2009 Vecchia Cantina Rosso di Montepulciano, Italy

Elegance in a glass…Dark purple with a ruby rim and an ebony core

Magnificent aromas…Blueberry, mulberry, black cherry, vanilla and coconut

Joyous flavors…This is only the second Montepulciano I’ve tried since starting this blog; the first was a complete disaster this one is at the opposite end of the spectrum. I purchased this as another red wine to pair with Thanksgiving dinner, but at the last minute decided not to open this up. A few days ago I finally decided to pop the cork on this, and I was greeted with an absolutely wonderful drinking experience. The attack is silky and smooth with raspberry and semi-sweet cherry fruit flavors that are backed by leather, vanilla and burnt sugar. The mid-palate is nicely acidic with an even astringency and tannins that are smooth and balanced; overall the mid-palate is just a little too short for my tastes and edges into a medium finish. The finish is the most balanced part of this wine as the fruit flavors (cherry, raspberry and red currant) meld seamlessly with tobacco, vanilla, leather, and bittersweet chocolate. The finish is gorgeously smooth and leaves an aftertaste of burnt caramel and semi-sweet cherry.

Overall this wine is a definite winner. I believe I paid 10 dollars for this bottle; at that price this is a great QPR. This wine shows more “oomph” than most Italian reds and can be paired with a wider variety of foods. It held up well to burgers and fries, beef stew and spaghetti. Though it lost a little complexity with the hearty stew. I highly recommend this is you enjoy balanced and smooth red wines or just need something a little more complex than your usual table wine for about the same price. Pick this up by the case if you can, you won’t be disappointed.

Vecchia Cantina

2008 Kirkland Signature Series Mountain Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon, California

Love the look…Dark purplish red that goes black at the core

Multilayered aromas…Blackberry, vanilla, coconut, anise, baking spices

A glass of heaven…I absolutely love the Kirkland Signature Series Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon; at 18 dollars a bottle it’s almost at the limit of my finances. This bottle is priced one dollar more than the Stag’s Leap, and its well worth that one dollar. While the Stag’s Leap is a complex and textured offering this bottle goes beyond that bottle and shows amazing fruit, spices, wood and other textures that effortlessly transition during the entire time you are sipping this wine. I can’t begin to explain just how wonderful an experience sipping this bottle really is; what I will do is try to review this wine to the best of my abilities…here goes. The attack is focused and layered; starting with black currant, plum and blackberry flavors that fade into creamy vanilla and butter and finally mix in leather, gunpowder and wood shavings. The mid-palate is completely balanced. The tannins perfect and chewy, acidity levels are nice and even, astringency shows up right as I swallow and only touches the back half of my mouth leaving the tip of my tongue still tasting this wine and the alcohol is cool and just barely sends a tingle through my tongue. The finish is medium-long and takes on flavors of black plum, coconut, vanilla, anise and oak with those flavors swirling around a backbone of charcoal and forest floor. This is a full bodied wine that is best at or slightly above room temperature; the aftertaste is beautiful plums and vanilla that linger for minutes on the tongue.

Overall, this is an experience in the amazing! At 19 bucks this is a great wine, and in my opinion outdoes most wines I’ve sipped at the same price point. I can heartily rate this is a great QPR and recommend it without a single hesitation. The focus, complexity and balance of this wine makes it a wondrous drinking experience. I plan on adding a bottle of this to my cellar to sit right alongside the Stag’s Leap that I put there last month. If you enjoy big, bold, focused red wines than this bottle is for you; I promise it won’t let you down.

2007 Waterbrook Merlot-Cabernet (56% Merlot/44% Cabernet Sauvignon), Washington

Color - Dark red

Nose - Plum, coconut, licorice, clove

Taste - I get spiced cherry, plum, tobacco and pepper right on the first sip. This is a great big red wine with huge spice box aromas that carry right over into the flavor. This is my favorite type of red wine; really big with massive spice flavors. I love the smooth flavor transitions between plum, licorice, tobacco, then lovely smooth warmth from the alcohol and finally a long finish personified by peppered cherries. This is a nice full bodied red with awesome mouthfeel and texture. It's got some rather nice astringency that blends quite well with the spices leaving a lovely tingle on my palate. As good as this wine is where flavor and texture is concerned the best thing about it is that I bought it for 8 dollars at my local supermarket. The last time I got this level of quality and complexity it was priced just over 15 dollars. The is a great wine.

Overall, this wine has great taste, texture and price. It should have a 20 dollar price tag, thankfully for you and I it doesn't. This wine isn't just a good QPR, it's a great QPR. I would say stock up on this wine by the case!

Waterbrook Wines

Triple Your Pleasure?

Right off the bat I want to warn you that this might be a little long due to the fact that I am reviewing three wines. Also, these wines are reviewed in the order I drank them, which for the most part is spaced out by about two week overall. Now on to the reviews.

2008 Columbia-Crest Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington

Color - Red

Nose - Cherry, oak

Taste - I've had quite a few wines that have oak featured in the nose and a few that had oak flavors to some degree, but this wine is VERY oak-y in both the nose and on the palate. I am of the opinion that those of you that drink this wine will either love this or hate it with no one in between. There is a nice fruit start to this wine and in the mid-palat vanilla-tinged oak comes on rather strong. I would normally dislike this but the oak isn't too strong and doesn't last too long, rather it covers my tongue perfectly. This flavor profile has me particularly intrigued. I'd say this is medium-to-full bodied with a medium finish. Not much heat to this and the tannins are rather subdued through they do show with certain foods. Day two brought hints of coconut, lessened oak-iness and more complexity. This is a keeper in my book. Nothing too complex, but the big oak flavor by itself is rather nice. I'd drink it frequently, especially for 6.99 a bottle. I think it's a winner and a pretty darn good wine. I'd recommend opening and sipping a glass on day one, then enjoying the rest on day two. Gains so much character, depth, and complexity after it is opened. Changes the wine to a must try.

2008 Columbia-Crest H3 Merlot, Washington

Color - Purple with a violet rim

Nose - Black Currant, tobacco, spice, hints of brown sugar

Taste - I can sum this wine up in one word - Intense. Merlot was the first red wine varietal I tried some 12 years ago, and I hated whatever cheap bottle my college buddy had on the particular day I decided to try red wine. Every since then I have shied away from Merlot except in blends. On a whim I picked this up from Costco and I am glad that I did. This wine has everything I've come to love about red wine. It's dry but not cloying. Has an amazing level of astringency. There is a very nice bite of alcohol. The flavor transitions smoothly from currant to spice (cloves I think) mixed with chocolate into a smooth long finish of smoke, dark cherry and leather. This is big and bold , full-bodied, a force to be reckoned with and has very nice tannins that don't hold back but neither do they overwhelm. This is a new favorite of mine. Costco's got it at 10.99 a bottle. I'd say that's great QPR and that this is easily a 20-25 dollar wine. This is a buy it now and drink it often wine.

2008 Columbia-Crest Grand Estates Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington

Color - Dark Red

Nose - Blackberry, forest floor, vanilla

Taste - Nice and dry with dark cherry and hints of vanilla right out of the gate. This being the third Columbia-Crest wine I've had, I have come to expect good things even with their cheapest wines. This wine holds its own without a doubt. The fruit makes way to a nice semi-astringent mid-palate that has sour cherry hints with a tiny aftertaste of vanilla and fruit skins. There are some hints of clean herb, grass and vegetables, but it is right in the background and very pleasant. There is a slightly higher alcohol heat than I'd normally like, but it doesn't make this wine undrinkable. I paired this with meat lasagna and it brought out a lot more fruit and some buttery mouthfeel but lessened the intensity of this wine almost to the point of normalcy. I'd say leave this as a stand alone drinker or with steak, cheese, or other less acidic foods. A good wine with a good QPR. Nothing to rave about, but for the money it could become your "house Red". I'd buy it again because it's consistent and has definite depth without food.

Overall, I would rate each of these wines good to great. The H3 Merlot is a great wine with an amazing QPR. I like the slightly cheaper Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon more than I like the Grand Estates Cabernet Sauvignon, but they are both good wines. As far as consistency of good-to-great product goes, Columbia-Crest comes in second only to Anakena. Thank God I finally found a North American winery that can compete with the South American wineries. I would say go out and buy the H3 by the case, pick up a bottle or two of the Two Vines, and a single of the the Grand Estates (just to try it in case your palate differs that much from mine). I don't think you will be disappointed.

Columbia-Crest Wines

2008 Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Color - Purple (nearly black) with a ruby rim

Nose - Black Currant, blackberry, black cherry, perhaps leather

Taste - My first impression is how well balanced this wine is, as well as the remarkable depth of this wine. There is a nice rich dark fruit wash over the tongue with some creamy spice (vanilla in my opinion). The tannins are round and warm, just the perfect match for my preference. There is the presence of heat from the alcohol with a mild bite, but nothing overpowering just subtle reminders that this is wine and not juice. When consumed without food the wine has a tendency to seem too fruit forward to me. Without food I couldn't drink more than one glass of this wine in one sitting. It is good, but it is very rich and full-bodied. For all of that it isn't too overwhelming in the flavor department, it is complex to a certain degree, especially for the price. But it doesn't make your head spin trying to decipher the flavor profiles. It has enough depth and complexity to keep me interested. It is rather dry with a wonderful herbaceous finish that is rather long. On a side note, I am detecting coconut hints starting in the mid-palate and running into the aftertaste.

Overall, quite good all around wine. It's good by itself (though it's rich) better with a meal to match the wine's richness. I wouldn't drink lots of it, though I could drink a glass every night and be happy. Regardless I'd be happy and my taste buds would be satisfied when I did drink it. It's good, no great, even though it's rich and fruity and sometimes too big for it's britches. You can find Cab's cheaper but I challenge you to find one at a lower price that is this balanced, complex and has such a great depth of flavor and character. Pick up several bottles and keep them cellared for special occasions or just days when you want a really good wine but don't want to break the bank, this one's worth every penny.

Courtney Benham Wines

2006 Merkin Vineyards Caduceus Chupacabra

I review this wine first only because it is a local wine, and I have been a fan of the vineyard's owner (Maynard James Keenan) since I was a teenager. I picked this wine up from Total Wine for 16.99, which is cheap compared to other wines from Mr. Keenan. I hadn't read any reviews of Caduceus wines though I had watched "Blood Into Wine". With all that being said, on to the review.

Color - Dark red bordering on violet

Nose - Black Cherry, Pepper (very light in the nose)

Taste - This wine was very dry to my taste on the attack, with just a hint of black cherry and plum. The tannins were very present (I like strong tannins and this wine has a lot of them). Large alcohol bite on the finish and in the throat, though I didn't find this off-putting. The wine is spicy with hints of tobacco flavor as the attack lessens. When paired with red pasta the fruit shines through and the bite and acidity lessen somewhat. Very enjoyable with food, a little overwhelming by itself. Pepper and spice also pull through quite a bit with red pasta. On the third tasting I tried it with a nice Jarlsburg Swiss and a gouda. The wine evinced lovely vanilla flavors with hints of coconut just as the wine left my tongue, very pleasant.

Overall - Though this wine is great when paired, especially with cheese, it's far too expensive to be a regular drinker when other much cheaper wines taste so much better. I'd say buy it now and leave it sit, then drink it on special occasions (I plan to). It's really good, though not by itself, pair it well and you'll love it. It tastes better warmer in my opinion 65 degrees or above and when decanted for at least 12 hours.

Caduceus