November 19
2002 Les Coteax De L’AtlasReally? Wine from Moracco? Probably this is a bad example… It is too good to be “average”. If you want the back story, comment or email us. Also, the cork shows leakage, so if YOU were to get this wine, you would have an even better experience.. I can’t even imagine!
As typical of vintage wines, it has an orange hue. Color is dense and gorgeous. Nose probably requires scent experiences beyond ours… But we’ll give it a shot… Shrooms, Cigar, and cedar. On the pallette it is very plum, cinnomon, orange, and oak. The orange becomes more prevelant, with a little lemon on the finish, along with some spice box. Acidity is excellent throughout, and when all is taken into consideration, this wine would go great with nearly any food, or by itself.
Price: 20 – 25 (tough to determine due to the wine being bought two years ago, and in Moracco)
Rating: 93

February 16
2003 Gagliole RossoIs this Borolo? Sure tastes like it. This is a massive and serious wine! We had it with our Valentine’s dinner. Before the pour i wiffed the cork and got really excited… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves!

October 22
2006 Monte Antico ToscanaThis is a blend of 85% Sangiovese, 10% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Spicy on the nose, and a light to medium color density.
I wasn’t expecting much before opening this wine, given the low cost and who’s heard of an Italian wine with a screw cap? Not me, I’ve only seen it in Aussie wines mainly, and occasionally with Californian wines. But hey, I tried a Cote de Rhone this summer that was not only screw cap, but had a plastic bottle! OK, we’re not talking about a very serious wine obviously, but still… winemakers are clearly willing to experiment.
(more…)

First off, we probably shouldn’t have openned this wine yet… 2007 vintage, red, France… bad idea. Anyway, we were mixed on this wine… I like it, Rika doesn’t. For her I think there isn’t enough fruit. In a way, I agree… but then, it is complex, dry, and there’s nothing foul about it. It is a dark garnet color with a violet fringe. It looks dark, but doesn’t taste that dark. It has an interesting nose, that you’ll mostly appreciate after a couple of days of decanting (or wait a few years to open it), with flowers, spices, citrus, cedar, and wild berries. The vegetal component is immediately evident as soon as the wine touches your tounge, but is soon mixed with leather, wood (not really oak), and a variety of subtle fruit flavors, fairly evenly mixed red, blue and black. There is some acidity, good enough for medium weight meals. On the finish I like the spices that linger, with cherry, tobacco, and… some kind of wood. I’m not a fan of oak in my wine, and I’m not saying this wine is oakey, but I can’t escape the taste of some sort of wood. I get a little flashback from when I was a little boy… and chewed on a piece of wood from time to time. I guess I liked it. I guess I still do! I’m giving it a combined rating between mine and Rika’s… because that’s how we roll.
Rating: 88
Price: Paid $10 (K&L) Retails for $17

January 4
2003 Fattoria Dezi Dezio Marche RossoAnother bargain from K&L’s clearance! Dark ruby color, dusty, smokey, black and sour red fruit on the nose, and smokey oak, plum, and black cherry, with a bit of tannin and spice on the pallet – and little veggie action and orange peel on the back end. Light acidity, but a great food wine. (more…)

January 1
2006 Virgin Vines ShirazMy experience with wine has made me a disbeliever of labels. Almost like the prettier the bottle the worse the wine. I know that is a gross generalization and should never actually be applied, but…. Anyway, the bottle is one of the best I’ve seen. It looks like its hand painted grape vines and wording. The big turn off for me, like a big red flag,

December 29
2006 Molly Dooker Blue Eyed BoyThis is a big, big wine! It is like pouring yourself a glass of ink! Forget about seeing through it, but on the edges there’s some beautiful dark violet color. The aroma, to me, reaks too much of alcohol… but beyond that there’s dark fruit, cherry, and rose.

December 1
2006 Felsina Chianti ClassicoI 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.

November 30
2004 Vin de Pays d’Oc Jean-Louis Denois “Chloé”This is the 2nd vintage of this wine we’ve had, the first being the 2003. Again, my expectations were high, but this time impressed me even more. This is for sure the same wine and most of what was found in it last year, are present this time around, but with a bit more fruit and acidity. It isn’t at all hot, and still has little tannin. After 18 months in the barrel, you can definitely taste it, a little smokey vanilla. The black pepper was more subtle this time and licorice was non-existant sadly. The finish is quite nice and long. Most people will see this as a better wine, including myself. Highly enjoyable! Remember to decant!

November 27
2005 Foradori Teroldego RotalianoI like simple labels, and that’s one thing that appeals to me about this wine. It looks simple, but you get the feeling all the passion went into the wine. Upon decanting this bottle, that was also apparent. The nose was quite interesting, with ripe fruit (mostly red), floral, and spice… and sweet somehow, not like candy so much as maybe a confection. On the pallet it is floral, smooth red and blue fruits, low-medium acidity, and bit of tannin at the end. There’s mostly the same on the finish, but adds a bit of black pepper and a vegetal component. The after-taste is quite long, and I could swear that in there somewhere there’s watermelon.



