Decant Stop Tasting Wine Blog

I read that this wine was a good example of the classic taste of Pinot Noir, and for only $11.  How could I pass that up?  Turns out, the reviews are right, it is a [pretty much] text book example of the Pinot Noir Variety.  It isn’t special, but it is good, with nothing to complain about, and nothing to shout about.  It is enjoyable by itself, or with not too strong flavored food… basically anything but BBQ.  It has enough acidity to cut through some fat, and enough complex structure to compliment most meals.  It has one component that I love in any wine and have been missing lately… black pepper.  The wine has a light to medium body and flavors consist of mostly red fruit and fine tannins, and of course, black pepper.  Strangely, right after opening the bottle we smelled a good dose of oak, which scared me, but it didn’t follow through to the palate fortunately.  I did like the nose… mostly red fruit with a dose of floral aromas.  It is a very balanced wine with a pretty long finish, considering it isn’t a very dense wine.  All in all I’d recommend this wine to anyone who isn’t looking for a “stout” kind of wine, and isn’t looking to pair it with BBQ.

Rating 89

Price $11 (K&L Wines)

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BevMo’s Wilfred Wong rated this wine 90 points, and I figured at $10, it sounded like a bargain.  I bought it before our experience with bad bottles from BevMo and originally had fairly high hopes for this wine.  But since then my expectations have dropped considerably.  When I first decanted this wine and gave it a whiff I thought it might be spoiled… but I think that was paranoia.  

Color was medium ruby with touches of purple.  Aroma is alcoholic cherry and cassis, pretty mellow.  Flavors of blueberry, plum, and cherry, along with ripe tannins.  Medium acidity and decent tannin structure on the mouth-feel.  Finish is plum, lemon peel, and slight tannins.

Overall the wine was enjoyable, and didn’t change much from one night to the next.  Sometimes wines reach a peak (tastes best) 2-3 hours after opening, and then start to die out… losing flavor and becoming overly simplified and unenjoyable.  This is not one of those wines.  We drank half last night, and the other half tonight and taste change was unnoticeable.  This stability is something the better wines we’ve tried had, and something I appreciate.  Of course, some wines seem to just get better the longer it is open, but when that happens we just keep drinking and suddenly, the bottle is empty!    I think this wine would be likable to a wide audience, but I’m not sure how available it is anymore.  BevMo is sold out online.

Rating:  88  (I can see where some would rate higher, but it isn’t our preference of wine)

Price:  $11 (Beverages and More)

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Have you ever had a Pinot Noir from Sicily?  This was our first and we were delighted with it, especially at the price.  Color is ruby red and smells of red fruit, cherry, dark chocolate, licorice, and a hint of wet laundry… which just gives it an old world feel and is really quite pleasant.  Tastes of dark fruit, black pepper, licorice, and strawberry.  It has nice acidity and a little spice on the mouth-feel, and finishes with strawberries, spice, and ripe tannins.  A pretty serious wine for the price.  It is a bit on the simple side, and a little light on the finish, which is the only thing keeping it from getting 90 points.  For the price I highly recommend this wine.

Rating:  89

Price:  $9

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This was the first wine we tasted at Metro Cafe last Wednesday.  This sparkling white is made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  It has a light color with a slight peach tint, and lots of nice small bubbles… one sign of a potentially good sparkling wine (you don’t want it looking like soda). 

Not particularly aromatic, but shows some peach, green apple, and a tiny hint of strawberry.

Tasted of green apple (with out the sourness), apricot, honey, some vegetal variety, citrus, and a bit of orange peel.  Mouth-feel was particularly nice, with a good dose of acidity, which would make this good to pair even with a full meal.  The finish was spicy with apricot, orange peel, and honey.  It didn’t last as long as I hoped though. 

All in all a pretty good sparkling wine.  It was kind of what I would call a “girly” bubbly, in that it was on the fruity side, without that much complexity.  I tasted this with 3 girls, and they all liked it more than I did… ‘nough said.  Unfortunately I don’t know how much this retails for at the moment, so I’ll have to get back to you on that, along with an up or down for the recommendation.

Rating:  89

Price:  Pending

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