2010 Cameron Hughes Lot 275 Malbec Reserva, Argentina

This is my last bottle of my online purchase from CHWine.com, and while I’ve enjoyed finding the time to sample a wider variety of the wines available from Cameron Hughes I’ve decided that the wines themselves frequently fall short of my expectations. Again this may be due to my maturing palate but it could also be that their wines just don’t live up to the QPR test. Enough of my sidebar, on to the review.

This is a beautiful glass of wine to look at, dark purple with black flecks and violet tinged bubbles make an enticing picture to be sure. The aromas wafting from the rim of my glass are all fruit; cherry, plum and raspberry with just the slightest hint of vanilla. The attack is fruit as well, but darker; blackberry, black plum and currant pour over the palate in juicy waves leaving behind traces of black cherry-vanilla and oak. The juicy-ness and fruity-ness continues at all levels of this wine; relatively reserved tannins and astringency during the mid-palate are punctuated by sweet and sour cherry and super sweet raisin flavors. Then comes a very long finish featuring loads of plum, raisin and black cherry juicy-ness all supported on a foundation of oak, sage, ash, vanilla and very mild, wet leather. This is a full bodied wine that leaves the palate with an aftertaste of fruit skins and Band-Aids (weird I know but that’s what I taste, that funky plastic flavor of Band-Aids).

Overall, this is one of the few Cameron Hughes winners I’ve sampled recently. It’s a very young, juicy Malbec that’s an absolute pleasure to sip with hamburgers or steaks. Easily stands up to the fruity-er California Cabs or Chilean Merlots, though this has fewer tannins than the former and more tannins than the latter. All in all I found this closer to a Bonarda than either of those wines. I would rate this a good-nearly-great QPR as I believe I paid between 10 and 12 dollars for this particular bottle (though I think it was on sale at the time). Much better than their Lot 239 Chilean Meritage or Lot 248 California Cabernet Sauvignon; if you are a Cameron Hughes enthusiast this is a must try and if you are a Malbec lover than you should check this out. Otherwise this wine gets pretty high marks as a wonderful, fruit forward red wine that is a satisfying glass with food or by itself.

Cameron Hughes Wine 

2009 Chateau Malrome Comtesse Adele Bordeaux Superieur, France

One of the happiest days for me is the day the mailman drops off the Total Wine & More mailer. I quickly rifle through it glancing here and there for particularly stellar sales or intriguing offerings. After my quick glance, I start over with a Sharpie and begin to read through each wine listed, circling those that I plan to purchase over the next month. Many times my circles far outnumber what my budget can handle and I’m forced to pare down my selections, but I keep all of the mailers I receive and put in notes on the wines I’ve tasted. This particular gem was featured in the March/April mailer reduced to $14.99. a 5 dollar savings. I’d read the hype surrounding the 2009 Bordeaux wines, every wine writer worth their stuff is heralding this vintage as a truly superb year. I figured I’d snatch up some bottles, but in the back of my mind I was skeptical. My skepticism was wrong, very wrong. This wine pours dark red in the glass with a purplish-black core and violet bubbles/rim. Aromas of cassis, black cherry, vanilla and spice box waft from the glass leaving my nostrils positively buzzing with wondrous scents. The attack is amazingly smooth, complex and balanced with intense black fruits (black currant, blackberry and cherry), deep smoke and oak, leather, anise and coffee; every flavor mixing effortlessly with the last in subtle harmony. The attack merely folds into the mid-palate, shifting the focus from the flavors to definitive textures; the mid-palate has wonderful, supple tannins that bring just the right amount of astringency and acidity and center on the oak and cherry flavors drawing them out and further into the finish. The finish itself is medium in length, and as said before starts with noticeable oak and cherry notes then adds blackberry, chalk, damp grass, charcoal and savory. All of these flavors blend and balance each other, playing the fruits against the earthy flavors. This is a nice medium to full bodied wine that finishes with just an up-tick of alcohol that isn’t present in the rest of the wine thus leaving an aftertaste of alcohol, chalk and berries.

Overall this is a very nice drinking experience. Superbly complex, varied in flavor but at the same time balanced and exceptionally graceful. At 15 dollars this is a great QPR and an excellent bottle to pick up for your get together with those “snooty wine folk”. I highly recommend this bottle for drinking now and for cellaring. If this is a “temperature test” of the 2009 Bordeaux wines then I can’t wait to drink through a few other bottles I picked. Truly an excellent bottle with loads of potential, a must buy.

2009 The Vac Vacqueyras, France

I have been toying with this wine for the better part of 4 months, each time grasping a bottle, setting it in my cart only to go back and set it back on the shelf. But after reading through the spring Total Wine & More mailer, I finally decided to purchase a bottle. Rated 92 points by the International Wine Cellar, this wine features strawberry and cherry aromas with nuances of plum and pepper wafting from the rim of a ruby rimmed, dark purple pour. The wine is quite fruit forward, with notes of plum, blackberry and raspberry and lingering hints of cola and smoke. The mid-palate is nicely acidic, bringing up bright textures and a slight pucker factor with subdued tannins and astringency. In my opinion, this wine shines during the finish; pouring on loads of dark, smoky blackberry, black currant and plum with vanilla, leather, pepper and something akin to flower petals. These flavors swirl together mixing in a dark dance of dark fruit, then savory spices and finishes with wood and smoke characteristics. This is a medium bodied wine with cherry vanilla, oak and rose hips. This is a wonderfully complex wine, though it tries to trick you and make you think it is a nice fruit forward “California” red; in reality, it is a textured French red with earthy characteristics that mask the relatively sweet fruits thus transforming a potentially bland, one dimensional Rhone blend into something elegant, compelling and very satisfying.

Overall, I am not a huge fan of Rhone blends as they tend to be more fruit forward than I like; however this wine balances its sugars with equal helpings of spice and earth. It makes up for its shortcomings by providing a very broad range of flavors that blend nicely together leaving me quite satisfied. I don’t often seek out “sweet” French reds, but this would definitely make my list of must haves for rounding out your wine cellar. A bottle of The Vac will please most discerning wine drinkers that stop by for Coq au Vin, Beef Burgundy or a myriad of other savory dishes. It earns a good QPR and a recommendation from me.

Arnoux & Files Vins des Cotes du Rhone 

2009 Cameron Hughes Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 248, California

Another of my impulse buys from chwines.com during their 20% off sale. This piqued my interest due to it being from Anderson Valley an AVA I had yet to sample. I waited for a few months rather than opening it right away and just recently opened it to pair with some grilled meats. This wine pours dark purple in the glass with aromas of cherry, caramel, oak, strawberry jam and just a hint of alcohol wafting up from the rim. I got a little crazy and sampled a small glass without aerating this wine; big mistake. If you purchase this wine make sure you let this wine breathe in a decanter or use an aerating device as it is very tight with lots of tannins and a healthy dose of alcohol flavors/textures. Surprising as it is, this wine didn’t pair very well with the grilled sausages or hamburgers. It lost a lot of flavor with both of those dishes and the only aspects that remained were those of heat, sour red fruit and an alcohol bite. I decided to let this sit overnight in hopes it would improve. The following night I revisited the bottle and found the alcohol bite and heat diminished though the sour fruits persisted. The attack is very streamlined even minimalistic consisting of blackberry, cherry and oak. The tannins rapidly grab the palate bringing quite a dose of astringency and sour fruit flavors. The mid-palate does not last very long, instead giving way to a medium finish with more of the same flavors. Sour cherry, mixed with cola, vanilla, oak and smoke grace a rather tame finish. This is a medium bodied wine that leaves a disappointing aftertaste of wet leaves and cherries.

Overall I was not impressed with this particular wine. It does get better if given the chance to breathe, but not nearly as big an improvement as this wine needs. It has limited flavors and those that do show up don’t really work here. It doesn’t taste bad just very young and limited in spectrum. I think the bottle cost me 11 dollars which isn’t bad, I’ve had quite a few wines that were terrible at that price point and this isn’t terrible. It just doesn’t work for me. It might be the age of the wine or maybe my palate but I can’t recommend this wine. As far as QPR goes, it earns a fair QPR but in all honesty if you are ordering wines over the internet you expect better than fair so I can’t recommend this wine find a CH Cabernet  at your local Costco or Sam’s Club but stay away from this one.

Cameron Hughes Wines 

2009 Cincuenta Ugarte Rioja, Spain

I’ve been wondering for quite some time what has been happening to my Total Wine & More mailers. I hadn’t received one since the first of the year and wondered what good deals they were offering. I figured my daughter was probably hiding them from me or they had ended up on the bottom of a stack of junk mail. So it was with great surprise that I found the latest mailer when I was cleaning off my kitchen table of a few days worth of mail. Low and behold, such deals on some great wines. 2009 Bordeauxs under 15 dollars, 92 point Rhone blends for 12 and 90 point rated gem for less than 10 dollars. I have grown to love Tempranillo when it’s done right and that means from Spain, usually from Rioja. This wine fits that bill perfectly. It pours dark into the glass with swirling rubies, garnets and purples that at times edge into midnight black making for a mesmerizing glass to look at. The nose wafts strongly of sugared black plums, blackberry jam, vanilla and licorice with subtler elements of dust and charcoal. The palate itself is elegant and layered; stacking dark fruits (blackberry, currant and cherry) on top of caramel and cocoa in the attack. The mid-palate is wonderfully focused; featuring perfect tannins, crisp acidity in all the right places and beautiful astringency that pull the caramel and cocoa flavors through into the finish. And what a wonderful finish it is; long and luxurious where the fruits mix and mingle with sugars and savory flavors. Chocolate covered cherry and caramel tinged plums, with sweetened coffee and vanilla laced milk leave my tongue feeling as if I’ve gone on a pleasure cruise through a box of designer candies. Underneath these flavors are more pungent tastes of cedar and smoke with hints of ash and dirt, but they all build a wonderful flavor profile that is extremely gratifying. This finishes strong and though it feels heavy it is in fact a medium bodied wine that pairs well with just about any grilled meat, some spicy barbecue, sausages and especially hamburgers.

Overall this wine was phenomenal. I was amazed at the flavor and texture that it produced and just how complex this bottle really was. It paired so well I went through the bottle in three consecutive nights and came back on the fourth night disappointed I hadn’t saved a little for a few slices of pizza. At 10 dollars this is an amazing QPR. Sure it got 90 points from The Wine Advocate, but this one was a surprise to me. I frequently sample 90+ point wines (those that ring up at the register under 25 dollars and there are quite a few); this bottle is right at the top of the list of those wines. Complex, daring, with a depth that is hard to find; it is a truly wonderful wine that will slake your thirst and have you coming back for more. Highly recommended and if you find it purchase more than one because you are either going to want to add it to your cellar or you are going to want to sip it for several weeks!

2009 La Carraia Umbria Sangiovese, Italy

Quite the delight…Dark purplish-black core surrounded by ruby red fading to violet at the rim

Two-toned nose…Cherry and vanilla

Why do I feel so wishy-washy…This wine held my attention for the entire first glass. I enjoyed the look, aroma and taste right down to the last drop. Then I waited for a few hours while cooking dinner and sampled my second glass. My attention seemed to wander during this glass. ‘Maybe it’s the food’ I thought to myself. But the next evening I experienced the exact same thing. Finally it dawned on me; this wine is pretty darn good all by itself but takes a backseat when it’s paired with just about any food. Let ‘s talk specifics about the wine itself. It has a very narrow scope of flavors as far as the attack is concerned. Mainly I can taste cherry, some raspberry, and peppers (both black pepper heat and bell pepper zest). The mid-palate is moderately acidic with some pucker factor from both alcohol and tannins and minimal astringency. The finish is medium in length featuring more pepper, savory spices (sage and basil), tobacco and very muted berry/cherry notes. I get a definite “weight” to the wine but it’s really only a medium bodied effort. The aftertaste itself is long and runs mainly to sour cherry and plum pits. It’s a nice effort and shines by itself though it becomes demure when paired with food.

Overall, I write that entire review about how good the wine tastes by itself to say that I actually enjoyed it more when I drank it with a meal. Normally I would want my glass of wine to shine with every sip I took, but this wine did something completely different. While the flavors of the wine itself were somewhat undermined the food itself took on a whole new level of “good”. I liked drinking this by itself because I could taste the wine, but I liked it even better when I paired this with spaghetti because it made the garlic marinara taste so much better. I know it’s an anomaly and I never expect to have this happen again, but this bottle gets a good QPR all the way around but for totally different reasons. I think I paid 10 bucks for this and that’s not bad. I’d recommend this for your table on any night you want an Italian red to go with your Italian dinner. It’s not an amazing wine, but it hits the spot especially with a nice plate of spaghetti.

La Carraia

2009 Courtney Benham Courtney’s Angels Cabernet Sauvignon, California

Tempting tints…Very dark red with a garnet rim

Wild whiffs…Blueberry, cherry, plum and baking spices

Typical tastes…I thoroughly enjoy Courtney Benham wines, though they are mostly out of my price range. The Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is one of my favorite wines and their Sauvignon Blanc is one of the few North American Sauv Blancs that I’ll drink. That being said, I’d not given this wine much thought when I shopped at Total Wine & More. It’s a 10 dollar bottle sourced from Paso Robles grapes. I figured it would be a fruit forward Cabernet Sauvignon with few redeeming qualities and absolutely no complexity or depth. I was 100% right about it being fruit forward but dead wrong about complexity and depth. The flavors here are blackberry, plum, black cherry and raisin with underlying nuances of cinnamon, anise, vanilla, all spice and chocolate. The mid-palate is light on tannins and astringency, though there is a vein of acidity that runs throughout this wine that shows up stronger in the mid-palate giving this a slight sour alcohol flavor. The finish is medium in length with returning cherry and blackberry flavors mixed lightly with grass, cocoa, and mint leaves. This is a medium bodied wine with a fresh fruit skin flavored aftertaste that will compliment just about any dish from salad to pizza to steak.

Overall, I’d purchase this wine again. It’s a little above average in flavor and complexity and about average in price. I give this a good QPR, though I’d say this has typical California flavors for a 10 dollar bottle this might hold just a little more depth than your average grocery store red wine from California. This is an easy drinking Cabernet Sauvignon, not too heavy but very food friendly. Pick up a bottle on your next visit to TW&M.

Martin Ray Winery

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

2010 Gascon Malbec, Argentina

Color – Purple with a violet rim

Nose – Blueberry, strawberry, cherry

Taste – I had the chance to spend an evening out with my wife and mutual friends at The Living Room Wine Café and Lounge. First off this is not to be confused with a wine bar, the difference between them being this was closer to a club/bar than a lounge/wine sipping spot. Regardless the wine list was lengthy though not overly pretentious however they were out of the wine I was interested in trying. They offered me this wine instead at a 12 dollar discount (I shudder to think I could have purchased this bottle for that amount at my local supermarket, instead I paid 20 dollars for this bottle). This wine is young and very fruit forward. There isn’t a lot going on as far as flavor is concerned; sugary blackberry, strawberry and cherry dominate the attack with just a little plum and raisin hints as well. The mid-palate is lacking any noticeable astringency, but does carry limited alcohol and biting tannins. The finish is medium in length with sour cherry, leather and some of that cough syrup flavor I detest in wine (though it’s just a hint of the cough syrup flavor). This wine is medium bodied though it wants to be a full bodied wine. The aftertaste is pleasing enough with flavors of stone fruit and molasses.

Overall, this wine is young, fruit forward and not worth 10 dollars much less 20. It’s a pleasing enough though completely un-complex red wine. It tastes almost like sugared fruit juice. If you don’t like particularly bold red wines or are used to sweet wines this one’s for you. Otherwise I advise passing on this one; it has a poor QPR and for the same price you can get a pretty darn good Malbec if you pick up the Kaiken.

Gascon Wines

2009 Durigutti Malbec, Argentina

In livid color…Very dark purple, black at the core

Remini-scent of…Black currant, raisin, alcohol

Taste the situation…I must admit to being curious about this wine every time I walk through the Costco wine section or look at the Malbecs that are sold at Total Wine & More. The bottle is elegant and simple with cursive script in white on a black label with orange foil topping the cork. It’s because of this elegance and simplicity that I was so interested in this wine, that and the price. I finally gave in on a recent trip to Costco and purchased this bottle. Not having any preconceptions I popped the cork, poured a small glass, swirled, sniffed and sipped. Definitely decant this wine, preferably for an extended period (mine was still too tight, alcohol-y and tannic even after a few hours, that faded by the next day). Keep in mind this is a young wine and according to the winemakers does not go through a lot of the processes other wines go through as they are fermented. Take that with a grain of salt, however it’s possible that those processes take off some of the “edge“ of most red wines. This one still had some rough patches, but I was able to get through the bottle without my palate being overwhelmed by this wine’s failings. First off this is a pretty big wine, tasting heavily of fruit but equally of sharp, savory and sour flavors. The attack starts off smooth enough with raspberry, cherry and blackberry flavors, backed with a streak of leather and smoke. Those last two carry on through the mid-palate where astringency jumps right in and dries my tongue and cheeks mightily. This is followed by powerful alcohol heat and flavor, almost overbearing in its intensity; the only reason it doesn’t kill this wine is that it fades VERY fast. A medium-long finish meanders in lazily and brings with it a lot more dark, sour flavors and leaves off most of the fruit. There is leather, smoke, tar, licorice, espresso beans and just a hint of plum and blackberry. The sharp flavors are backed by another surge of alcohol heat that you can feel if you exhale through your nose just as you swallow. This is a full bodied wine with an aftertaste of leather and burnt sugared plums.

Overall, I went back and forth by the end of each glass I drank trying to decide if this was a drinker or a dud. It has its failings, but you can tell the winemakers are trying to relay something with this wine. There are hints of complexity; they just don’t work right. The overwhelming alcohol presence is what finally tipped the scales and made my mind up for me. This gets a poor QPR mostly by taste alone. The quality in and of itself is definitely there in the weight and complexity of the wine, but the flavors don’t blend in this wine at all. It’s a pretty messy, hot wine; not something I would recommend. I do plan to set a bottle of this aside in my cellar and come back to it in the next 5-10 years because I do think there is something here. I just believe this needs more time in the bottle to mellow and gain some much needed age. Take a pass on this if you are looking for a Malbec with dinner grab the Kaiken or Alamos; those two won’t let you down.

Durigutti