

Day One:
A powerful nose – brown sugar, maple syrup, caramel, cherry, and some alcoholic burn.

The palate is actually just a bit mellower than one would expect, but don't get me wrong it's still huge – like a Tawny Port like in many ways – caramel, cherry, prune, tobacco, spice, and oak. This is 18.5% alcohol and it definitely shows.

A nice nuttiness which was present on the palate really shines through on the finish. Candied orangel peel, dried cherry and smoky oak notes also linger for quite some time.

Day Three:
How big is the nose? I can smell the glass from five feet away. Nutty, caramel notes mostly.

The burn of the alcohol has blown off somewhat. Strong nuttiness comes through, dried fruit – cherry and raisin – and brown sugar notes boldly hit the palate. I'm also getting some soda notes – cherry cola or root beer...I can't decide – perhaps both.

More nuttiness on the finish, more dried cherry, more caramel.

Day Six:
The nose has faded, and the nuttiness is getting stronger, other than that, there's little to report and the bottle is all but gone.

A solid wine, a good value, and stunning seeing as this is from a winery near the Illinois/Wisconsin border. I'd recommend it and next time I'm at their tasting room I just may pick up another bottle if I don't grab another one of their Ports instead.

2006 Lynfred Winery Pinot Grigio

When we closed on our condo, our mortgage broker gave us this bottle as a gift – a nice gesture though after I saw the cut he was getting after signing my name a hundred times, all I could think was: “yo goober, where's the Dom?”

I hate describing the nose on Pinot Grigio because it's distinct...it smells like Pinot Grigio.

I'm used to a touch of sweetness in Pinot Grigio but I'd call this one bone dry...to the point that if you gave it to me blind I'd guess it was some sort of PG blend with Sauvignon Blanc. Stone fruit of all sorts – white peach mainly, but a bit of nectarine. A lot of mineral qualities that I'm bad at describing – slate?

A short finish suggesting more of that slate.

This one runs for $17.50 which I think makes it one of the pricier Pinot Grigio's that we've had – I'm sure there are better bottles out there, but I can't argue with this one. If you like this varietal but wish you could find a drier than usual bottle I'd say give this one a go. Recommended.

2004 Fox Valley Winery Heritage Collection

I felt like supporting a local(ish) winery and saw this one for $15. We've visited this winery about a year ago and felt they were easily one of the better wineries in Illinois. If I had one gripe, it was that all their dry reds were a bit expensive. This is a blend of Chambourccin and Frontenac – two common Midwest varietals.

Funk and cherry on the nose.

Earth, funk, dirt, even some barnyard, oak, cherry and raspberry on the palate – outstanding depth not only from the region but for the price in general. Low tannin overall.

The finish comes through with some earthy notes, a touch of oak, and perhaps some berry.

I have to say this is much better than I anticipated it being. If I had to compare it to anything, I'd say a nice Chianti Classico. If you see this – or if you're in the area – I strongly recommend both the wine and the winery.

1996 Lynfred Winery Cabernet Sauvignon

I was browsing a department store and found this labeled $11 - I knew from visiting the winery that this bottle sells for far more at the winery itself - $40 in fact. The capsule felt good so I grabbed it.

Deep plum, ripe black fruit, and oak on the nose.

Mild, smooth tannins, deep black fruit - ultraripe blackberry, plum - actually, prune - dark chocolate, cassis, and a bit of tobacco on the palate. Complex and deep - impressive to say the least, especially coming from Illinois.

The finish has a bit of prune and tobacco.

I gotta say, if I found this again for $11, I'd buy a bunch of it, but if I had $40 to burn I would look elsewhere.

N/V Galena Cellars Late Harvest Gewurtztraminer

Galena Cellars is one of the strongest wineries in Illinois....we’ve tried quite a few of their wines and they’re usually fairly solid. I had this one at a tasting some time ago and liked it enough to pick up a 375 ml bottle for about $15.

A bit of stone fruit on the nose - maybe apricot or nectarine.

Very nice and smooth on the palate - a bit of spice, peach pie, apricot, and honey.

The finish has some nice spicy notes that linger.

Clean, sweet, balanced, and refreshing: an excellent dessert wine at this price - strongly recommended.

2005 Bald Knobb Owl Creek Vineyard

I was at a wine shop and this one caught my eye. We visited this winery about two years ago on a little Midwest wine weekend trip.

Owl Creek is part of the Shawnee Valley Wine Trail and it was one of the best in the region, which is why I jumped on this. If you’re in the mood for a weekend trip, that particular area isn’t bad (I’m assuming you’re within a few hours from Southern Illinois) but don’t expect much in terms of good quality red wine...lots of sweeter white dominates the area.

I think that’s why we liked Owl Creek–they had two excellent dry red wines. This particular one was not available when we visited. It’s made from Chambourcin and ran us about $15 (though it’s cheaper from the winery direct). I was hesitant because the label says “semi dry” but I figured it was worth a shot.

I typically find Chambourcin to be a strange wine and this one is no exception. The nose: big and weird. I can’t really place it...I’ll settle for raspberry jam and there’s also some spice.

The palate is more strangeness: almost effervescent with acid, big plum, peach, blueberry fruit, maybe some honey, and a touch of black pepper. I’m not sure if this has seen oak, I don’t really taste any, but there’s a lot going on here if it hasn’t. I think “semi dry” is an accurate description as it’s not dry, but it’s not terribly sweet either. No tannins, but the acidity which is interesting at first gets to be a bit overbearing after a while. I think this could benefit from a slight chill, so throw it in the fridge for fifteen minutes or so before drinking.

The finish fades quickly and leaves nothing discernable with perhaps a little bit of black pepper residue.

I’d compare it to a Beaujolais, but I’ve never had a Beaujolais this interesting. If you’ve never had Chambourcin and want to try one, I’d put this one as one of my top recommendations.