It’s Playtime in Lake County!

The Playtime label is part of the Shannon Ridge family of wines, based out of Lake County.  The label produces only two wines, a red blend and a Chardonnay.  The fun labels are a tribute to pin-up stars from the World War II era, and each bottle features either red hair for the red wine or blonde hair for the Chardonnay.  I’m not normally sold on wines that rely on nifty labels, so I was a little skeptical but once I tasted the wines I was pleasantly surprised.

2012 Playtime, Red Wine, Lake County

Blend: 61% Zinfandel, 20% Grenache, 11% Petite Verdot, 8% Barbera

Alcohol: 14.2%

Production: 1,250 cases

Retail price: $15.99

This is pretty interesting blend, and it works quite well together.  The nose is predominantly cherries with a hint of vanilla oak.  On the palate there’s decent ripe fruit, but enough tannins to stop this wine from being a flabby jammy run of the mill wine.  The mouth feel is silky and there’s a hint of peppery spice on the back end.

This would make a decent wine to serve with summer bbq fare, especially ribs or pizza or even a good meaty tomato based pasta dish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2012 Playtime Blonde, Chardonnay, Lake County

Blend: 100% Chardonnay

Alcohol: 13.9%

Production: 2,500 cases

Retail price: $13

Playtime Blonde is a straight forward easy drinking Chardonnay.  A citrus based aroma and palate with toasty vanilla oak and a little minerality make it more complex than I was expecting for a $13 Chardonnay.  Pleasantly surprised.

*disclaimer this wine was received as a sample review

Shannon Ridge Wines

Playtimewine.com