California Zin appelation write-up

For all you Zin fans out there. Interesting write-up I want to keep handy.

http://www.winereviewonline.com/whitleyzinfandel.cfm

REVIEW: 2000 Grgich Hills Napa Valley Zinfandel

Four bottles and FINALLY I do a Zin? If you know my tastes, you know this is a bit surprising.

The bottle was certainly tasty. Lots of fruit and it almost reminded me of grape juice - the good stuff, not that overly sugary crap. No one particular fruit stood out. I tasted - well, I'm saying tasted - some plum. I couldn't identify any particular berry type(s). Slight spice flavor that sneaks up on you late, almost as an afterthought. Nice body, but a bit thinner than I prefer my Zins. I like mine fat and meaty. Some tannins, but not over powering. I wish the finish lasted a bit longer. I'd call this a well balanced wine, but not stellar.

Before I score it, here are some more observations. There was a lot of sediment in the bottle, which was a first. I thought it was cool. That was the first time I remember a bottle filled with junk. Also, there were 'wine diamonds' on the cork. I don't know what causes it, be it sugar crystals or what, but the cork had some shiny flecks on it. Pretty cool!

So I Google this guy (http://www.grgich.com/html/2000_zinfandel.html) and that's the link I found. Turns out the sediment and 'wine diamonds' (their term, not mine!) are to be expected. It also recommends decanting, and with all that gunk I'd have to totally agree. It would also open up the flavors more... may have pushed this thing up a hair on the swig scale, too.

HA HA!!! THEY SAID PLUM! I TASTED SOMETHING!!!

It looks like $25 retail online, so for once we paid shelf price at a restaraunt! Not bad.

Swigs 3.5 Bang 2

Night on the town

FINALLY I'll get to review a bottle that uses my favorite varietal, the zinfandel. Honestly, the Zin grape is the cuplrit for my love of all (er... most) wines red. The short version is my brother, who was a liquor/wine sales rep (man I wish he still had that job...), opened a Clos du Bous Zin. That was the first red wine I had ever tasted that just blew me away. Sorry, I don't remember the year. I wish I did because it rocked.

My point? As usual, I don't have much of one, just that Zin's are my favorite. If it says "Jammy" on the description, 9 or 10 times I'll gleefully drink a bottle up and ask for more.

Ok... sorry for the tangent. On to my description of last night.

So last night my wonderful girlfriend decides to take me out for a nice dinner. Nothing stupid fancy, i.e. no need for shirt and tie, but certainly a couple steps above the local Outback, if you get what I mean. The place is Mac's in Saline, MI. Interesting wine list, lots of seafood, and a bit hip. One sentence review of the restaraunt is that it was ok and I grill fish as good as they do and it's less than half the price for a comparable meal.

That all aside, Tuesday's there are half off bottle night, so we're in luck! We spot a 2000 Zin and I'm praying she'll just pick that, knowing that I'm a huge Zin fan. She, being the smart gal she is, does select it for us.

So I'm all excited. Here lately I've been reading about how bottle aging is no substitute for decanting wines and all that. Time in the bottle is how the flavors really develop, blah, blah, blah. Granted, a 2000 isn't that ancient of a wine, but it's 2-3 years older than the stuff I'm getting at the local grocery, so, in my world this constitues as an "old" bottle.

It ran us $25 after the discount, so I'd guess shelf price would be around $20-$22/bottle. The review is forthcoming.

It was good and enjoyable, but not stunning. I guess that description could go for both the wine and the dinner.

The one redeeming thing about the wine itself was that it went with our entire meal. The calamari, my salad with a Dijon vinagrette, and my swordfish. We lucked out on that!

The wine review will be posted very, very shortly.

Shiraz thoughts...

Hmmm... I may have just realized something about my reviews (besides the fact they're a touch vague).

Both 2003's tasted similar. Both from Aussieland.
The 2005 I didn't like, but still from Down Undah.

My point? I think I need to try another '05 and '03 from Australia and see if I feel the wines are similar to their cousins. If so, then I may have actually determined some differences in vintages of Aussie Shiraz. I just may determine that I never personally buy and '05 from Australia.

Just remember, these reviews are from memory and not side-by-side tastings. If I had another bottle of the Nine Stones and the Black Opal I'd crack 'em both and see how alike they do actually taste. But I'm not dropping $26 to do so!

If you've noticed this perceived difference, please drop a comment and let me know.

REVIEW: 2003 Black Opal Shiraz

Yep, it's been a Shiraz sorta week. Seeing I've liked Shiraz's but don't drink them as often as I do Zin's and Pinot's (my two favorites BTW), I guess that was a good thing for my wine-o ed-ju-mu-cashin.

If you read the Nine Stones reivew, feel free to stop right here. You already know my thoughts on this guy. If not, let me say that I liked this wine almost as much as the Nine Stones. It was a bit more sour than the Nine Stone, but still good drinking. Good color, not bad tasting, but another weak finisher.

'Bout $8 a bottle

Swigs: 3, Bang 2

REVIEW: 2005 Yellow Tail Shiraz

You can get this puppy at any grocery store in Southeastern Michigan. Usually $10-$11, but you'll see it on sale often at $6-$7.

This was the 3rd Shiraz I've had this week and it was by far the least impressive if you ask me. We had the Black Opal Shiraz (another cheap-o wine write up coming) first last night, and when I went to this, it just didn't hold up. Maybe it was a bad bottle or maybe a side by side actually demonstrated some of the weaknesses of this guy. All I know is from sip one I was like "hey, wait a second... this tastes... not so good". More red than purple colored, a bit weaker body, flavor held up longer on the finish.

Swigs: 2.5, Bang 1 (regular priced) or 2 (on sale)

REVIEW: 2003 Nine Stones Barossa Shiraz

This was the first bottle from my mixed case that got consumed. Hopefully things go up from here and not down, but not a terrible start to the case. It was a random grab from the box by my girly friend which is why this guy was the first up. Why did I tell you this? It's my blog and I felt like it.

*ahem* Ok, less snotty, more review-y.

REVIEW:

Excellent color. Anyone who drinks Shiraz knows how deep of a purple they can be. I thought this had a good fruit flavor, medium bodied, decent tannins to go with it, but the finish lacked to me. If the finish was better this would have scored another swig. Not as in your face fruity as some Shiraz's I've had, but that wasn't a terrible thing. I've had better and worse.

I paid $17 for this bottle and I think it was a bit overpriced. Considering some friends last night brought by a 2003 Black Opal Shiraz ($7-$9 a bottle!) that I swear was just a re-packaged version of the Nine Stones, you'll see why it only got a single bang.

SCORE: 3 Swigs, 1 Bang

Scoring system

Two scores per bottle. One for taste, one for value.

For taste we'll call it The Swig Scale. Scoring as follows:

1 Swig: Utter garbage. Better used as cheap cooking wine than for human comsumption. Hell, for that matter, don't taint an otherwise good meal with this swill. Great gift idea... for your enemies. Single swigs mean I dumped the bottle.

2 Swigs: Underwhelming or tastes like crap, but not so bad I'd dump the bottle. Good to drink with friends with little to no clue about how a good bottle tastes, but don't embarrass yourself and buy it. Just try and keep from turning your nose up when they bring this over. A 2 means I'd never buy it again. Avoid. Two Buck Chuck is a good example.

3 Swigs: Not bad... not bad. A 3 means I'd tell you to go and buy it. It won't impress you unless you're that clueless person who thinks 2's are as good as a 5, but I wouldn't shy away from it. I'd buy it again if the value is there. Lacking something that I may/may not be able to put my finger on. Odds are I'll forget about this bottle and how good/bad I thought it was. Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zin is a 3. By the way, that's my standby bottle.

4 Swigs: Wow. Now we're getting serious. Great flavor, drinkable, good body, all of that. It has nothing to complain about at all. It didn't knock my socks off, but it left me saying "hey, I would buy this again in a heartbeat!". Bring by to impress someone who has a modicrum of a clue in regards to wine (i.e. a guy like me).

5 Swigs: I've only had three bottles in my life so far that rate this. Complex flavor, tasty, calling it drinkable is an insult. You'd cry if you didn't get the last glass. You may lick the insides of the glass to get every drop. A dude like me drinks this and thinks that wine can't get better than this. Go buy it not matter what the value score is. These should impress any wine drinker, no matter how uppity.

Yep, nice and scientific.

The Bang scale is the value score.

1 Bang: Over priced. If the swig score is at least a 3, get it... but only on sale. You may also lick the glass for a 1 Bang but that's only because you're hoping to get as much as you can out of this over priced thing.

2 Bangs: On par for the taste, i.e. my$17 for that bottle was well worth it and I'd pay it again. If the Swig is a 3-5 and you see it on sale, buy it up!

3 Bangs: Someone at the store HAD to mismark this one. No idea how a wine of this quality was priced this low. Usually a 'sleeper' of a wine. You know, avoided by the snobs because it's priced below $30, gets 4 or 5 Swigs, and goes head to head with their bottle that's twice as pricey.

My first mixed case

Yep, as I stated in my very first blog post, I bought a mixed case. Why? Two reasons.

1. I drink a decent amount of wine (bottle or two a week)
2. 15% discount!!! That's the important part. $208 became $177.
3. It was a good excuse to go and buy a buttload of all kinds of different wines I wouldn't just walk in and buy for kicks.

Ok, so it was 3 reasons. Sue me.

Once I get home I'm going to post the details of each bottle I bought.

What I remember:
3 French
3 Italian
2 Whites (not a big white fan)
1 Zin
1 Australian Shiraz (had last night... not too impressed)

Uh... yeah.

So a write up on the Shiraz (Nine Stones 2003 Shiraz I do believe) will be coming shortly.

The whole purpose of this

Hey folks. No, I'm not a wine snob, nor do I think I'll ever get to the point that I'd call myself one. To me, drinking wine and learning about wine isn't an exercise in trying to impress my friends (or myself), rather to me it's a challenge to see if I can actually taste some of that "old leather" or get the smell of "citrus and mint" out of a glass.

Will I ever get that good? Who knows. Hell, who CARES!

So, the point of this is for me to keep a blog of the wines I've tasted so I can come back and look at some that I really liked... and why. See, I'm a forgetful sorta dude and I tend to lose things, so I'll just keep my "note pad" safely saved on Google's servers.

One note - and yes this was a minorly snobbish step - I just bought my first mixed case of wine (15% discount is why folks...) and at the very least I am going to attempt to blog each of those.