Category Archives: Wine Review

New boutique online wine store hopes to make it big

Posted on May 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

A few weeks ago The Weekly Wine Journal sent out a tweet to wineries and wine makers offering to help get their word out.  For free!  The response was rather tepid, however there was one response that caught my attention.  @winepassionate responded to the effect, that although they are not a winery or wine maker, would I still be interested.

I’m glad I took the opportunity because it exposed me to some new wines while recharging my interest in social media!

Winepassionate.com is a brand new boutique online wine store specializing in wines from Italy, Chile, Argentina and California.  They recently became the official reseller of Ducati wines.

The sample pack I received included a Chianti, a Malbec and a Sauvignon Blanc

ChiantiLa Moto, Chianti Riserva DOCG, 2006, Italy

Blend:  85% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo, 5% Cabernet

Alcohol: 12.5%

I couldn’t find too much detailed information on this wine, other than on the wine passionate website which states that this wine was aged for 2 years in oak with additional bottle aging.  I don’t know why but I was expecting a dry bitter Sangiovese.  I was pleasantly surprised by the supple fruitiness of this wine.  It paired with my home made marinara sauce quite well.  This is not a terribly complex wine, and as such it is quite food friendly.  This wine retails for about $20-$25.

wine reviewJuana de Sol 2010 Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina

This wine was the most interesting of the three for me.  The wine itself was a very dark almost inky purple.  The nose on this wine had some nice elements of black fruit and spice.  The palate was the most interesting part, intermingled with a light black cherry and blackberry fruitiness was an olive like funky earthiness that I found very interesting.  There is a bit of heat on this wine that sears the nostrils, and at only 13.5% alcohol that is a bit surprising but not enough to be seriously off-putting.  This wine would pair very well with beef roasts and marinades. Wine Advocate gave this wine 88 points, which is in the range of 86-89 that I was thinking.  At about $15 retail this wine offers a decent value

Trile 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, Valle Central, Chile

According to the back of this bottle, this 100% Sauv blanc was bottled very young.  The alcohol only weighs in at 12%.  I wasn’t expecting much from this wine, but was actually pleasantly surprised.  If you are tired of the New Zealand lemon grass monsters, and the California sugar monsters, this is the wine for you.  The nose is subdued, with hints of lemon.  The palate is very light, with touches of lemon grass and an interesting nuttiness.  As the wine warmed up to room temperature the lemon grass came through a little more, but not nearly as much as most.  This wine is a decent value at around $12 retail, think casual summer sipper.

Thanks to winepassionate.com for reaching out, and cudos for their exceptional social media manners.

winepassionate.com

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Bright new packaging for Girasole Vineyards

Posted on May 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

california organic wineGirasole Vineyards unveiled new packaging for their 2010 vintage on May 1st.  Girasole, along with Barra of Mendocino are owned by Barra Family Wines. The Barra family has been growing grapes in the area since 1955.

“My family has been farming without the use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides since the 1950′s” says Shelley Maly, VP of Sales & Marketing and daughter of founders Charlie and Martha Barra.  The family owns and farms more than 200 acres of CCOF certified organically grown grapes. All grapes are Estate Grown and hand picked.

The latest vintage (2010) includes a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay.

The 2010 Pinot Noir has a nice ruby hue, reminiscent of cranberry juice.  The nose has hints of strawberry and spice. The palate is solid, while not terribly complex it is solid, strawberry bright red cherry and a little earthiness and the finish.  Alcohol weighs in at 13.5%, suggested retail price is $16

Weekly Wine Journal rating: 87 points

california organic wineThe 2010 Chardonnay is a light straw color.  The nose is a little difficult to detect at first, but after the wine opens up and warms up a little there are hints of tropical fruit and lemon.  The palate is light and creamy and fruit driven.  There is a bit of toasty oak on the back end.  There is a decent amount of acidity which really helps lift this wine, I think this could end up being a great value summer sipper this year.  Alcohol is 13.5% and suggested retail is $13

Weekly Wine Journal rating 87 points.

Girasolevineyards.com

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A trip to Wisconsin’s Wollersheim Winery

Posted on April 11, 2012 | 1 Comment

Typically when we think of American wine, we think of California, Oregon or Washington.  Wine aficionados may know of the hidden gems produced in Arizona and New York.  But have you ever heard of Wisconsin wine?

wisconsin wineYou might be surprised to hear that a little winery from Wisconsin has won some big awards.  Wollersheim winery  from Prarie du Sac, Wisconsin took home “Winery of the Year”  at the San Diego International Wine Competition.  They entered 6 wines in the competition and  took home an unprecedented 6 platinum medals from San Diego, while winning best of class Riesling and Syval.  Wollersheim also won “Best of Show” honors at the Eastern International Wine Competition this spring.  Not only that but I just did a quick search of Vintank’s Winery Social Media Index, and Wollersheim was actually ranked #46 in the world for its social engagement.  These are no small feats for a little winery from Wisconsin!

I decided to travel to Wisconsin and see for myself what all the excitement was about.  Being from Phoenix, Arizona I was extremely lucky that Wisconsin was in the midst of an historic spring heat wave!  The temps were almost 40F above normal!

The Wollersheim property actually has some amazing history behind it.   A Hungarian nobleman named Agoston Haraszthy first planted vines there in the 1840′s.

wisconsin wine

The original wine tasting room built in 1847

Haraszthy left in 1849 for California where he ended up hiring Charles Krug!  The winery was taken over by the Kehl family and they continued to make wine until 1899 when Jacob Kehl died.  The Kehl family stopped making wine but continued to work the farm until 1972.

In 1972 Robert and JoAnn Wollersheim bought the property.  They began restoring the property into a working vineyard and winery.  They replanted the hills with vines, and restored the underground wine cellars.  Current wine maker Philippe Coquard first visited the winery in 1984 when he was on an exchange program from his native France.  Well he ended up marrying Robert and JoAnn’s eldest daughter, Julie and now they both run the vineyard and winery.

The Wollersheim Vineyard property is as quaint and scenic as many of the secluded Napa vineyards.  An interesting sidenote:  The winery is located just 10 miles from the town of Lodi – - – Wisconsin!

Wisconsin wine

Click on this picture to see the full size version

wisconsin wine

The original wine cellar

Wollersheim’ s vines are planted on one of the few substantial slopes in the region.  Being from Arizona, and having lived in British Columbia, the landscape in Wisconsin looked REALLY flat to me.  The hills overlooking the winery are top out at just over 1,000 feet and are actually some of the tallest in the region.

wisconsin wine

Original wine cave

I sat down for my afternoon tasting and manged to taste every one of Wollersheims wines.  I mentioned before that Wollersheim was a little winery, well it was during my tasting I found out they are actually pretty HUGE.

Wollersheim and sister winery Cedar Creek produced 220,000 gallons of wine in 2011!!  Not all the fruit is estate grown, and infact the award winning Riesling comes from Washington State. In total Wollersheim produces 1.1 million bottles of wine using fruit from Wisconsin, Washington State and New York.  Wollersheim and Cedar Creek harvested 125 tons of Estate and Wisconsin-grown grapes and produced 21,000 gallons of wine in 2011.

wisconsin wine

The Wine Cow

My favorite wine was Wollersheim Dry Riesling made from custom grown fruit in Washington State.  I found this wine to be a little drier than wines of Mosel, but still quite similar.  For $9 a bottle this is one of the most amazing wine deals I have ever come across.  I actually blurted out: “Why is it so cheap??”  This wine could easily sell for $30 a bottle.  In fact most  of Wollersheims wines are under $10 with their most expensive running $20

If you ever come across this wine buy it!  And if you’re ever near Madison Wisconsin, it would be worth your while to take a trip to Wollersheim Winery!

Wollersheim Winery Dry Riesling: 96 points Weekly Wine Journal

Here is a video of my visit

Winery Website  WOLLERSHEIM.COM

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Posted in Wine Review, Wines under $20

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Sauvignon Blanc Shoot Out

Posted on April 8, 2012 | 1 Comment

Starborough | Washington Hills | Barefoot

Wine Blog

With Spring in full swing and summer just around the corner it’s time to start thinking about cool crisp and refreshing wines to quench our palates.  To this end I took a trip to my local grocery store’s wine department and somewhat randomly picked out a selection of Sauvignon Blanc to review for you

In picking the wines, I wanted to pick three wines, from different areas and at different price points, though staying under $15 as the Weekly Wine Journal’s budget is not as robust as you might think.

Starborough, 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough New Zealand.

The nose on this wine has hints of lime and lemon grass, not an incredibly aromatic nose.  On the palate the lime like acidity really pops, giving the wine a refreshing perk.  The lemon grass that Sauv Blancs from Marlborough are well known for made an appearance in the mid palate, and was quite nicely balanced, not over powering.   I enjoyed the tart crispness of this wine, a good straightforward, refreshing wine wine for a hot summer day.

Price: $11.99 | Alcohol 13% | 89 points Weekly Wine Journal

Washington Hills, 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, Washington State

This wine really surprised me right away.  The nose is amazing.  Big aromatics.  Ripe Melon intermingled with the interesting perfume of Lychee.  The palate features tropical fruits balanced with just enough acidity to keep it from being flabby.  This wine was my favorite of the group

Price $10.99 | Alcohol 13.8% | 93 points Weekly Wine Journal

Barefoot, Sauvignon Blanc, California.

Over the years many people have told me how much they have enjoyed the Barefoot wines.  They assured me they weren’t that bad.  So I decided I would give them a try.  Unfortunately they were all wrong. I found it difficult to detect a nose on this wine.  The palate was one dimensional.  It really just tasted like watered down kids apple juice, with an unpleasant hint of alcohol.

Price $ 5.99 | Alcohol % ? | 78 points Weekly Wine Journal

There you have it folks, 2 wines to enjoy and one to avoid.  Have you tried any of these wines? What kinds of wines do you enjoy when the weather heats up?

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Brancott Estate | Marlborough

Posted on March 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

Brancott Estate, Marlborough New Zealand

2010 Sauvignon Blanc | 2010 Pinot Noir

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a private wine tasting for wine industry sales people and among the selection were two wines from New Zealand’s Brancott Estate.

Brancott estate wineBrancott Estate Wines started in 1934 as Montana Wines, but recently changed their name to Brancott Estate.  The Brancott vineyard was their flagship vineyard and so they thought it appropriate to make the change.

Brancott were among the first to plant pinot noir in the Marlborough region and also among the first to recognize that Sauvignon Blanc was going to be huge for New Zealand.

Speaking of the Sav-blanc, here’s the info:

The wine has a pleasantly ripe aroma and palate.  Tropical fruit intermingled with lemon grass spice.  And I mean exactly like dried lemon grass spice.  I actually have a bottle of this spice on hand to help people understand wine terminology.  The wine is straight forward, uncomplicated but not flabby or boring.   I think this is a pretty good deal at $10 to $15 retail depending on where you shop.

The pinot noir was interesting.  I am so much more used to the various flavor profiles of California pinots.  This one was quite a bit different.  Not as complex as some of the big names, but I think it’s quite a steal at $10 to $15 retail.

Aromas of cherries and strawberry with a fruit forward palate with the nice little added kick of cinnamon spice.  The big difference with the majority of California Pinots is that this wine had a decent funky earthy quality to it.

Weekly Wine Journal rating on both wines: 89 points

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Posted in Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Wine Review, Wines under $20

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Three 95 point Napa Cabernets under $100

Posted on January 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

Although I am likely to be castigated by fellow wine bloggers for this, I thought I would go ahead and do it anyway!  95 point Napa Valley Cabernets for under $100.  On first glance there is just so much wrong with that sentence.

It was hoped by many that 2012 would be the year consumers would learn to think for themselves and stop buying wine based on points. So being a bit of  a contrarian I just couldn’t help myself.

I thought it might be fun for wealthy wine nerds to have a wine party (and invite me).  Everyone would need to bring a bottle of wine.  A wine rated 95 points or higher, and priced at under $100.

SO…without any flavor profiles or any context what so ever,  here are 3 wines that would suffice:

napa wine2007 Clark-Caludon Estate Cabernet:

Rating: 95 points Robert Parker

Price: $78

napa wine2008 Hall Napa Valley Cabernet

rating: 95 points, Robert Parker

Price: $48

2007 Robert Craig Howell Mountain Cabernet

Rating: 96 Points, Robert Parker

Price: $80

Did I miss any?  What wines would you put on the list?

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Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Wines over $20

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Wine Review | Robert Foley Vineyards | 2007 Petite Sirah, Napa

Posted on January 15, 2012 | 1 Comment
wine blog

2007 Robert Foley Petite Sirah

Robert Foley is  well known for his critically acclaimed Claret, a Bordeaux style red wine. Robert Foley’s Claret has received 94+ points every year since 2001 from both The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator.  At $110 a bottle most people will find this too steep a price to pay for perfection.  Luckily Robert Foley does make other varietals, which are equally perfect and less than half the price.

The 2007 Petite Sirah from Napa Valley is one such wine.  At roughly $60 retail this wine can be enjoyed by a slightly bigger group of “wine enthusiasts”.

I say “wine enthusiasts” because this is a serious wine. By serious I mean powerful, full bodied, rich, opulent and dark.  This wine is a tannic monster with a minimum of 20 years aging potential.  Don’t let the word tannic fool you though, it’s not an overly acidic wine, in fact it is exceptionally smooth and supple.

The thing that blows me away the most about this wine is the 16.5% alcohol content!  I didn’t check the % before drinking the wine, I rarely do.  Near the end of the bottle on the 2nd night I check and was amazed.  There is no heat whatsoever and just a hint of ripeness.  An overly ripe almost raisin like flavor is the hallmark of overly alcoholic poorly made fruit bombs. The ripeness in this wine is so faint as to be barely noticeable and is perfectly balanced by the tannins.

Robert Foley vineyards produce relatively small quantities of wine (less than 100 cases of their Howell Mountain Cabernet are produced every year)  there is still some 2007 Petite Sirah available, my advice is:

If you are a wine nerd/enthusiast like me, you will want to have this wine in your collection.

Weekly Wine Journal rating: 98 points

2007 Robert Foley Petite Sirah

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Posted in Petite Sirah, Wine Review, Wines over $20

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Weekly Wine Journal | Best of 2011

Posted on January 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

2011 was a great wine year for me.  I traveled to British Columbia, Napa Valley and South Africa.  I drank amazing wine and met amazing people.  The following list represents the best wines I actually experienced.  I believe that to actually experience a wine, one must drink more than just a small sample.  The entire bottle must be sampled, although not all at one sitting!

2004 Beaulieu Vineyard George de Latour

Best drink now wine: Beaulieu Vineyard 2004 Georges de Latour, Cabernet.

Best buy and hold: Ridge Vineyards 2007 Monte Bello

Best Red (not already on the list) Robert Craig Winery 2008 Spring Mountain Cabernet

Best White: Page Springs Cellars 2010 Mourvedre, Colibri Vineyards

Best Wine under $20: Cameron Hughes Lot 287, Napa valley Cabernet

Honorable Mentions:  Cameron Hughes Lot 300 2009 Napa Cabernet, Cameron Hughes Lot 303 2009 Stag’s Leap Cabernet, Robert Craig 2008 Howell Mountain cabernet, Caduceus Cellars Anubis 2009 Cabernet, Clos L’Eglise 2006 Reserve Pomerol, Ladera Vineyards 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet

Napa valley wine bar

Zu Zu Tapas, Napa.

Best Wine Bar: Zu Zu Tapas, Napa Valley

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Arizona Winemaker wins big in National Competition

Posted on December 4, 2011 | Leave a comment
Eric Glomski

Eric Glomski, Page Springs Cellars and Arizona Stronghold Cellars

The Jefferson Cup wine competition held this past November was a major achievement in Arizona Wine. The Jefferson Cup is an invitation only wine competition held in Kansas City. The wines were judged by some of the industries most well known Master Sommeliers and Masters of Wine from across the country, 13 in all. There are no Gold or Silver medals awarded.
Over 630 wines from all of America’s wine regions were selected to compete with just under 300 being awarded “Medals of American Merit”
52 wines won “Medals of American Excellence” and only 22 wines won Jefferson Cups.

In an Amazing feat for Arizona wine and for any winemaker, Eric Glomski (winemaker for Page Springs Cellars and Arizona Stronghold) took home 3 Medals of Merit, 2 Medals of Excellence and 2 out of only 22 Jefferson Cups awarded.

Here is an interview with Eric Glomski just after the awards were announced:

A List of Eric Glomski’s award winning wines:

Page Springs Cellars:

El Serrano 2010, Red Blend, Cochise County | Jefferson Cup

Mourvedre Colibri Vineyards 2010, Cochise County|Jefferson Cup

La Serrana 2010, White Blend, Cochise County | Medal of Excellence

Landscape Page Springs Estate Vineyard 2010, Red Blend, Yavapai County ………Medal of Excellence

Petite Sirah “Page Springs Estate Vineyard” 2010 Yavapai County | Medal of Merit

Pinot Noir “Bonita Springs”, 2010, Graham County | Medal of Merit

Arizona Stronghold Vineyards: Cabernet Sauvignon “Dala” 2009, Cochise County, Arizona | Medal of Merit

For a complete list of Jefferson Cup Competition award winners click HERE

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Posted in Arizona Wine, News, wine maker interview, Wine News

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2 Quick Video Interviews | Cellar Dwellers | Callaghan Vineyards

Posted on November 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Flip cam interviews from the 3rd annual Arizona Wine Growers Association Festival on the Farm

Cellar Dwellers:

Callaghan Vineyards:

 

For more pictures visit facebook.com/weeklywinejournal

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Posted in Arizona Wine, wine maker interview, Wine Personality

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Arizona Wine Grower’s Association | 2011 awards banquet

Posted on November 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

November 21, 2010 Phoenix, Arizona

Quiessence Restaurant

2011 Arizona Wine Growers awards banquet at Quiessence

This past weekend the Arizona Wine Grower’s Association celebrated its 3rd annual awards banquet and festival.

The awards banquet was held at the AAA Four Diamond award winning Quiessence restaurant.  The cozy little farm house is nestled in the back end of the 10 acre urban Farm at South Mountain.  Executive Chef and owner Gregory La Prad created a stunning 5 course meal paired with the Gold medal winning wine in each category.  Guests paid $125 each to dine with the Arizona Republic Wine Competition winners.  The intimate evening was the culmination of 12 months of difficult work for the wine growers and makers, but made all the worthwhile by mixing with their biggest fans.  I was lucky enough to be invited thanks to Chris Fiscus at Moses Anshell, Patti King at the AZWGA and Peggy Fiandaca president of the AZWGA.

Watch this 2 minute video featuring scenes from the banquet:

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Posted in Arizona Wine, Wine Event, Wine Tasting

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Scott McWilliam shares some of his new wines

Posted on October 11, 2011 | 1 Comment

I recently had the opportunity to meet up with Scott McWilliam, 6th generation Australian wine maker for McWilliam’s wines.  A quick primer on McWilliam’s: Founded in 1877,  McWilliam’s is Australia’s most awarded winery.  They won 40 trophies and 889 medals in 2009 alone! Scott has been making wine since age 14 and has spent time in Bordeaux.

We tasted several wines in this sitting including Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and a special Bordeaux blend called “Jack’s Blend”

A quick video introducing  Jack’s Blend:

A quick video introducing McWilliam’s Cabernet:

an even quicker video introducing McWilliam’s Riesling:

McWilliam’s WEBSITE

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Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, wine maker interview, Wine Personality, Wines under $20

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Wine Review | Quivira Zinfandel 2009, Dry Creek Valley

Posted on September 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

Quivira Vineyards and Winery Zinfandel, 2009, Dry Creek Valley

Dry creek zinfandel

Quivira 2009 Zinfandel

Appellation: Dry Creek Valley

Blend: 83% Zinfandel, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petite Sirah, 2% Grenache

Aging: 14 months American, French and Hungarian Oak. Less than 20% new

Alcohol: 14.8%

Production: 5363 cases

Suggested Retail: $20   *received as sample*

Quivira Vineyards and winery is located in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California and was founded in 1981 by Holly and Henry Wendt.  In 2006 the vineyard was purchased by Pete and Terri Kight and they quickly brought in some interesting changes.  Their new direction was to focus everyone involved in the vineyard on creating world class wines.  To refocus the vineyard crew from a quantity centric mind set, to a quality centric mind set.  The Kights also added additional high elevation vineyard land and some amazing 100 year old zinfandel vines.

In addition to the quality goals, the Kights made some very big changes in the practices department.  Quivira is a holistic and biodynamic vineyard.  An example of this approach is that instead of using synthetic fertilizers, Quivira uses compost and cover crops to feed the vines.

Quivira’s 2009 Zinfandel is the only wine they produce that is not 100% estate grown.  According to the info on the back of the bottle, this wine is sourced from “12 diverse vineyard lots”

The first thing I noticed in this wine was a nice vibrant and intense nose.  Plums and berries, but also a fairly strong whiff of alcohol.  However, the aroma of alcohol was not out of balance with the fruit on the palate.  The palate was ripe and plummy with a good dose of pepper.  Zinfandel can quickly deteriorate into a wine dimensional raisin liquer but Quivira’s 09 Zin manages to stay out of that fray.  The wine does have jammy components, but remains dry and complex enough to savor, rather than merely tolerate.

Weekly Wine Journal Rating: 90 points

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Posted in Wine Review, Wines under $20, Zinfandel

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Pinotage | South Africa’s Wine Jewel

Posted on August 23, 2011 | Leave a comment
Vineyard at Pigley Wigley

Winter vines on an estate along the Midland Meander, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

On my recent trip to South Africa I became re acquainted with Pinotage.  My experience with the varietal had been limited to the rather small selection of “value” wines available inside the United States.

Once in South Africa I found an incredible selection of Pinotage.  Pinotage in South Africa is like Cabernet in California. On my three week trip I tasted 20+ Pinotages, and many of them multiple times.  I was able to get a pretty good idea of the spectrum of flavor profiles the  Pinotage grape can produce across all price points.

The history of Pinotage dates back to 1925 when it was “invented”  by a South African professor of viticulture, Abraham Perold.  He was attempting to make a hearty Pinot Noir by crossing it with Cinsault.  The result was not much of a success until 1959 when a Pinotage took home first prize at the Cape Wine show.  It wasn’t until many years later, in 1991 that Pinotage was back in the spotlight.  South African wine maker Beyers Truter won “Wine Maker of the Year” at England’s International Wine and Spirit Competition for his Pinotage and after that there was a major renewed interest in Pinotage

The flavor profiles vary from a sweet and jammy Zinfandel like wine with a raspberry liqueur component  to a smoky meaty, brambly and velvety Rhone styled wine.  The tannins are usually very robust when the wine is young, but can mellow out nicely if left to age for several years.

Within the borders of South Africa, Pinotage’s price/quality ratio is outstanding.  You can pick up a  good wine for as little as 65 Rand ($10) or a VERY good wine for 130Rand or about $20.  These outstanding wines would be in the $40 to $60 category in the United States.

One thing to keep in mind while exploring the Pinotage varietal: If at first you dont like what you try, try again.  Pinotage style and quality can vary widely.  I will be posting some reviews on some of my favorites from my trip in the coming weeks.

Have you tried Pinotage?

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Posted in Pinotage, Wines under $20

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Twigs Organic Wine | Malbec | Cabernet | Merlot

Posted on August 22, 2011 | 1 Comment

Twigs Organic Wine’s 2008 releases feature a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot and a Malbec.  All are certified Organic by the OIA, an organization which is accredited with the USDA.

Organic WineAlthough the Twigs name is new, the family behind the wine is not.  The Cecchin family has been farming grapes for 100 years, in the traditional way- with horse tilled fields and without the use of fertilizers and pesticides.

Originally from Italy,  the Cecchin family put down roots in the Maipu region of Argentina and in 1959 they founded the wine company Bodega Familia Cecchin.

Twigs 2008 Malbec is 100% certified Organic Malbec from Maipu, Mendoza.  The alcohol content is refreshingly light at 13.5%.  This is an unoaked, fruit forward wine.  Though it is not terribly complex, it is well balanced and quite approachable, and should satisfy a wide range of palates.  Retail price is $14.99

Twigs 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% certified Organic Cabernet from Maipu, Meondoza.  Once again the alcohol content is 13.5%,  the wine is unoaked and fruit forward.  This wine has a slightly peppery finish.  As with the Malbec it is approachable.  Retail is $14.99

Twigs 2008 Merlot is 100% certified Organic Merlot also from Maipu, Argentina. Alcohol is 13.5%, the wine is fruit forward and unoaked.  Retail is $14.99

All three wines are almost identical in style.  Uncomplicated, fruit forward, light on the alcohol and unoaked.  At $14.99 the wine is a decent value.  I think if it you can find it for under $10 it would be an exceptional value.

Twigs Wine is distributed by Potluck Wines

Twigs Wines

*This wine was received as a sample

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Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Organic Wine, Wine Review, Wines under $20

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