2007 Louis Verge Morgon “Les Pierres Fines”, France

Color – Light, nearly transparent red

Nose – Cherry, blueberry

Taste – I am pretty sure this Morgon is truly from the Gamay grape and an actual Beaujolais Cru though I could be wrong. The bottle does not identify the varietal, however, this wine is quite similar to other wines I have tasted featuring the Gamay grape. That being said this wine does not fare as well as any of those wines. I have read online that 2007 was not a particularly good year for Beaujolais winemakers and this wine definitely shows that. The wine itself needs a chance to breathe, at the very least decant this for 10 minutes, though 30 minutes would be better. If you don’t decant this you will find the wine acidic, bitter, and tannic; three things you don’t want to find in your Beaujolais. After breathing this wine mellows quite nicely and the flavors can actually be deciphered. The wine is light-to-medium in body. There are flavors of cherry, strawberry, and some floral notes as the wine first touches the tongue. These transition quickly into a mid-palate of sour cherry, smoke and grass. Finally the finish is short and features hints of dust and more smoke.

Overall, this wine surprised me. It surprised me where the actual flavor of the wine is concerned. It surprised me that it might actually be a Morgon Beaujolais Cru for under 10 dollars. And it surprised me that it has tannins and acid that actually show up when you drink it. Not all of surprises are good surprises. Sure it’s nice to drink Beaujolais and not have to fork over 15 bucks, but in all honesty I’d rather buy the 8 dollar Georges Debeouf Beaujolais-Villages than this bottle. This wine isn’t bad, I’d drink it again, but not when I want Beaujolais. But if I want a light red that I can pick up for under 8 bucks this is pretty good. It’s not going to win any awards and it’s definitely closer to the” Red Table Wine” on its label than actually being a Beaujolais.

2010 Concha y Toro Xplorador Cabernet-Merlot (75% Cabernet Sauvignon/25% Merlot), Chile

Color –Dark red

Nose – Green bell peppers, blackberry

Taste – Having sampled nearly all of Conca y Toro’s inexpensive wines and being, for the most part, underwhelmed (besides the amazing Concha y Toro Trio); I was surprised that this wine is as good at it is. Simply put this is a great inexpensive, bulk wine. The flavors are very vegetal and herbaceous but also very pleasant and fulfilling. There are few transitions in this wine as far as flavors go. What transitions there are in this wine are as follows: green bell pepper, dark cherry, alcohol. The mid-palate is all cherry and raspberry, while the finish is rather short and personified with muted tannins, celery, and cut grass. This wine is medium bodied and a little “watery” at times. Normally I would say a wine of this “caliber” is poor, however, this wine is very inexpensive, 8.99 for 1.5 liters. And the quality is actually pretty darn good at that price point. There aren’t any surprises, it lacks anything close to depth, and there isn’t a hint of complexity in this wine at all. But it tastes good, and goes down really smoothly on its own or with food. So I have to say it’s a pretty good wine.

Overall, I would say this wine passes my tests for an inexpensive, bulk wine. It tastes good, a glass of this actually tastes like wine rather than fruit juice with alcohol mixed in. It doesn’t have any of the more off putting flavors that some cheap wines exhibit (jolly ranchers, chemicals, or sugar). While it does have some fruit flavors, it’s balanced by the predominant flavors of green bell peppers and celery and that makes it taste complex even though it is far from complex. All in all this is a good QPR and a wine that you should pick up and store because it is inexpensive and perfect for large parties or as something inexpensive to sip during the week.

Concha y Toro Wines

2009 Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages, France

Color – Nice even red

Nose – Raspberry, strawberry, cherry

Taste – Quite some time ago, a wine clerk at Total Wine recommended that I try 2009 Beaujolais Cru as the 2009 vintage is the best to have been produced in quite some time. I shook it off and didn’t think much of it until a few days ago when I picked up a bottle of Beaujolais-Villages at the local supermarket. Now this isn’t the same as the Cru, but its pretty close according to Wikipedia, and boy was I impressed. It’s a very low tannin, high acidity wine with flavors of strawberry and rose petals. The mid-palate has characters of sour cherry but not enough to bring out the pucker. And the finish is medium-to-long with more floral notes. The wine is quite light, but very pleasant. Honestly this is perhaps one of the best varietals I’ve had the opportunity to try. Though this is light-bodied, quite floral in flavor, and astringent, it is a fantastic glass of red wine. It’s refreshing but pairs well with food. You can drink this all by itself or try it with some good cheese. For a decent red that’s not too heavy and more accessible to the average person, you should pick up a bottle of Beaujolais-Villages.

Overall, this is a pretty darn amazing wine with complexity, depth, flavor, and versatility. I would recommend this as a wine to drink just about any time, any place. Sure it’s not a big, bold red like I normally enjoy, but that’s what makes this wine so good. It has TONS of flavor, with hints of flowers that run through it making the flavor very compelling. The QPR on this is quite good at 8.99 a bottle, I would say this is one of the better wines at this price point. Serve this to anyone including those that don’t like red wines, I would be willing to bet they’d like this. Pick this one up!

Louis Jadot Wines

2008 Mouton Cadet Bordeaux (65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc), France

Color – Dark red, with a garnet rim

Nose – Currant, blackberry, flowers, spice

Taste – Beautiful flavors of red currant right from the first sip. This wine is very smooth and easily very accessible. The red currant mingles with some sour cherries, then a mid-palate of blackberry and well balanced acidity. The finish is very smooth, medium in length, with flavors of red currant, leather, floral hints and some creamy textures as well. All in all a very nice quaffable effort. This is closer to a medium bodied wine than a full bodied red. It nicely mixes the three varietals of grapes, Merlot, Cab Sauv and Cab Franc to the betterment of the wine. The red currant flavors and smooth texture from the Merlot come right through and stay from first sip through the finish. The Cab Sauv adds some weight, tannins and acid to the wine and defined flavors in the mid-palate of blackberry and cassis. Finally the Cab Franc helps balance the “heaviness” of the Cab Sauv and the delicate Merlot with hints of floral characteristics in the nose and on the finish. I think this is a great entry level Bordeaux, you aren’t going to find anything cheaper with the word Bordeaux on it or the quality you will find here. But you aren’t going to find the depth, complexity and wonderful character of the terrior you will find in more expensive Bordeuaxs.

Overall, this is a good red wine with a good-to-great QPR. It has nice flavor, texture, and decent depth. It’s not going to suck your wallet dry and it is very drinkable. It will let you get your “toes wet” where Bordeaux wines are concerned but it won’t break the bank. It’s also not going to teach you a lot about Bordeaux wines, but it will satisfy your desires for a good red wine.

Mouton Cadet Wines

2007 Vina Falernia Carmenere Reserva, Chile

Color – Dark red, nearly black

Nose – Blackberry, black currant, vegetal notes, alcohol

Taste – I would love to be able to rate this Carmenere right up there with my favorites because it looks good in the glass, it smells pretty darn good, and even the initial sip starts off well, but everything goes downhill from there. There is a lot more fruit in this wine than I am used to in Carmenere; I can taste blackberry, plum, dark cherry right from the initial sip, but those flavors get eviscerated in the mid-palate with a massive dose of alcohol. It is so bad that the aftertaste is one that I am only familiar with in terms of cherry flavored Nyquil. Basically after the first hints of actual flavor the wine degrades into a mouthful of fruit flavored alcohol. You can still catch tinges of brown sugar and cut grass, but they are completely trampled by a long, Long, LONG aftertaste of alcohol. The tannins in this wine might be nice and firm or they might be flabby and flat, I honestly couldn’t tell you because I can’t find them. The only thing my palate can detect after the second sip is alcohol. I tried this over a period of five days and the wine didn’t get any better after decanting or being consumed at higher or lower temperatures. It is a fairly heavy bodied wine and that makes it even harder to slug down.

Overall, I would say pass on this train wreck of a 10 dollar wine. It is not a good QPR, it is a terrible QPR. This wine is overbearingly alcohol forward and not a wine at all but closer to a cough syrup in flavor and nearly in texture. The wine is “heavy” on the tongue and with the predominant flavor of alcohol-cherry-chemicals it brings memories of taking Nyquil when I had the flu growing up. If that is your idea of a good red wine then this one is for you. For everyone else, dump this down the toilet and get ANY OTHER CARMENERE IN THE WORLD (that’s how bad this wine is).

Vina Falernia Wines

Wine, the Journey So Far pt. 3

(I do not own the rights to this picture)

Gamay is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar, mentioned as long ago as the 15th century. It has been often cultivated because it makes for abundant production; however, it can produce wines of distinction when planted on acidic soils, which help to soften the grape's naturally high acidity. - source Wikipedia-

On a recent trip to Total Wine & More, one of their wine experts recommended that I try a 2009 Beaujolais Cru. He had seen me perusing their rather paltry offerings of Bonarda and thought I would like either Beaujolais Cru or Cabernet Franc. After a brief glance of both varietals I opted for the Cabernet Franc only because I have had red blends with Cabernet Franc and at the time knew nothing about Beaujolais-Cru or the Gamay grape. Hindsight is 20/20 and I now wish I had gone the other route.

I purchased a few bottles of Beaujolais-Villages over the last two weeks and boy was I eves surprised at how much I enjoy this varietal. I’ve done some research now on the grape, Gamay, and on the wines that feature this grape. While the Beaujolais-Villages is not as complex, proud, and revered as the Beaujolais Cru, it comes in a close second. And I am finding myself enjoying this grape for reasons that other reds just can’t satisfy.

So another side of my palate is coming to maturity. That of the side that enjoys lightly-tannic, red wines that are less fruit forward with a nose that has more floral tendencies rather than fruit tendencies. I usually go for the big, bold red, something that you would drink with a great big steak, barbecue ribs, or a juicy burger. Beaujolais-Villages is a red wine that falls into the exact opposite category. That’s not to say that it’s a “sissy” wine or a flat, tasteless wine. In fact, it actually seems more complex than Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Malbec. The flavors that come across or more fleeting and delicate, and the wine itself can be hard to pair with food. But it is extraordinary when consumed by itself. This is truly a wine to savor on its own.

One of my favorite things about Beaujolais-Villages is that it’s a rather refreshing wine. Sometimes a red wine can be more “filling”, overwhelm my palate or just end up being too “heavy”. Beaujolais-Villages does not have that problem whatsoever. It feels and tastes light, but with a nice complexity and flavor transitions that are very pleasant. I have come to enjoy the aroma and flavor of flowers just as much as I enjoy wines that feature spice box aromas and flavors.

So my new favorite “go-to” wine on a given night is a nice Beaujolais-Villages. Now I understand that Beaujolais Cru will taste different, and I intend to sample a few bottles of Beaujolais Cru in the coming month, but Beaujolais-Villages is a good enough wine for me right now. According to wine experts the 2009 vintage of either Beaujolais-Villages or Beaujolais Cru is the best that has been produced in years due to a rather hot summer with little rain. The vines produced grapes of superior quality and ripeness for this sweet, small thick-skinned grape. I would say stock up on wines featuring the Gamay grape and of the 2009 vintage. Though you should definitely sample them rather than randomly buying a case as there are still a few “loser” bottles out there.

In all, this part of my journey with wine has been educational, as well as eye opening. My palate has once again been broadened where wine is considered. I’ve learned to love another red wine, this one light bodied from the Old World, specifically France. And I’ve found yet another wonderful wine to drink after a hard day at work. I would have to say my journey’s coming along quite nicely. What about yours?

2009 Finca Los Maza Coleccion Bonarda, Argentina

Color - Red

Nose - Strawberry, raspberry

Taste - This is nice and fruity on the first sip. I taste strawberry and cherry mostly and they linger into the mid-palate which is a little too full of tannins and heat for me, then on the medium finish the cherry takes on a sour flavor though it's not unpleasant and the heat lessens into a nice even warmth. In my opinion, this is a pretty decent bottle of vino, but it's really at its best if consumed right after uncorking. The tannins don't really mellow and if anything the heat intensifies after this breathes for a while. It's really a medium bodied wine but at times can seem heavier especially at warmer temperatures. Finally, I would guess that this will age well and actually taste better after some cellaring, it has the tannins to carry it and I would like to see what the flavor profile develops into after a year or two.

Overall, this is a decent wine but nothing amazing. It's just a notch under the Maipe Bonarda and nowhere near the Munoz de Toro (but that wine is perhaps an aberration for the Bonarda grape). This is pretty straightforward with little depth but I'm OK with that here. It's a decent refreshing wine if consumed immediately and slightly chilled. I'd definitely buy it again.

Finca Los Maza Wines