Browse Month

October 2007

I’m a little bit country

[label]Alexis Bailly “Country Red” (Minnesota) – Pérlant and somewhat volatile, with a foxy, hybrid-ish core. But the fruit is good, albeit somewhat candied (more jarred Maraschino than Fruit Roll-Up, though there are some darker berries in the mix as well), and the winemaking is otherwise pure, fun, and almost joyful. With a little less volatility, this would taste like a fine chambourcin-dominated blend, which from me is fairly high praise. (8/07)

I’m a little bit rock’n’roll

Alexis Bailly “Country White” (Minnesota) – Sweet, synthetic hard candies, with a cotton candy finish punished by sour, out-of-place acidity. This is pretty awful. I’m surprised; I would have thought the whites from this winery would have a greater chance at success than the reds. (8/07)

Ice cold

Alexis Bailly “Ice Wine” (Minnesota) – Very credible, with concentrated yet ethereal sweetness highly reminiscent of quality ice wines from elsewhere. The major “flaw” (the scare quotes mean it’s not actually an error, merely a lack) is a lack of otherwise identifiable character…either varietal or site-derived. But if there’s one thing that should be easy to achieve in a Minnesota vineyard, it’s frozen grapes. (8/07)

Not resting on any

[label]Laurel Glen 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma Mountain) – 12.5%. Vegephobes and those with a childhood fear of anything green will hate this. I, on the other hand, think that cabernet shorn of all leafy or verdant notes is probably overripe. Certainly this has green – leafy, vegetal, and peppery – to spare, but it’s quite balanced, pure, and moving along to its maturity on pace. Other mixed peppers (the seedy kind) are present, as well as firm tannin, good acidity and a black, spiky earthen foundation. This is the kind of cabernet that’s just not much made anymore, and I kinda love it. (7/07)

It’s me, Margaret

JB Cellars 2005 “Margaret Anne” Arneis/Tocai Friuliano (Mendocino) – Made by Marietta. It’s clean, pure fun, with intense sauvignon-like greenery (but on the ripe side) aromatized by a perfumed, almost lush top note of freshly-crushed lilies. Really, really nice. (8/07)

Easton west

[label]Easton 2001 Barbera (Shenandoah Valley) – Good barberas from this region taste, to me, like slightly-tamed zinfandels…the wild black’n’blue berries transformed to red, the spiky structure given over to a glistening sheen, but otherwise crisp, strong-willed fruit bombs that are just a joy to drink. And this is one of the good wines. There’s a rich, warm spice to the wine as well, like some mulled Christmas concoction. Pure pleasure. (8/07)

Hit the Highway

Bohemian Highway 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (California) – Dirt-cheap domestic cabernet, and perfectly pleasant in that idiom: soft, a little bit sweet, and possessing a principal quality of inoffensiveness. At a non-wine-geek party, this is drinkable. (9/07)

Silver

[bottle]Sterling 2005 Sauvignon Blanc (Napa Valley) – Melon, pineapple, ultra-ripe lemon marmalade and fig, with dryish honey notes and isolated acidity. It doesn’t taste confected, but it does taste mass-market. (8/07)

Level 42

Marietta “Old Vine Red Lot Number Forty-Two” (California) – Juicy, zinnish berry flavors and a slightly grittier wild vine and gravel foundation mark this fruity and generally affable wine; it’s no fruit bomb, but it is fun, and the acidity’s a welcome thing in an inexpensive California red. (8/07)

Monk-y business

[bottle]Franciscan 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) – Basic all the way, with coffee-infused dark fruit and a casual nod towards structure, balance…and any sort of life at all. One could do a lot worse, but one could also do a lot, lot better. (8/07)