Red is Dead?

When I listen to music, I can hear the individual instruments.  I can listen closely and hear just the bass line… or hear the snare… or sax or whatever.  My wife can only hear music.  No ability to pick out a particular sound or rhythm from amongst the final product.  Classical music is obviously much more complicated and dense, but I can do the same there, just to a lesser degree.

With wine… all I hear is music.  I have no palate to pick out the individual flavors.  At best I can taste sour or bitter or sweet.  Maybe something that resembles a fruit or a spice.  As evidence you see a string of reviews that say “cherry, berry, pepper… sour, sweet… yum or bleh”.  The equivalent of only knowing 3 chords.  Or only having one string on your bass.  Sure it’s been done… but it doesn’t take long till all the songs sound the same.

That’s how I’m starting to feel on these reviews.  So this may be the end.  Despite having a kick-ass concept, and site name, and cool looking page.  Ultimately it’s nothing I couldn’t do in a spreadsheet with a thumbs up and thumbs down for each bottle.

Eh, who know how I’ll feel tomorrow, but today I’m officially… probably… retired.

2006 Ravenswood Cabernet Sauvignon – Vintner’s Blend

This is a pretty common brand.  I’ve seen this wine in grocery stores and I think Trader Joes as well.  It’s typically around $15 I believe.  But there’s a catch… this here is the “Vintner’s Blend”.  Near as I can tell from reading their site… they take the kegs that weren’t quite good enough… a little too much oak, a little too much fruit… and blend them together in the hopes of salvaging something salable that brings out the best in all of them while covering over the worst.  Looks like this sub-brand typically runs $10, but Nugget had it on sale this week for $5.99.  So what the heck!

First impression is this thing is inky black in the glass.  A good first sign, for me anyway.  It has a good nose though I think I’m still a little too stuffy to pick out any particular notes.

Now the taste… warm fruit.  Nothing distinct that I can tell, but strong rich fruit… not bright.  Nothing is bursting out in fireworks.  In fact the flavors are quite mellow and well mixed.  A little earthy and woody, but again not too much.  It all feels very well balanced.  A band with no lead.  And that’s ok for me in a wine, especially one to eat with.  I like it.  Another one that’s growing on me the more I drink it.  I think it would be great with cheese or a roast.

**** (4 stars)

2005 Trader Joe’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

I was interested to see this “Trader Joes” branded wine the other day mysteriously labeled “Reserve”.  It’s origin was shrouded in mystery, but it was a Cab… had “reserve” in the name which made me feel special… and it was a 2005, which seems a little older than most of the Cabs I have been buying so I thought it would be interesting to try.

It’s got a deep black currant color when poured in the glass.  A good sign so far.  The first taste I had was a bit sour… but when I had another glass the next day I think I tasted more what this wine is capable of.  It has an intense black licorice flavor, mixed with blackberries and some black cherries.  That’s a lot of black.  There’s also a hint of oakiness in there too (black oak?).  I’m not a big oak fan, but there not enough of it here to turn me off.

This wine’s growing on me.  I didn’t really like it at first, but now I’m starting to dig it.  But at close to $10 for the bottle (I don’t remember the exact bill, but it was 8 or 9 at least) and such intense flavors, I think it’s a bit limited in it’s opportunities.  Maybe with a big peppery steak.  Yum!

***1/2 (3 and a half stars… maybe 4 if I keep drinking)

UPDATE: I went back to TJ’s today to check the price, but this wine was no where to be found.  Must have been some limited time thing.

2007 CNW Chenin Blanc

This bottle was $10.99 at Nugget Markets (a local Northern California grocery store).  The brand hails from Clarksburg, California (about 5 miles from my home apparently, who knew?) and the wine expert that sold me on it did so by saying that the Berringers and other big name brand Chenin Blanc’s add sugar water to their wines to make them sweet.  Not so here he claims.  This is Chenin in the more tradition French mold.  It comes with a screw top… something which I am warming to more and more.  I really love my corkscrew though and the ritual of opening a bottle.  But the screw cap is a close second, and really beats the annoying rubber stopper hands-down.

Typical white on the nose… pear and apple.  But in taste it is much more tart than I expected.  Still the typical Chenin flavors, but not nearly as sweet, but not quite dry either.  Tart apple and maybe melon.  A hint of honey?

Sorry I have little else to say, my pallet for white wine is still an insolent child.  Not up to the lofty levels of “angsty teen” that my red wine tastes have grown to be.  Nevertheless I don’t mind this wine.  I was pleasantly surprised considering all the other Chenin’s were borderline undrinkable for me.  It’s got a strong flavor though so be careful it doesn’t overpower what you’re eating (like say fish).  But impossible to justify for me at $10.99 a bottle.

*** (3 stars)

Sick!

I’ve been cruelly struck down by the flu bug that’s been sweeping the area rather indiscriminately.  And for me at least, wine or any alcohol is the last thing that sounds good when I’m sick.  Same with dairy and coffee and soda.  So both my wine and coffee addictions are on hold for the time being.

The results of the “great white wine” challenge are on hold as well.  But I’m posting anyway to keep my momentum going and keep the activity on the site.

[Achoo!]

2007 Bear’s Lair Chardonnay

Second in our journey to the dark side with white wines, it’s the Bair’s Lair Chardonnay, also from Trader Joes.  Chardonnay is more of my idea of a decent white as it is the only one I can identify as “dry”.  I’m also familiar with the Bear’s Lair label as their Cabernet is the first good bargain wine I ever found (once I wandered out of the valley of 2 buck chuck).

The smell on this one is almost non-existent, but it does have just a hint of that typical chardonnay butteriness.  In tasting it is exactly as I expected… dry, pear, buttery… a touch flowery.  And without so much as a tip of the hat,  it’s gone.  Clean.  Just the way I like a white.  If I have to have a white.  And on this occasion, I do.

Dawn managed to polish it off, but she prefers the Chenin Blanc.

*** (3 stars)  Tipping in at a mere $3.99, I could imagine this might actually be tasty with a spicy shellfish dish.

2007 J.W. Morris Chenin Blanc

I like white wines like I like Barbra Streisand… that is to say I don’t.  While red wines are warm, dark and mysterious, white wines for me are like taking a bite out of Punky Bewster… sweet, bright, and unbearably cheerful.  While you can fully expect this blog to be 99% Red wines, I have recently been forced to buy some whites to appease my wife.  And so as not to completely waste the experience I am going to review some of them here.

When I do drink a white, it’s usually at gunpoint… and it always is something on the dry side.  My wife, Dawn, has the opposite taste unfortunately.  She says her favorite is Chenin Blanc, and since I don’t know one from the other, I bought four different sub $5 whites from Trader Joe’s and another from a local grocery store, two of which are Chenin Blanc.

The first is a JW Morris Chenin Blanc.  It’s pale… smells vaguely of apples and honey… and tastes like if you made a syrup out of a Granny Smith and sweet tarts, then chased it down with a blast of Binacca.  I really wanted no more than a couple of sips.  Diabetics beware.

** (2 stars)  It’s not vile, it’s just too sweet for me.