2006 Chateau Chevalier Cabernet Sauvignon, California

One of the few purchases I’ve made that breaks my budget rule; one could call this a splurge wine seeing as it comes in at $24.99. I don’t feel that this is that much of a splurge. Sure it breaks my rules, but I picked it up when it was on sale for 20 dollars; so I figured it would count. It pours a very dark red with midnight flecks throughout. Wafting from the glass are amazing aromas of spice box, black cherry, blackberry jam, and cedar. The attack is just as amazing as the nose, full of dark berry and stone fruit flavors intermingled with wood smoke, dust and a nice level of chalkiness. The mid-palate is exceeding smooth, with soft tannins that glide over the tongue tempering some of the sour cherry flavors that pop up, and leaving my tongue and gums with a wonderfully clean and tingly sensation from the perfect astringency. The finish is delicate and long, stretching out with flavors and textures of oak/cigar box, anise, white pepper, chocolate covered cherry, cola and dirt; then rallying back with hints of leather, ash and black tea. This is a full bodied wine that comes across just a little lighter in body due to the balance of flavors and textures, especially where tannins and alcohol are concerned. It left my tongue with a black cherry and burnt toast flavor that was actually quite nice.

Even though this is a little bit above my usual price point, I still love this particular Cabernet Sauvignon. It falls into a budget wine if you can get it on sale, if not you should still pick it up for a special occasion or when you have wine-discerning guests coming over. The complexity and overall smooth flavors/textures of this wine make it a truly special bottle. I would rate this a good QPR at 25 dollars, and good-to-great if you can find it under 20 dollars. For a fan of the Cabernet Sauvignon varietal this is definitely a winner and one to add to your list of Cabs to try before you die. Maybe add a bottle to your cellar, you won’t be disappointed.

Chateau Chevalier 

2009 Cameron Hughes Lot 266 Los Carneros Pinot Noir, California

Silky shades…Transparent garnet hues with a soft rose rim

Noble nose…earth, compost, black plum, cranberry

Elegant essences…Select Arizona Costco locations are currently receiving shipments of four new Cameron Hughes wines, when I read the email containing this information I just about jumped for joy. I have enjoyed every Cameron Hughes wine that I have tried up until now albeit with differing levels of excitement. To be honest they’ve all been pretty solid, some have been outstanding; therefore I decided I’d pick up two of the new offerings on my next trip to Costco. Surprise, surprise, or maybe not but this wine is definitely an enjoyable glass though it does offer some twists. First off, it pours light-to-medium in color but smells deep, dark and earthy. Then comes the first sip and I’m greeted with wonderfully subtle flavors that dance with equally deep, dark flavors. A perplexing adventure to say the least. First off, the attack is a multilayered journey of stealthy blackberry, plum and strawberry that can seem lost behind a blanket of cloves, oak, leather and wood smoke. These flavors seem reverse from what I’m used to, but they are very satisfying here though they do lead to difficulties when pairing this wine. The mid-palate tingles with alcohol acidity that fades into chewy tannins then shifts the flavors of this wine as the finish sets in. The finish itself is short-to-medium in length and more savory than I’d imagined it to be. I expected the fruit to come out more in the finish, but it takes yet another step back letting the savory, dark flavors move up yet another notch. Sour cranberry and light strawberry are the two fruits that show up in the finish; but they are nearly eclipsed by licorice, leather, wet leaves, potting soil and oak. These “dark” flavors are run through by the lighter fruit flavors in a way that makes this “heavy” finish very pleasant. This is a medium bodied wine with an aftertaste of plums and cherries and a tendency to truly perplex the person drinking.

Overall, this is yet another enjoyable wine from a negociant I have come to trust where quality wine is concerned. Where does this one rate against those I’ve sampled in the past? Closer to the bottom than the top unfortunately. It might be that I’m still not adept at reviewing Pinot Noir, but this wine seemed just a little too robust for me. I expected a lighter glass with strawberry and cherry flavors backed up by hints of vanilla, oak, chocolate and tobacco. I didn’t get that at all. Plus this was a nightmare to pair with food. I failed on three separate occasions, and resorted to finishing the last few glasses without any accoutrements. As for rating this, I believe I paid 13 dollars for this bottle; and I think that may be a little steep. It’s a pretty good wine and still drinkable, but as far as QPR goes this is merely a fair QPR. I’d rather get the Kirkland Signature Russian River Pinot Noir at the same price or the Kirkland Signature Carneros Pinot Noir for 3 bucks less. Both of those are equally as enjoyable as this wine but have better quality compared to the price they are offered at. I still recommend this wine, but have to preface that by saying there are better wines out there, especially if you shop at Costco.

Cameron Hughes Wines

2007 Trivento Amado Sur (72% Malbec, 16% Bonarda, 12% Syrah), Argentina

Color classification…Ruby red with an even red rim

Aroma arrangement…Black cherry, currant, vanilla, buttered toast

Taste taxonomy…After two unsuccessful trips to Cost Plus, I had almost decided I wouldn’t return for a few moths so they could get in some new offerings. But I was in the neighborhood and dropped in not expecting to find anything that would pique my interest. I’m glad I stopped by since I picked up this Argentinean red blend featuring three of my favorite varietals. I let this wine get some air for a good 30 minutes before I went ahead and tasted it. I recommend at least that long as this wine is rather tight and leans toward flavors that are young and dense. Even after decanting the flavors were very focused and intense with some complexity in how the flavors played across my palate. On the attack this wine brings forth big flavors blackberry, burnt toast, leather and wood smoke; these flavors while intense are also somewhat unbalanced seeming to jump and bounce across my tongue rather than transition smoothly. The mid-palate carries this “sneak attack syndrome” to the next level by pouncing out of nowhere as the attack mellows in flavor. The mid-palate has a lot of heat from the alcohol though not enough to cause any undue harm to this wine’s flavor; it also features some playful, nearly perfect tannins that bring on subtle astringency and a smooth, smoke-like texture to the wine right as the mid-palate melts into the finish. Speaking of the finish, it’s long; very long. It’s also the most balanced part of this wine as the flavors play perfectly with one another. The flavors in the finish are even darker than those in the attack; dark, smoky berries complemented by chocolate mingled with tar and topped with vanilla and oak. This is definitely a full bodied wine; in color, nose and flavor. The aftertaste is somewhat lighter nicely mixing blackberry and brown sugar.

Overall, I enjoyed this wine, but it didn’t stand out like I wanted it too. The predominant flavors are of a rather young, dark Malbec. The Bonarda doesn’t make a very noticeable impact on this wine, though the Syrah probably adds to the already intense smoke/vanilla/oak present in this wine. At 12 dollars a bottle, this is probably priced right where it should be. I can’t see paying much more for this wine, though 12 dollars isn’t a deal here. So this gets a Fair QPR, just average where red blends are concerned. I can’t recommend this with a ton of enthusiasm, it’s an average wine at a relatively average price. If you want to make the call you can find this at your local Cost Plus, just don’t go looking to be “blown away”.

*As an aside, the Wine Spectator awarded the 2009 vintage of this wine 90 points and listed it on their annual “100 Outstanding Values”. Therefore I will be on the lookout for that particular vintage in the hopes that it fares better than the 2007.*

Trivento Wines

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 Kaiken Malbec, Argentina

Color – Inky purple, nearly black

Nose – Blueberry, plum, vanilla

Taste – For our eleventh anniversary, my wife and I went to a restaurant we frequented during our dating years. While sitting perusing the menu, I decided to order a bottle of wine. My first choice, a Carmenere, was out of stock. I took a few more minutes and decided on this wine that I had seen quite a few places but always put off purchasing. Yes I paid three times what I would have paid at Total Wine, but I found out just how good Kaiken Malbec is; and why I should have been drinking it since I started this blog. First off this isn’t some mediocre, supermarket Malbec. This is a great big, amazing flavor, huge depth, Malbec. I am sure you can find it in some supermarkets, if that’s the case buy it now. I tasted it the first night with a plate of gyros and tzatziki; the wine tasted warm and spicy a wonderful complement to the red onions, kalemata olives and yogurt sauce. I finished off ¾ of the bottle and left it in my wine cellar for the past 4 days. Tonight I fired up the grill for some rib-eye steaks I had laying around. I went through two other wines, a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chilean Carmenere blend, before I poured the final glass of Kaiken Malbec to sample with the last quarter of my steak. How I wished I had tried this wine first. Bursting with flavors of blackberry, black plum, vanilla and clove this wine practically jumped up and down on my taste buds when I took the first sip. The mid-palate was firm, ripe tannins, elegant alcohol heat that made my tongue tingle, and dark cherry/blueberry flavors. The finish is medium in length with more dark berry flavors, along with delicate wood smoke, bittersweet chocolate, and tobacco. This is medium bodied, nudging into full-bodied just a little with warmth and texture one would expect from a really good Malbec.

Overall, this is hands down one of the best Malbecs I’ve ever tasted if not the best representation of this varietal. It has everything I love in a wine; depth, character, flavor, heat, tannins and astringency but all of those things are in perfect proportions. Normally I would shy away from non-fruit forward Malbecs, but this is a masterpiece of a wine. I would say this is a great QPR at 10 – 12 dollars a bottle depending on the store you shop at. I would advise making this your house Malbec, as it is inexpensive and amazing. A stand-alone wine or a wine to be paired with just about any dish. Keep this one in your cellar at all times.

Kaiken Wines

2008 Georges Vigouroux Pigmentum Malbec Cahors, France

Color - Deep purple with a dark red rim

Nose - Wet soil and unwashed lettuce (I know, sorry, this is what I get from this wine)

Taste - This wine got me right from the first sip, actually from the first whiff. There is minimal or muted fruit in the flavor though there are hints of smoky dark berries on the mid-palate and finish. Mostly I taste the following: (in order) damp soil, lettuce and celery, wood smoke, berries, lots of minerals and an almost bitter aftertaste. This is all after decanting the wine for two hours and then again tasting a glass on day two and another glass on day three. There is a strong level of astringency and a lot of tannins. The wine is medium-to-full bodied with a quite long finish. It would probably do well to be paired with a decent steak, savory game dishes or sharp cheese.

Overall, this wine is what you get when you don't pay attention when picking out a new wine. I am familiar with Argentinian Malbec and the flavors of their particular terroir. Until this wine I'd only read about French Malbecs and how they differed from their Argentinian brethren. I now have a first hand experience. This is not a wine I would drink often. It's not bad at all, in fact, it's pretty good just not my preference. I'll stick with the Argentinian Malbcs, but I would recommend this as a good wine with a decent QPR and if you are looking for a change of pace or want to be a little adventurous, try this out.

Georges Vigouroux Wines