This goes for roughly $25, but I found it in an end of bin sale for half that. I debated buying more than one bottle, but didn't want to risk it.
Cherry on the nose, but also a fair amount of barnyard.
Light bodied with an excellent balance of fruit and earth. Cherry and strawberry mostly with a big dash of white pepper and a touch of cola....in fact, it's more than a touch, this is a wine with fairly big cola flavor, and if I may say so, that is a damn good thing.
More cherry and spice on the finish which is admittedly short.
Though this isn't the best PN we've had, it's clearly the best for what I paid and a worthy entry even at retail. I may have to hit up the shop again and see if there are more on clearance. An easy recommendation.
Castaño for those of you who are particular about their tildas. This is a monastrell - you may be familiar with it by its more common name, mourvedre. I don't recall what I paid for this or why, but online prices vary between six and ten dollars, so it's a cheap offering.
I get some cola components on the nose as well as some tart cherry.
Not unlike a light bodied California Pinot Noir - the peculiar blend of strong dark fruit combined with a strong dollop of funk and earth. Like dropping a blackberry in fertilizer and not washing it off before eating it. I am digging the fact that this is so light, many CA PNs don't work for me because the ones we've had tend to get a bit heavy, this is just about right.
I get just a bit of Twizzler on the finish.
This isn't a terribly complex wine, but it's very tasty, easy drinking, and a perfect summer red - chill it a bit and eat it with burgers or brats and you're good to go.
The weather's a bear and rose is a surefire way to beat the heat. I'm perusing the shop and grab a French rose, our default, and as I walk around I stumble upon the South African wine section. It's been a while since we've had a South African wine (as far as I can tell it's been three years), so this is the first in several wines we'll be having in the near future to reacquaint ourselves with the region.
Some minerality on the nose, which isn't all that common in roses.
The slightest bit of sugar - barely noticeable, but it's there - and a good punch of acid. Strawberry mostly dominates here with some nice spicy notes. There's an interesting lemon/lime sorta thing - almost like it has a dash of 7-Up or something mixed in.
Some interesting spicy things come through on the finish - white pepper perhaps, something more exotic that I can't quite place my finger on - almost a lavender quality.
This was seven bucks at Trader Joe's. We grabbed this and the Josefina rose reviewed below - this was the second wine opened after tossing half that bottle - part of me feels this review is somewhat biased because it was consumed right after an atrocious offering. I dug this enough that it does warrant a revisit - we'll see what happens then.
The nose brings crisp pineapple notes.
Very nice - light spice, somewhat sweet, light in body, plenty of crisp acid. Green apple, tropical fruit, and pineapple in a crisp sorta way.
Tart apple and some tropical notes linger.
A phenomenal summer wine and one of the better bargains I've found in some time - highly recommended.
This one goes for five bucks or so at Trader Joe's.
A nondescript grapey quality on the nose.
Just blah - grapey but with some spice and tannin. Sweet and spicy overall and and ultimately unpleasant. It's not cloyingly sweet or anything, but the whole combination of flavors and mouthfeel is pretty bad.
The finish is little more than a spicy/sugary mess - more sugar comes through right on the finish.
Among the worst, as in foulest tasting, roses I recall consuming.
An Austrian Muscato? Hmm. I don't recall the exact details on what I paid, but I do recall it being under $15.
A bit of honey and orange - sort of like an orange jam.
There's just a bit of fizz in this one despite the sparkling wine packaging. Sweet to be sure, but not cloying, mostly peach, but some apple - varying between golden and the lighter red varieties, all with a bit of some mild citrus qualities. You know, with just a bit of air this is really coming alive - almost a fruit salad - there's nectarine and pear, even a bit of honeydew melon.
I'd say mostly apple notes on the finish.
I would consider this a dessert wine and would not recommend as a table wine unless you are really into sweet stuff. That being said, it's a damn good dessert wine and easily on the list of the best muscato we've had.
This goes for around ten bucks at Costco and I believe has some sort shelf talker about 90+ points but the details of that I am sketchy on. I gave it about 90 minutes to open (it wasn't tight, but it was sorta dumb).
Sort of a pencil lead quality on the nose of this one along with a dash of eucalyptus and even a minty/cherry thing - sorta like a cherry flavored toothpaste.
Black fruit - plum, super dark red cherry - with a whole bunch of that earthy/spicy thing you expect. Very light oak, the lightest touch of vanilla, and a nice bit of tannin, all with a bit of eucalyptus and more of that pencil lead that I don't see often (to be fair, I don't drink all that much Bordeaux, at least decent Bordeaux). It's like sucking on a pencil in a way, a good way mind you.
Some nice tannic tea like qualities come through as well as some dark cherry.
You know, for a Bordeaux that's less than ten bucks, I gotta go right on ahead and say this is damn fine. I'm not sure how much more time in the bottle I'd give it - I couldn't imagine more than another year or so, but it's definitely worth a look.
Alright, Two Lads - Pinot Grigio. Retail this goes for about $16.
A big ol' Pinot Grigioy nose, which is an obnoxious descriptor, but good PG smells like PG. It's mostly a green apple thing with some vanilla.
Michigan Pinot Grigio is, in my humblest opinion, some of the best on the planet. You can get some cheaper bottles from Italy, but for this price - $18 which is right around Santa Margherita territory - places like Two Lads and Left Foot Charley annihilate the pasta makers. Excellent blend of acid and sugar, mostly green, or maybe golden, apple notes. There's some nice spicy qualities, more vanilla, just the slightest touches of green grape, pear, and even banana (usually a quality I'd consider a flaw, but it works well here). Way on the back palate bring lychee. Something was lingering here that totally stumped me - I recognized something distinct, but could not place it. After about 90 minutes, it hit me - Juicyfruit gum
I keep getting vanilla in this one - even on the finish as well as more pear and lychee.
2007 Left Foot Charley was the best PG I've ever encountered. Two Lads owns 2008. If a more interesting Pinot Grigio exists at this pricepoint I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a bottle today.
This was on super ultra mega discount - kicking it down to three bucks from I think ten. Not only is it an EXTREM Riesling, it's also an EXTREM value! Remember kids, listen to Poochie and always recycle - TO THE EXTREM.
Enough joking, wine is serious business....TO THE EXTREM!
A somewhat gasoline fueled nose with a punch of lime....key lime, maybe....key lime pie, in fact.
Very light in body, somewhat light in acid, quite light on sugar, and somewhat light on taste - unripe nectarine dominates (sorta like if you absentmindedly take a bite out of a nectarine with the consistency of an apple) with a dash of lime rind. There's even a sort of cherry skin quality here - imagine peeling a Rainier cherry and just eating the skin - sorta like that. There's even a sort of good vodka like quality here - clean, smooth, not exactly burn, but certainly a spirit quality. Interesting.
Really more of the same on the finish - unripe nectarine, lime peel, and cherry skins.
This is the sort of wine that as it opens, I become more convinced of its quality - the first hour I wasn't quite convinced but after a couple hours, I feel this really began to shine. I am a stupid stupid human for only buying one bottle at three dollars. Stupid.
It's kind of a shame that the, apparently, unrelated Monsanto corporation is so evil....it's like buying a wine called Mussolini. It just feels wrong.
The nose here strikes me of mostly barnyard - funky to be sure, even some rotten banana comes through.
Smooth and somewhat heavy - not terribly acidic - loads of dark chocolate, cherry, (bordering on rotten) strawberry, tobacco, leather, cedar - pretty much everything you'd expect from a quality Chianti.
Chocolatey and tobacco notes on the finish.
This strikes me as a very well crafted bottle in a true Chianti Classico style. For $20 there's absolutely nothing to dispute here - drinking fine now but I'll bet in a few years it would be even better.
As soon as we left this winery and got on the road I began to doubt myself with buying this one - that is, only one - but we had other places to hit and the budget was being pushed as is. Sparkling Pinot Noir Rose - twenty bucks - regular ol' twist cap - the way you know it's sparkling is by the little bubbles. I wonder if they ever regret making it so subtle. I quite like it, myself, but people do tend to be, you know...dumb.
I found a review - a negative review - that I can only assume was discussing this bottle, but the person clearly did not realize this was a sparkler. Loosley quoted: "strong bubbles and fizz...not a good thing." That sorta is a good thing in this case.....and if it wasn't - that would be what we call a flawed bottle and an e-mail to the winery would be in order. I mean, really, do they just let any idiot publish wine reviews on the internets?
(and a chill filled the room.....)
Many wines we've consumed lately have been bringing stone fruit, which I fear is a 'palate rut' for me, but I'll be damned if this doesn't bring mostly nectarine on the nose.
Fairly heavy in body and somewhat light on bubbles. Cranberry, strawberry, and tart cherries on the palate with a touch of sweetness. There's some tannic structure here that's quite interesting, but I can see the whole heaviness here turning some people off - neither light nor crisp, though I do not consider that a flaw - this is, perhaps, the definitive sparkler for fall or winter.
More of that cranberry quality with even some interesting oaky notes (though I assume this hasn't actually seen oak) on the finish...almost a pinch of clove seems to come through.
A nice offering - well played - and somewhat unique. I dig it.
On our visit to Traverse City, Chris from Two Lads Winery told me about this guy, Terry Stingley, who is planning on a "taste off" of Cab Francs. He feels that Cab Franc may be Michigan's "identity" grape. That is, when you think Argentina - what grape do you think? Probably Malbec. Germany? Riesling. Read up here if you want.
No one is really "known" for their Cab Franc, so this is an interesting idea. (Michigan's most popular grape seems to be Rielsing, but many - hell, most - are lackluster compared to their Alsatian and German bretheren.) I have made some subtle jabs at Cab Franc as a single varietal wine, but on our most recent trip we sampled a few that were impressive without qualification - including a forthcoming that's probably going to blow minds.
So here's a Cab Franc from Circa Winery - a wine that may be in the "Michigan Cab Franc Challenge" - that goes for about thirty big ones.
First - check out this cork - I'm glad we opened this sooner rather than later. It's a good idea to check bottles you're sitting on a few times a year anyway, but I definitely would keep an eye on this. My impression is this wine is well crafted and would benefit from aging. Second - this is perhaps obvious by the last comment, but this wine needs a few hours to open.
The nose has cherry liqueur with cedar and tobacco - burning tobacco, sorta like a pipe - notes all with some stewed green peppers (not in a bad way).
Earth, oak, cherry, spices - clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, a bit of dried mint - all with firm tannins and blueberry coming through on the back palate (and more so up front as the bottle opens), plus just the slightest hint of "natural" cola (the Whole Foods stuff, not Coke). Excellent balance all around.
No vegetal qualities at all - a lot of people avoid Cab Franc because they're afraid of that funky cabbage or strong bell pepper quality quality, but very few, if any of the Michigan wines (at least at the higher pricepoint) show any of those notes. There may be some bell pepper (as here) but they are typically subtle and well integrated.
The exceptionally long finish brings more of that quirky natural cola quality, as well as some nice puckering tannins, good lingering acidic punch, and some ever so slightly unripe raspberry. Way back on the end, as it fades, a distinct cigar quality comes through.
Thirty bucks is nothing to sneeze at, but there's nothing to argue with here. Well crafted, interesting, and a fantastic wine all around - among the best Cab Francs we've had.
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.
This was six bones at Trader Joe's - how bad can a $6 Spanish Rose be?
A very nice nose, strong with strawberry, cherry, and even cinnamon notes.
Cherry mostly with some minty things going on, as well as some light spices, along with some apple notes.
I'm getting a watermelon rind thing on the finish, as well as some somewhat unripe strawberries.
Decent, cheap rose rocks and this is certainly one of them. There are more complex and better rounded ones out there to be sure, but I doubt you'll snag one for under $10 that's better than this.
This was in the clearance bin for $5, I think it retails for around $10.
A cherry jam quality on the nose, maybe even cherry liqueur.
While there is some cherry present, this is potent with blackberry. There's a bit of white pepper here, some very very mild woody notes, not quite oak not quite cedar, and a nice bit of dirt. The tannins are present and well integrated. Quite good, especially from a box.
Ever so slightly tart blackberry lingers on the finish.
Easy drinking and simple? To be sure. Tasty and nicely balanced? I do believe so.
It's a good idea to give all of your red wines (and you know, even your whites to a lesser extent) some time to aerate - if you don't want to mess around with a decanter, at least pour a glass or two and let them sit for an hour before you start drinking.
When I first popped open this $10 bottle, I took a sip and thought it was disgustingly sour - so much I wasn't sure I could drink it. Realizing I was getting ahead of myself, I waited two hours and lo and behold all that blew off leaving us with a groingabblingly good deal..
Basically a raspberry thing is going on here on the nose with all sorts of crazy earth/mud and even some barnyard.
Very nice - potent acid, definitely with a big enough punch that you may want some food with it. Light and tart cherries, with a punch of blackberry, black pepper, anise, and nice cigar box notes. The second day a big punch of eucalyptus came through with cherry and anise and the rest more or less blowing off.
Cedar and cherry stick around for a while on the finish.
I just looked this one up and it's 85% Malbec - how about that? Damn fine - unfortunately I have no clue where I bought this otherwise this is an obvious recommendation.
We're back from Michigan, our palates have recovered and I decided, on a blazing hot day, to pop open a German Riesling that went for around seven bucks.
An odd grapey nose with little else.
This is a Riesling? From Germany? Come on man! I feel like Andy Millman! No, I don't buy it. Seriously. This is white grape juice spiked with a shot of vodka. This is either the lamest Manischewitz white wine ever made or it's a joke. Come on! Really? The Germans can make this ridiculous of a Riesling?
Where's Dom DeLuise and the Candid Camera crew? He's pulling pranks on me from beyond the grave! Always a kidder, that Dom. Did you ever see that movie Fatso? Hilarious. Just thinking about that move makes me hungry. Speaking of works of art with Dom that make me hungry - he was the voice of Pizza the Hut in Spaceballs. That's easily one of my top five favorite movies....
Grape juice on the finish.
Maybe if this come out of a box or something I would've been prepared, but I'm dumbfounded. I've never had a wine so bad that it amused me - that alone made it worth the seven bucks.
This marker was right off the highway in Wisconsin. I saw a couple signs in the TC area, but none were of the photo op variety like this one.
So our full notes from the Lake Michigan Circle Tour are up....if you're reading this in the distant future, just click the "July 2009" link to your right and you'll see them all on a page or two.
I do encourage you all to comment or drop us an e-mail if you have any questions, comments, or observations.
Parallel 44 is located around 30 minutes southeast of Green Bay in a somewhat tucked away area - it's not right off the highway and you do have to be looking for it.
The notes:
Seyval Blanc - Floral nose, a tad sweet, with floral/herbal tea qualities on the palate.
Riesling - Sweet, a bit of acid, pink apples, with peach and various stone fruit lingering around.
Rosso - Cherry nose, semisweet, decent acid and mildly tannic, with cherry flavors but still a bit sweet for our liking.
Baco Noir - A goofy grape varietal that I was happy to see. Cherry, chocolate, and blueberry, still sweet and lacking tannin or oak, but interesting enough that it's worth a try.
2007 Cabernet Sauvignon - A funky nose, light in body with spice and a bit of funk and mild sweet oak with strawberry notes hanging around in the background.
Meditation - A sweet, heavy dessert wine with cherry notes - full notes at some point in the future.
A nice place with some unusual wines, perhaps worth a stop if you're in the area. I'm not glowing about it, but just for a chance to try some Baco and go for a country drive I'd say it's worth the trip.
On the way to this winery, I needed gas only to be met by the WORST GAS ATTENDANT EVER.
This is what liberal America is doing...making small businesses - like Shell - hire employees who don't even have opposable thumbs. Did we lose a war? That's not America...that's not even Mexico.
I digress.
We've been to many wineries in our day, but the staff at Captain's Hawk wins the prize of the friendliest, most outgoing, easiest going staff we have ever encountered. Seriously. Even if the wines here sucked, which they don't, I'd still recommend visiting because everyone rocks.
This place is apparently tied to von Stiehl Winery, also in Wisconsin, which he haven't been to yet, but plan to sooner rather than later.
The notes:
2006 Riesling - Just a tad flabby for my tastes with peach being the strongest flavor.
Sangiovese - Menthol on the nose, light in body, some bell pepper, cherry, spice, and a tad of plum.
Merlot - Smooth, low tannins, cherry, a bit of tannin and cinnamon come through on the finish, but I can't help but call this one a bit blah.
Cabernet Sauvignon - Cedar and black cherry on the nose and palate with dark black fruit, medium tannins, clove, and nice structure.
Captain's Red - Grapey all around, we were told this is their top selling red which is just sad.
Gewurz - Sweet and slightly flabby, but fine - peach, apricot, a bit of spice.
Maiden Voyage - This wine comes in an awesome ship shaped bottle that I would've bought if it wasn't thirty bones. Strawberry nose with a big fat artificial watermelon thing going on on the palate, good acid, sweet but not cloying - if this was ten bucks I'd probably buy it. This is the perfect wine to drink while listening to Alestorm:
The wines here are sampled in Riedel glasses, which should really be the standard, but almost no one does it. There's a sign that says something along the lines of "Does the glass matter? Ask for a demonstration." I should've, just to see what they do. The staff here clearly know their stuff and I gotta tell ya, I'm beyond down.
After 1/22/10, all wines are tasted blind unless otherwise noted.
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Beginning in 2010 I began using the 100 point scale. Details can be found here, but it's pretty self-explanatory. (If a wine gets under 75, I won't review it unless something about it pisses me off.
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Every wine is consumed in Riedel Cabernet/Merlot, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Champagne, or Port glasses.
This goes for roughly $25, but I found it in an end of bin sale for half that. I debated buying more than one bottle, but didn't want to risk it.
