2009 Chateau Liversan Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, France

By now I am fully on board with the 2009 Bordeaux craze. After sampling several of them, I have figured out that even the most economical Bordeaux is quite satisfying and there are exceptional values to be found between 15 and 20 dollars. This particular bottle is available at my local Costco for 13 dollars among a few other bottles ranging in price from 10 to 20 dollars. This pours dark red into the glass, with a subtle violet rim. It carries aromas of black currant, chocolate, caramel and smoke with delicate nuances of brown sugar and anise. The attack starts with focused black fruit (blackberry and black currant mainly), followed by leather, cocoa and cedar. The mid-palate features chewy tannins, near perfect astringency and some nice acidity that takes the form of semi-sweet, chocolate and caramel dipped cherries. The finish is beautifully long, washing over my palate with flavors of plum, currant, smoke, damp earth, licorice and leather. This is a full-bodied wine that brings a whole lot in the flavor department and leaves an aftertaste of chocolate and black cherry. 

Overall, this is yet another great bottle of wine from Bordeaux, France. This particular bottle features 50% Merlot, 49% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc. The fruit is definitely the best part of this wine; each fruit is represented wonderfully though none of the fruits lean too heavily towards the “sweet” area. This is beautifully complex though not on the same caliber as the Chateau Malrome, but it’s darn close. I give it a soli, good QPR, and would recommend it above most bottles of Cab or Merlot at the same price point. This really is a must buy.

2007 Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile

In the Crayola crate…ruby red with a garnet rim and tinges of black throughout

Pleasant potpourri…Strawberry, oak, compost, damp earth

Taste the textures…I was tempted by this from the first I laid eyes on it at Costco, but I couldn’t bring myself to fork over the 16 dollars when I’d only had average experiences with Montes wines thus far. I stopped by three or four times before I finally broke down and purchased a bottle. Truth be told this wine is a little bit average, but it’s also a little bit complex, and just a tad bit adventurous. It’s something of an enigma because it goes through so many phases it makes it hard to review; but I’ll do my best. The attack is pretty straightforward and powerful; burnt blackberry jam silkiness married to dense dark flavors of leaves, loam and cedar smoke with a backbone of leather and anise. The mid-palate boasts crisp acidity, subtle astringency and moderate alcohol heat. The finish is pronounced and long, pulling in flavors of currant and blackberry mixed with tar, ash and charcoal. This finish seems overwhelming until your second or third sip and then you realize just how complex and wise these flavors are; truly showing off the wines subtle age and intensity without losing the buoyancy and bravado of the attack. Definitely a full bodied wine with evident weight and an aftertaste of wet, sour leather and cherry pips.

Overall this wine can seem “friendlier” on the attack and mid-palate than on the finish; however it is in the finish where you find all the hidden flavors and complex nuances that truly make this wine special. The bold, heavy flavors of tar and ash pull down a rather fruit forward finish; and while they might confuse your palate on the first sip by the third or fourth sip these same flavors are what your palate is drawn to. You begin to look for the dark, heavy edges of this wine and find them in all textures and flavors and throughout the wine. I recommend this wine as a good-almost-great QPR. It needs time to breathe or a Vinturi but given the chance this is a wonderful bottle of wine that defies its price tag, don’t pass this one up.

Vina Montes

2008 Tamas Estates Double Decker Red, California

Color Spectrum…Red with a cool violet rim

The nose knows…Currant, cherry, damp earth

Nice and tasty…Grabbed this one from my local supermarket just on a whim when I was picking up a take and bake pizza. I liked the idea of a Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Sirah/Barbera blend paired with a slice of pepperoni. So after the pizza was done I poured myself a small glass of this wine; unfortunately I wasn’t too impressed. It was an ok pairing but the wine needed more time to breathe (I’d poured the glass 30 minutes prior and had it sitting in my 60 degree wine cooler waiting for the pizza to bake). So I put the bottle back and ate the rest of my pizza with a Malbec that I needed to finish off. I came back to this wine over the weekend after my wife purchased a Vinturi for me at Costco. This was the first wine I poured through my Vinturi. Sure the wine had sat open for a day and a half now, but I wanted to see what the Vinturi would do to the wine. One word: yum. The attack is perfectly proportioned raspberry/cherry flavors mingling nicely with some black pepper and tar built on a foundation of sharp cut grass and enigmatic wood smoke. The mid-palate holds a decent amount of alcohol heat and bite, but that suits this wine just fine; and the tannins seem a bit muted but they are present more towards the finish than the mid-palate itself. Speaking of the finish, it’s smooth and medium length with wonderfully subtle flavors and textures. I can taste black and red currants, cherry jam, leather, cinnamon and more of the aftertaste of vanilla rather than the full effects of that spice. The aftertaste of this wine is exceedingly pleasant; very mild cherry skin and wet grass flavors seem to cool the tongue of the lingering heat from the alcohol. This is a medium bodied wine that edges just a hint into full bodied territory.

Overall, this was a huge surprise. I didn’t expect to find so much complexity in a 9 dollar supermarket red blend. Sure I’ve gotten great red blends from my supermarket before, but most of those were from vineyards that are very recognizable for their quality and price. This threw me for a loop. It’s a very good bottle with flavors that will hold your attention and enough complexity to lift it above other wines that are double the price. I enjoyed the bottle to the very last drop; the only beef I have is that it is just a little difficult to pair with food. In fact, I gave up trying after my third attempt (2 failures, 1 success) and just finished the last two glasses without food. And this sips just fine all by itself. This gets a good QPR rating, almost getting a great stamp but the pairing failures I had took that away. Even so, I have to recommend this as a must try and a must buy if you enjoy complex yet balanced red blends on a budget.

Tamas Estates

2008 Chateau Los Boldos Cuvee Tradition Carmenere, Chile

Color – Deep purple, nearly black

Nose – Currant, blackberry, sugared plum

Taste – I was in the mood for a Carmenere and had sampled most everything from Total Wine with a sub-ten dollar price tag; so I picked up this bottle for 13 dollars instead. I was hesitant at first due to my dislike of the Chateau Los Boldos Momentos line of wines, but figured there Cuvee Tradition offerings might be more to my liking. Was I ever right? Whereas the Momentos wines are acidic, alcohol-forward and almost overbearing; this Carmenere is smooth, flavorful and surprisingly complex. The wine sips pleasantly directly after the cork has been pulled with just a little overabundance of tannins and some sharper green bell pepper flavors; if you let it decant for 30 minutes or so the tannins calm down in the glass and the green bell peppers become just hints around the edge of the other flavors. The attack is black currant, blackberry, and molasses with minimal flavors of green bell peppers, damp earth and coffee grounds. What I notice first in the mid-palate is an intense astringency that mingles with perfect tannins and some alcohol heat, but these textures easily blend into a wonderfully long finish that is chock full of blackberry, black plum and dark cherry notes and floating at the edges flavors of vanilla, leather, cut grass and bittersweet chocolate. The wine is medium bordering on full bodied with a very pleasant berry/cherry aftertaste. This may be one of the most balanced Carmenere’s I’ve ever tasted and for the price is my new favorite from this varietal.

Overall, this is a pleasing, complex offering from a grape that is oftentimes too green or barring that too Cabernet Sauvignon-like. The QPR here is good-to-great with the flavors and texture truly being worth more than the price tag. I wouldn’t have picked this up had there been any other options in this price range that I hadn’t already tried, that’s how much I disliked the Momentos wines, but this is a winner. I highly recommend this if you like Carmenere, or just want a balanced red, sipping wine. This is a must try.

Vina Los Boldos

2008 Chateau Labrande Cahors Malbec, France

Color – Deep, even purple

Nose – Blackberry, wet soil, plum, compost?

Taste – I was weary of this Malbec due to my last run in with the French offering of this grape, however I was pleasantly surprised upon taking my first sip of this particular wine. It’s deep and dark in color and has interesting aromas that bring to mind very dark fruit, damp earth, and the combination of the two in what I can only describe as compost. The first flavors that come through are both fruit and somewhat savory flavors; I taste sour blackberry and dark plum mixed with bittersweet chocolate, coffee, and burnt caramel. The mid-palate has just a hint of alcohol, perfect tannins, and a nice even mouthfeel. The finish is medium-to-long with the recurring flavor of burnt caramel now joined by clean fruit skins and leather. The wine is full bodied with nice “warmth” to it as the mid-palate fades into the finish. This wine shows just how pleasant and different Malbec from France can be; it’s definitely a journey I enjoyed this time around.

Overall, I would say this wine is a good-to-great QPR. At 9 dollars a bottle and with the depth, complexity and flavors provided you’d be hard-pressed to find a better full bodied Malbec than this. I would say stock up on this while it’s available at Costco. Don’t expect to find the same flavors as Argentinean Malbec since the terroir in France provides this wine with a more savory flavor profile and a heavier “weight” to this wine. It’s still a winner, a wine I would compare to the Bodegas Flechas de los Andes Gran Malbec but for 4 fewer dollars this is one you want to find right now.