2006 Yangarra Cadenzia (68% Grenache, 27% Shiraz, 5% Mourvedre), Australia

Colored with three Crayola crayons…Ruby red fading evenly to garnet with flecks of black in the core

A lovely bouquet of…Black cherry, blackberry, plum, sugar

My tongue tells me…I don’t usually purchase Rhone Blends or any wine that features Grenache or Mourvedre. The reason being; I think they taste sweet. Yes I am using the term sweet, not fruit forward or “fruit bomb”; I think GSM’s taste sweet and cloying. This was recommended as I was purchasing the Wirra Wirra Catapult Shiraz/Voignier; now I know why. That particular Shiraz is “sweeter” than I would have liked, and this is a wine along the same lines. All of this begs the answer, is it a good wine and worth the buy? Setting aside my dislike for sweeter red wines, I will attempt to review this wine. It is a very smooth wine from start to finish, which is the only thing I like about sweeter red wines they tend to remove the tannins that might make the wine less palatable. This wine is the definition of a smooth, sweeter, dark red wine. The attack is all sugared dark berries and stone fruit; black cherry, blackberry, plum, raisin and grape. These flavors taste good even to me as they take on a slightly caramel/molasses flavor and blend into a very warm mid-palate. The mid-palate is nicely warm from the alcohol, not overly acidic and marginally astringent; creating a pleasant but minor segue from attack to finish. The finish is long in length and personified by more black cherry, blackberry and plum flavors, but now they are brought down to earth and tempered by some alcohol heat and flavors of crème brulee, vanilla and leather. This is a medium bodied wine, just edging into full bodied territory with an aftertaste of fresh plums mixed with wet leather.

Overall, this was originally priced at 20 dollars; yikes! But it was on sale for 10 dollars the day I purchased it. Is it worth 20 dollars? I don’t really know as I don’t have anything to judge this against. Is it worth 10 dollars? Very much so! I would say at 10 dollars this is nearly a great QPR, and a wine to purchase by the half case at least. Yes even though this is a rather sweet wine, it is very smooth and balanced, and moves nicely into an extremely pleasing finish that had me going back to the bottle for more as my glass emptied. I can’t review this wine against other GSM’s, but judging this wine on its own I would say this is a very nice wine; perhaps not worth 20 dollars but definitely worth more than 10.

Yangarra Estate Vineyard

2007 Wirra Wirra Catapult Shiraz/Viognier (95% Shiraz/5% Viognier), Australia

A Sight for Sore Eyes…Intense black core fading to deep red and finally garnet at the rim

Nose-tradamus Predicts…Blueberry, blackberry, raisin, plum, crushed peppercorns

Tasting a Rainbow of…The Wirra Wirra Catapult has been in the back of my mind for about two months now since I picked up the 2007 Waterbrook Syrah Reserve from Cost Plus World Market when their beverage specialist recommended both of the wines to me. I put off on the Wirra Wirra due to my lack of familiarity with Viognier and my skepticism on red wines blended with white wines. But when I stopped by recently and saw this reduced to 15 dollars (a 5 dollar price cut) I just had to pick up a bottle. I sipped this directly after opening and found it to be just a little on the fruit forward side for me and I immediately got worried that I wouldn’t be able to make it through the bottle (to my palate this is a very fruit-y, re: sweet, red wine). I let this sit for a good 20 minutes before returning and testing the waters. The wine was still fruit-y, though it tastes better now that it has had a chance to breathe and reach room temperature. I can taste dark plum, raisin and brown sugar flavors predominantly with hints of charcoal/ash and tobacco right as the mid-palate takes over. The mid-palate holds a decent amount of heat and some interesting tannins that nearly change the charcoal/ash flavors from complex and intriguing into pungent and unpleasant. Luckily these flavors fade rather quickly as the medium finish takes over. The finish is personified by more savory and robust flavors; tobacco, leather, black pepper and smoke. There are some light tinges of plum/raisin and blackberry in the aftertaste, but mainly it tastes like burnt sugar and tobacco. This is a medium-edging-into-full bodied wine with complexity in the attack and finish, and a mid-palate that is a little too rowdy for my tastes.

Overall, I would say 15 dollars is an ok price point for this wine, it is definitely a quality wine. Does it have its flaws? Sure, it’s rough and nearly unpleasant in the mid-palate, but the attack and finish are deep, warm and complex with flavors and textures that definitely had my attention. It is a little “sweet” for my tastes, I like my Shiraz/Syrah to feature fruit but this has just a little too much fruit and sugar for me, especially in the attack. All that aside, I would rate this a Fair to Good QPR at 15 dollars; it’s normally priced at 20 dollars and at that price I think I’d drop my rating a notch and call this an even QPR wine. But if you can find it on sale below 15 bucks, I think you will get yourself a good deal on a fairly complex offering. Will I be Catapult-ing again any time soon? Probably not, but I will think hard about cellaring a bottle of this because I do believe it will hold up well for 5-10 years and age into a very smooth, complex red wine.

Wirra Wirra Vineyards

2008 Gooseridge Vineyards g3 Red Wine, Washington

Color – Dark purple edging to black

Nose – Blackberry, black currant, spice box

Taste – Grabbed this on a whim when I was looking through the wines at my local supermarket. The bottle art reminded me of the Horse Hills Heaven H3 Merlot that I’d tried earlier in the year. The blend is Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz and that particular blend of varietals grabbed my attention as well. That being said, this wine has everything that I love about a big, bold red. It looks amazing in the glass; dark and inky and when swirled it clung to the glass quite nicely. The aroma wafting from the glass after a good swirl brought to mind everything I loved in the Courtney Benham Cabernet and the Clos Pegase Cabernet; dark berries, spice box hints and musty/earthy compost tinges. On the attack this wine runs through quite the gamut of flavors and textures. Firstly I can taste blackberry, black currant and dark cherry with equal parts jamminess and chocolate riding behind the berry flavors. Second, comes slight flavors of black pepper, vanilla and licorice all mingled together with a butter-like mouthfeel. The mid-palate seemed strange to me, in that is holds little or no astringency, the alcohol shows up as sour acidity, and the tannins show up subdued but still present. The finish is medium-long with stewed berry goodness, semi-sweet dark chocolate, vanilla, licorice, spice box and wet leaves/forest floor flavors. There are textures of warmth, weight and “filmy” butter-like consistency as the finish fades into a rather dark, molasses/vanilla flavored aftertaste. This is a wonderfully full bodied wine that covers all the bases a good red should cover.

Overall, this wine was a pleasant surprise gaining it a good-to-great QPR. I believe I paid 10 dollars for this (it was on sale normally going for 14). Had I paid full price for this I would still be touting the qualities of this wine and how great it is for the money. I enjoy red blends, especially those that don’t bounce all over the place flavor-wise or simply end up bland and flat in the glass. This red blend fits the bill and has the quality/flavor to push the price point closer to 20 dollars without making me cringe. I’d recommend this wine to anyone that enjoys a big, bold red blend with wonderful complexity of flavor and rich textures.

GooseRidge Estate Vineyard & Winery

Two Wines from Santa Alicia Vineyars & Winery

What follows are two reviews of Santa Alicia wines that I purchased and tasted about a month ago. Due to my lack of internet I have a sizable backlog of reviews so I figured I would post these two reviews together. Hopefully these reviews make sense and assist you on your journey with wine.

2007 Santa Alicia Anke Blend 2, Chile

Color – Ruby red with violet hints on the rim

Nose – Raspberry, strawberry, green bell pepper

Taste – This jumped right out at me as I scanned the shelves at Cost Plus World Market the other day. A blend with Carmenere, Petit Verdot and Shiraz, I had to try it. Despite the fact that this is just a little more than I like to pay for wine, I went ahead and purchased a bottle. The wine looked good in the glass after I’d poured it, it swirled nicely and the aroma was pleasant enough, but the flavor lacked what I expected. It has Carmenere leanings for sure (blackberry/black current with pepper and spice notes). But it doesn’t have a lot of other flavors. It tastes more like just another Carmenere than a blend. That’s not to say it’s a bad wine, just not a lot beyond normal. The attack is spicy blackberry/black currant flavors. The mid-palate is mild astringency, delicate tannins and invisible alcohol. The finish is medium in length with dark fruit skins, leather, green bell pepper and cut grass. The wine wants to be full-bodied but falls short only reaching medium-bodied weight and a texture that is a little watery in the mouth.
Overall, I would rate this a poor QPR, just missing out on and even rating. This doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t taste bad, but it purports itself to be something special, something a little more than your normal Carmenere. But it lacks anything that a 7 dollars bottle of Carmenere will give you and it’s twice the price. It’s not bad if you want something to sip on that can hold up to food or being enjoyed by itself; but I wouldn’t pay the price for it again there are far too many other red blends that are superior to this one and a lot of those are several dollars cheaper than this one. In short, pass on this one.

2005 Santa Alicia Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Chile

Color – Very dark purplish red

Nose – Blackberry, currant, brown sugar

Taste – A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a little shopping at Cost Plus World Market and this wine just about jumped off the shelf at me. ‘A 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon for less than 10 dollars?’ I thought to myself ‘That’s got to be a joke.’ After talking with Larry the Beverage Specialist, I decided to purchase a bottle and see what this wine was all about. I expected this to be an earthy, bold Cabernet Sauvignon. Something that goes beyond the normal Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon flavors of either ripe dark berries and fruit or wet soil and green bell peppers. I got some of both of those flavors when I took the first sip. The attack features blackberry, burnt brown sugar and pepper. The mid-palate is largely a blend of alcohol warmth and ghosts of green bell peppers. The finish is medium-to-long, filled with flavors of spicy black pepper, more green bell peppers, fruit skins, coffee, and tobacco. This Cabernet Sauvignon is full bodied with subtle astringency and complex flavors and textures. As good as this wine is, I expected just a little bit more from something that has sat in the bottle for so long. But as I thought about it, this wine makes perfect sense. The flavors and textures have mellowed from what was most likely a very powerful, young red wine but the wine itself holds up nicely and is extremely drinkable.
Overall, I would rate this a near-great QPR, 10 dollars for a Cab Sauv with the complexity and flavor profile exhibited here is pretty hard to find. Drinking this wine is not only pleasant but also very fulfilling. This really pours a great glass of wine. Complex for the price, dark in color, a nose that is packed full of amazing characteristics and flavor for days you can’t miss with this one. I recommend you buy this before it clears off the shelves.

Santa Alicia Vineyards & Winery

2009 Tait Wines “The Ball Buster”, 73% Shiraz/15% Merlot/12% Cabernet Sauvignon, Australia

Color – Dark purple with a violet rim

Nose – Blueberry, blackberry, vanilla

Taste – This is one of those monster reds that I tend to like quite a bit, unfortunately this one isn’t as good as most. I taste dark cherry, blackberry, black currant, and oak right from the initial sip. These flavors completely disappear in the mid-palate being replaced with quite a lot of heat from alcohol and just as much astringency from the tannins. The finish is long, holds onto the heat and astringency from the mid-palate and adds flavors of blackberry, oak and leather. The wine is full-bodied with both “weight” and “warmth” to it. It would be quite nice if the alcohol and astringency weren’t so overpowering, as it is this wine is just a middle-of-the-road red blend. Sure it’s bigger and bolder than a lot of red blends, but it’s not necessarily a good thing as this wine is just a little too much for my taste.

Overall, this wine is drinkable and has an OK QPR. In my opinion it’s just a little too much for me, I can’t get past the heat and astringency, and two things I actually like in red wine but here they are just too abundant. I would say you can find better red blends for the same price or just a little more money, the Anakena Ona or Finca Flichman Tupangato are two that come to mind. I wouldn’t say you have to steer clear of this one, it has its good points, but I can’t be honest and say it’s one of my favorites rather this is right in the middle of the pack.

Tait Wines