Wine Reviews and News for Passionate Wine Lovers

2004 Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 - 89 points (USA, California, Napa Valley) Very nice nose and has an old world to it. Lots of smoke and oak on the nose. Red fruits on the palate with a medium length on the finish. The transitions and consistently full of flavor. Good quality and well balanced wine. Tannins are a plenty. Give it a few more years, or decant for a few hours. Definitely try for 30 bucks.

From Mount Veeder’s Website:

Rugged mountain conditions produce grapes with intensely concentrated fruit and big, rich tannins. Taming these tannins and preserving flavor are the high-altitude winemaker’s biggest challenge. Because Mount Veeder’s growing season starts late and often stretches well into November, harvest is a waiting game.  But patience is rewarded with fully-developed flavors and ripe, rich tannins in the skins and seeds. We handle Mount Veeder Winery grapes as little as possible, using tested techniques to bring out the concentration and power that mountain grapes reveal.  All lots are given a cold soak and frequent punch downs to achieve maximum extraction of fruit flavors and color, while extended contact with the skins encourages the tannins to soften and meld. Finally, aging in finely-grained French oak barrels promotes harmony and integration, and blending enhances the strengths of each varietal to achieve balance in the final wine.

Tags: Mount Veeder, Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, napa, Red wine, Wine Reviews

2004 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain - 91 points

(USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain)

2500 cases of this are made. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Nice nose. Loads of jammy feel. Like strawberry smuckers jelly. A hint of French oak rounds it off nicely. Medium bodied with darker fruits and a silky texture with a nice dose of black current. the fruit is solid in this and it is a pretty bold wine, dark cherries and milk chocolate. Tannins are just right and really balance the wine.It felt a little young and I think this will be a huge hit in a few years. The palate was long a meaningfully. Define try for 69 dollars.

Tags: Ladera, Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon, Red wine, Wine Reviews

2005 Franciscan Oakville Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - 88 points
(USA, California, Napa Valley)

Very nice old world nose with Blackberry, plum, clove, and espresso. I really like the medium French oak and vanilla. Color was dark. The palate was very nice start and well structured with nice plum and espresso and strong sour cherries. It was full and bold. This wine was a little hot. The finish was not bad but a little harsh. As good as this wine was I was somewhat surprised that it went stale in the glass kind of fast. I would try again and a good effort.

Tags: Franciscan Oakville Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Red wine, Wine Reviews

2006 Firesteed Cellars Pinot Noir Citation

(USA, Oregon)

This was a weak effort. Maybe ok for a pinot but this wine was thin on taste and color. The nose had green peppers and was earthy. The nose was kind of interesting. The palette was short with pepper and strawberries. Very quick through the mid palette and bitter on the finish. This wine was simply weak and disjointed for me. Retails for about 16 bucks

Firesteed winery website

From Firesteed site:

Oregon’s tremendous 2006 vintage began with beautiful weather at flowering, allowing grapevines to set a normal-sized crop for the first time in several years. The near-perfect conditions all through the growing season le to a smooth harvest in September and October.

Our 2006 Pinot Noir continues the tradition of consistent style, achieved with gentle techniques in the cellar and imagination in the vineyard. The grapes were fermented in stainless steel tanks with selected yeasts propagated from cellars in Burgundy, pressed during the last days of fermentation, and racked as soon as the wine finished malolactic fermentation. Just a touch of barrel-aged wine was included in the blend to round out the flavors and enhance complexity. Grapes for this wine, as in previous years, were sourced from throughout the Willamette, Umpqua, Rogue and Walla Walla Valleys, creating a truly ‘Oregon’ blend.

The wine is richly aromatic, like a warm berry cobbler topped with cold vanilla ice cream. Lively in the mouth, each sip is brimming with black cherry and raspberry flavors that continue through to the richly rewarding finish.

WINE ANALYSIS
TA 5.50 g/l
pH 3.72
Alcohol 13.4%

Tags: Firesteed Cellars, oregon, Red wine

2005 Jacobs Creek Grenache/Shiraz

(Australia, South Australia)

This producer seams pretty consistent however, constantly average. The wine was simple and kind of like and average hotel type wine. It has some nice body and a deep color. The nose was fresh, cherry fruit aromas, with hints of rose. The palate had a cherry syrup and berry confection to it. If you like that feel and taste you will like this. I like an old world wine and this is far from that. This wine felt very industrial. It was soft and fleshy though, with surprisingly persistent length of flavour to a clean smooth finish. The tannins were soft. Overall just OK for a 25 dollar wine.

Tags: Jacobs Creek Grenache Shiraz, Red wine, Shiraz, Wine Reviews

Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Lieff Auberge Road Vineyard 2005 -89 points

Nice, old World Cabernet. What I like best?  The oak is really nice and rounded on the nose and pallet. I get prunes and black tea, with nice violets on the nose. I mean this is nice and floral. The palate has some nice tea leaves with vanilla and a hint of black liquorish. Tannins and well-integrated oak, balanced acidity, lingering finish but a hint of tree bark on the last parts. couple more years and I think this finish will round out. Pretty smooth wine. I would give this a “worth a try” however borderline for a 50 dollar bottle.

From Hall’s Website:

The Lieff Auberge Road Vineyard neighbors our Sacrashe vineyard in the hills of Rutherford. A bit like

borrowing eggs from next door, we have enjoyed sourcing fruit from this special piece of hillside that typically delivers earthy, Old World style Cabernet. Fared biodynamically in 2005, this wine has dense notes of prunes and baking spice, black tea, violets and toast. The palate is graceful while chewy with flavors of currant, anise and tea leaves. Framed with fine tannins and well-integrated oak, balanced acidity carries through to a tapered, lingering finish. The intricacies of this wine will continue to unfold over the next 5 - 7 years.

Price: $50/Bottle | $432/Case

Tags: Hall Cabernet, napa, Red wine, Wine Reviews

2006 Orin Swift The Prisoner

(USA, California, Napa Valley)

Loads of personality in this wine. Very big and jammy. The nose was not as surprising and the palate. Had black olives, caramel and an overall soft earthy smell. The color was a deep dark purple and had some nice body to it. The palate was a BANG! This wine has loads of body and a very big initial taste with burnt caramel, sour cherries, black olives and a hint of pepper. A little hot and needs to be open for a while. Not as earthy as the nose but more jammy. Definitely worth 30 bones because this is an experience.

The 2006 blends the lush berry flavors of Zinfandel(51%), the power and concentration of Cabernet Sauvignon (23%), the dark black fruit of Syrah (12%), the intensity and structure of Petit Sirah (6%), the flesh of Charbono (6%) and a hint of Grenache (2%) - all combined for a decadent wine with great complexity.

Orin Swift Website

Tags: Orin Swift The Prisoner, red blend, Red wine, Wine Reviews

2004 Imagery Estate Winery Malbec Artist Collection Red Hills Lake County

(USA, California, North Coast, Lake County)

Nice softer malbec. Darkly colored. The nose was on the softer side, dark plum, blueberry. The palate was a typical malbec in that it quickly transitioned to the mid pallet with the taste of t tobacco, and green pepper but with that twist of tree bark and wet leaves. Nice in texture, and long mid palate with the finish lingering but a touch on the bitter side. It is mildly oaky, and well balanced. Worth a try for the money.

Tags: Imagery Estate Winery, Malbec, Red wine, Wine Reviews