This is kind of the kid brother to the big 2004 LAN Limited Edition Rioja we had last year… the quieter, more reserved kid brother.  This reminds me that Rioja is like the Chianti of Spain in that most of what is out there, in the lower price range and higher production the wines are pretty simple and light, but in the upper echelon of each the wines are rich and delicious.  Probably the same could be said for most varietals, but these two are of the most popular.  OK, so anyway, this wine is a little less potent than its big brother, but easier to drink, and probably would appeal to a larger audience.  It is also more balanced. 

The color is inky reddish-black.  On the nose it is mostly smokey oak and red Twizzlers… a good amount of fruit.  The mouth-feel is really nice with enough weight to give it a luscious feel, but enough acidity to make it great for pretty heavy meals (think Lamb, Roast Beef, etc.), and just enough vegetal and tannin structure to make me think of it as a very serious wine - certainly not overpowering.  The primary flavor is raspberry, with some toasty oak and plum mixed in.  The fruit is very pure in this wine, which I’ve really come to appreciate after so many jammy/extracted wines.  The finish is raspberry, spices, and soft tannins, and lasts for about 30 seconds or more. 

This is certainly an enjoyable wine and one you can feel confident serving at a dinner where you want to serve a "good" wine.  It will pair with many different foods.  However, its relative simplicity keeps it from scoring higher than it did.  At the price, I do recommend it.

Rating:  90

Price:  $16  (K&L)

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If you have tried the "7 Layer Cake" wine we’ve reviewed, and liked it, you will almost without a doubt like (at least) this wine also.  Depending on when you take a sniff, it smells very much like the 7LC, and depending one when you taste it, and what you drink it with, it also tastes a lot like it.  Two of the major differences were the increased smokey/oakey-ness and acidity.  The back of the bottle says a piece on the makers of this wine, but not much, other than a mention that it is rich, about the wine itself.  It is, in fact, pretty rich, even decadent. 

The color is, well, damn dark, ruby with a hint of purple.  On the nose it is smokey/oakey, dark baked fruit, sweet tobacco, vanilla, and a hint of sulfur.  It smells like some vanilla cakes I’ve made, but much more complex.  Mouth-feel is rich and acidic.  We had this wine by itself the first night… just one glass by the pool while star gazing.  It was fabulous in this situation.  The second (and final) night I made homemade tomato/basil/fresh mozzarella pizza, with left-over BBQ chicken on the side.  This is where the wine really showed it’s stuff.  This is probably the most diverse wine I’ve ever had.  It tasted completely different with each food.  It had enough acidity to cut the grease of the chicken, yet the smoke and subtlety to match beautifully with my pizza.  In the end the flavor was back to the same as the night before, with a little added aroma and complexity since it had aired a bit more.  I can’t imagine a meal too bold for this wine, but also, I think it has enough finesse to  match up with more delicate meals.  I don’t think I’d serve it with any kind of fish, but anything above that is fair game.

So, this now ranks as our top value red, since it is $2 cheaper than the 7 layer cake - our previous top value red.  If you know of a red wine that is a greater value let us know.  This wine is a serious wine, not a fruit bomb, but quite fruity.  It has great complexity that will have you intellectualizing it until it runs out.  What I like most about this wine is the amount of flavor, fruit and all, without tasting or smelling extracted.  Seems impossible these days.

Rating:  95

Price:  $15  (K&L)

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I think this might be the first half-bottle we’ve bought and of course this wine proved why I was always afraid to go that route… we loved the wine and were really sad when the bottle was empty - we wanted more.  Call it [bad] luck I guess, I mean what are the odds?  We kept trying different white wines and wished they were half bottles, but when we finally buy a half bottle, we love it.  Figures. 

Other thing this wine proves is that everyone’s tastes are different.  Stephen Tanzer rated this wine 89 and we rate it 91.  Most of the time we rate lower than the pros, so we were a little surprised to like it better than the ratings suggest.  On to the review.

On the nose lemon bursts from the glass, with a little grass and minerality.  Mouth-feel is very smooth, medium weight, good acidity.  It would probably go with chicken quite well, although we had it with Mahi Mahi, which went very well.  Taste was butter, honey, and grapefruit (but not too sour), and a little lemon grass.  I don’t typically care much for butter in my wine, but the balance of this wine was superb, so all the butter really did was make it really smooth, if not a little creamy.  Buy the 750ml bottle!

Rating:  91

Price:  $22 350ml (K&L)

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I asked our guy at Wine Expo for an "already aged" red that was similar in style to a Barolo, for around 20 bucks.  The guy never fails us.  If you’re good at describing what you want, he’ll hand it to you (no silver platter available).  That’s pretty much what this is.  At about 10 years old it has some aging under its belt, although I could see how a little more would still serve it well, and who knows how long it will last.  The cork was a bit moldy, but the wine was unaffected. 

It is pretty earthy and dusty on the nose, with some indication of red and dark fruit.  However, once in the mouth it opens right up with plum, apple peel, slight oak and tannins.  Mouth-feel is medium bodied and light to medium acidity.  Right as you swallow you get a bit of red fruit with spice and black pepper.  The finish is long and goes from watermelon and muscat and fades to what I can only describe as cucumber.    Very interesting and very delicious.  All in all a great wine for a good value, especially with its age and complexity.  The thing holding it back from a better score is its dustiness.  It is ever-present and a little distracting.  I would still recommend this wine, but luck will have to be with you to find it.  Give Wine Expo in Santa Monica a call as they are your best bet.

Score:  90+

Price:  $22  (Wine Expo)

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Sometimes you read reviews of wines that say you can enjoy it now… but your experience with wine tells you it is probably best to cellar it for at least a few years.  Then you open the wine at the review’s recommendation, and you find you should have cellared it.  This is one of those times.  Oh, when will I learn?  For the most part, if it is a French red, cellar it 3-5 years after release.  It may or may not gain anything, but undoubtedly won’t lose anything.  If you have a case, open a bottle a year upon release… who cares.  We don’t have that kind of budget though, plus, we’d rather drink lots of different wines than more of the same. 

The color is medium ruby, quite pretty.  Aromatically it is pretty nice, after decanting, with some dustiness and a nice red fruit tart (not sure what, but maybe has some blackberry in it as well).  I think what I’m also smelling is actually the tannins, which would be the first time I noticed that in a wine.  Mouth-feel is probably what you’d expect from a Cotes Du Rhone… a little bit lighter than most of what we drink typically, with what I can only describe as perfect acidity - can be drank by itself or will probably go with just about anything.  The fruit is pretty much a nice red fruit mix; strawberry, raspberry, and cranberry - and a nice surprise… orange and lime peel!  Add a little black pepper (joy) and spice, very smooth and balanced oak and tannin, and you’ve got the flavor profile. 

This is a really nice little wine for the money.  Made me want pizza for some reason… a nice gourmet basil and mozzarella, not Pizza Hut anything.  Basically, something simple but delicious.  This isn’t weak like a white, so it doesn’t require weak flavored food.  You just want to be able to appreciate the wine, so don’t blow it out with something too complex or intense. 

My advice is to find this wine, cellar it for a few years, decant it for an hour, and enjoy.  Even if you can’t/don’t want to decant, it is very enjoyable right now.  I do think it has the structure/backbone to continue to blossom for another couple of years at least, so if you can, drink in 2010.

Rating:  90

Price:  $13 (K&L)

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This is an Australian red blend of 94% Shiraz and 6% Viognier.  That’s right, a white grape.  My take is that the Shiraz alone was thick and dense like tree sap (but probably tasting a lot better) and the only thing they had laying around to thin it out was Viognier.  I’m joking, of course.  I think they actually were trying to add complexity and aromatics, which they did succeed in doing. 

My problem with this wine is that it just doesn’t taste… right.  At least not for my tastes (nor Rika’s).  I would love to tell you what kind of fruit it tastes like, but I can’t place it.  Basically, it is dense (still) in bouquet, color, and flavor.  The profile is red fruit, maybe a mix of all of them… but it is too jammy for me.  When I opened it the aroma of blackberry jam slapped me in the face.  I actually thought "cool!"  But after tasting, was pretty disappointed and confused.  It never got worked out… sip after sip until the whole bottle was gone.  After-taste wasn’t too bad, and lasted a while… mostly the oak, tannin, and black pepper.

If you like a challenge, buy a bottle and try to figure out what it tastes like.  Be sure to post it here!  But then, for the price, you can get far better wine.

Rating:  86

Price:  $16

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This is an Italian Cab-Merlot-Sangiovese.  Color is fairly rich and purple, which seems a bit rare for an Italian wine, but maybe not so rare for the Umbria region?  On the nose it is like blackberry jam with dust on it, pretty much, but not bad.  It isn’t a bashful wine.  It is fairly tannic and vegetal up front, with good acidity.  The fruit is a little subdued for the color and aroma, but still fairly pleasant… mostly red fruits with a little of that blackberry thrown in.  It has a medium length after-taste that includes black pepper - one of my personal favorites.  But all in all we weren’t all that happy with the wine.  It just didn’t have anything really pleasurable about it.  That said, I think it has the structure to improve over 3-5 years, so if you can afford the space, buy a bottle (or more) and let me know how it works out.  Better yet, invite me over to taste it! 

Rating:  88

Price:  $9 (K&L)

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This is the first white wine that I’ve had no complaints about for as long as I can remember.  This is quality stuff indeed.  The nose is more or less the same as the flavor - grassy, with citrus and a little cantaloupe.    It has medium acidity and is pretty flexible for food pairing.  The finish is pretty long and pleasant too.  I guess I actually do have one complaint, which is the price.  Not that it is crazy expensive, but to me this is at the same level as many 10-13 dollar reds that I’ve had, but at twice the price.  Certainly there are wines this good at a better price point.  The search continues.  I would recommend this wine though, because it is quite good compared to other whites I’ve tried.  It probably is quite different than the California Chardonnays a lot of people are drinking too, or all of the other wines from labels that produce millions of cases per season.

Rating:  89

Price:  $22 (K&L)

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The nose have it!  Big black fruit aroma, with a little smoke, spice, and veggies.  Mouth-feel is solid, lush, with light to medium acidity.  This wine is BIG on fruit!  Black plum, black and blue berries… you can imagine that the grapes themselves must have been heavenly delicious.  Nice long finish.  Goes great with Gumbo!  A big recommend for the price!

Rating:  91

Price:  $13

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Deep rose in color and smells like a dusty cellar with tobacco and black licorice, and a little smoky.  Mouth-feel is fairly light with slight acidity and very slight ripe tannins.  The taste is well balanced with mostly red and some black fruit and a touch of black pepper (my favorite thing to find in a wine).  The long and pleasant aftertaste is basically plum and black pepper, really nice.

I had the wine in my cellar for quite a while waiting for the right moment to open it.  My expectations were high and I was not disappointed.  This is a K&L exlusive, and they’re sold out, so good luck finding it.  I wish I could get my hands on another bottle… I’d love to see what it tastes like in another 5 years!

Rating:  91

Price:  $20

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