Decant Stop Tasting Wine Blog

I didn’t have really high expectations for this wine, because I saw it as “the cheap version” of the Felsina Chianti Classico “Rancia”, which goes for twice the price.  But this wine is not half as good.  I’ve fallen for this scenario before… buying the lesser wine of a maker who’s premier wine is fabulous.  I have found this seldom means much.  In this case, however, what you get is what you would expect, if you didn’t have my experiences… a very nice Chianti Classico with real character and depth. 

Read more

We had this with pizza and it went well.  Later, after the taste of the pizza was gone, the wine was basically pleasent but unmemorable.  I would call this typical run of the mill chianti.  We bought it on sale resently for $10, but retailed for $20 upon release.  I’m very glad I didn’t pay full price.  Not bad, really, but you can do better for the money.

Read more

I rather liked this one, but Rika had a difference of opinion.  To me it tasted very similar in profile to the Layer Cake, only to a lesser degree.  It was actually your typical old world Italian wine… big on structure with plenty of vegetation, decent tannin, and good acidity.  The very definition of food friendly wine.  Rika felt is was overly vegetative and not enough fruitiness.  The more I drank it, the more I agreed.  Still, it is a pretty good wine, and for 10 bucks (retail $15) I felt like it was good wine for the money.  On the other hand, the Durigutti Bonarda is less money and better wine… and a similar style.

Read more

Another pretty successful tasting party I think.  Of course, for me it would have been better if I didn’t come down with the 24 hr stomach flu that’s going around.  I started feeling it around 8 that night and it quickly took hold.  Luckily I was able to taste all of the wines before retiring, but by that time I was so far gone that I couldn’t do proper reviews for the wines.  But the food was good and the wines everyone brought were all good.  Obviously some better than others, but that’s what its all about, and it was fun finding out which were the best.

The theme this time was 2003 Italian red wines.

Here’s a list of the wines at the tasting (right to lift in the image below):

2003 Il Ducale Tuscana
2003 Fratelli Revello Dolcetto d’Alba
2003 Blason "Vencjar" Friuli Isonzo Rosso
2003 Zonin Amarone della Valpolicella
2003 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva
2003 Ruggeri Corsini Barolo "San Pietro"

The "winning" wine was the Barolo, followed by the Chianti Classico, then the Amarone.  Hopefully I can give you reviews of these wines soon.  I have purchased the Barolo again to do the tastings, but the other two, oddly enough, are proving more difficult to find.  Check back soon!

Thanks to all who came!

We have been looking for a Chianti that can serve as an every day wine, but taste more like a “serious” Chianti than the typical find it everywhere Chianti and what not.  It took us a few tries, after a lot of research, but we have found one. 

The color is mostly deep ruby red with a little of the purple hue due to its youth. Some of that goes away after decanting for a while.  It is quite pretty.  On the nose you get a floral, stone/concrete, and tar mixed with a little toasted oak, minerals, black plum, cherry, and a hint of strawberry, and tiny bit of orange peel.  The biggest factor is stone/concrete and tar, laced with flowers and the rest you have to really look for. 

As nice as the nose is, the taste is where this wine shines.  It is a good balance of delicious fruit, ripe tannins, and old world structure.  On the fruit side there’s strawberries, blackberries, blue berries, and black plum (in order of prevalence).  This is supported well by the ripe tannins, mild toasted oak, and minerals.  Mouth-feel is pretty light, however… smooth and just a little acid.  The finish is a bit short, but you’re left with mild ripe tannins, and the mix of fruit, which lasts about 30 seconds.

This was good with pasta with meat sauce.  I don’t think it has the acidity necessary for really heavy things like barbeque or steak, but really nice with pasta and light chicken dishes.  I would say the best pairing would be either by itself or with cheese.  If it had a little more acid and spiciness, as well as a longer, stronger finish, I would have given it another point or two… but even without these it is a really good wine and a VERY low price (for the quality).

Rating:  90

Price:  $10  (K&L Wines)

Read more

Relaxing by the fireplace after a long run of Christmas activities, we popped open very special Chianti to just enjoy all by itself.  Well, I did eat a little dark chocolate at the onset.  But never mind that, because nothing could have been more perfect for the occasion than this wine.

There really is one word that describes this wine, as we kept saying it over and over… every time we stuck our nose in the glass, every time we took a sip.  Beautiful.  The aroma was our instant indication of the “class” and beauty of this wine, although the deep color (one of the darkest Chianti’s we’ve seen) gave us a clue that we were in for bold flavor.  But we smelled the plum, black cherries, nice floral quality, and a little fine Cuban cigar and fell in love.  In fact, it was like every time we took a sniff it was like the choir sang Hallelujah! 

It actually took us a while to taste it, but once we did, we were not disappointed.  Dark chocolate, blackberries, raspberries, black cherries, and black plum with a nice dose of flowers, largely rose, with very ripe tannins.  This tastes at least twice its age.  The mouth-feel is luscious and creamy, with perfect acidity and perfect tannin structure.  This would pair well with a lot of food, but personally, I wouldn’t want to share it with anything.  The finish is silky smooth… a long fade of dark chocolate, rose, and plum.   Lasted about 45 seconds… at least.  If I had to pick two flavors/aromas that describe the whole wine experience it would be dark chocolate and rose petals.

I know with this review you’re probably thinking we’ll score it near 100.  But we haven’t lost our minds in all the bliss the wine provided.  I do recognize that it isn’t as complex as it could be.  It wasn’t like we were complaining at all, but when it comes time to score this wine, we have to think what we would want in a 100 point wine, and we felt it was lacking the complexity that 100 points would require.  That said… this wine cost us $35 bucks and I just can’t imagine getting a better wine for that price.  I highly recommend this wine and think you should try it as soon as you can.

Rating:  95

Price:  $35

Read more

Not really impressed with this wine, but it is an OK Chianti.  I should note that Chianti isn’t our favorite variety.  The color is pretty nice though, like a lighter version of Borolo… mostly ruby in color, lighting up well with candle light.

I smell spices, and Rika smelled Coke.  I have to agree a bit on that one.  For the most part, there isn’t too much aroma.  There might be a very slight floral aspect as well.

It is a fairly light wine, a light mouth feel, with a little black pepper and a little cranberry and cassis.  There’s a hint of lemon rind and very light oak, and finishing with black pepper and light tannins.  It is pretty dry and there’s not too much aftertaste. 

If you want Chianti, this is probably not a bad buy for $11.  So if you’re on a budget, go ahead, but if you want to impress, pass on this one.  We’ll try to find a Chianti we truly like soon.

Rating:  88

Price:  $11 (BevMo)

Read more