July 15th, 2010

Gladly Taken Prisoner

2008 The Prisoner

Orin Swift Cellars is new.

I don’t mean “new” like they were just formed yesterday, or this is their first vintage, or even that you probably haven’t heard of them. They weren’t, the first release of The Prisoner was the 2003 vintage, and it’s entirely likely that you have.

What I mean is that they’re nouveau. They’re young, and vibrant, and current, and modern. Exciting and interesting, doing things and saying things.

Winery honcho/winemaker/jefe Dave Phinney likes him some zinfandel. The first wine he released under the Orin Swift Cellars name was the 2003 Prisoner, a zinfandel-based blend of some incredible Napa juice. The latest vintage is no different.

The 2008 Prisoner is 46% zinfandel, 26% cabernet sauvignon, 15% syrah, 10% petite sirah, 2% charbono, and 1% grenache. The main players, in my opinion, are the first three, and before you read on you should probably try to think, for a second, what a zinfandel/cab sauv/syrah blend might be like.

Ready?

If your first thought was “big,” you get a gold friggin’ star.

Luckily for me, and everyone else who’s had the fortune of drinking the 2008 Prisoner, “big” is not the only appropriate descriptor here. Fruit-forward, balanced, acidic, earthy all work as well. So, the notes, then?

The wine is dark as night in the core of the glass, and lightens to a bright ruby red at the edges. The nose is lush with sweet cherries and darker, richer blackberries, plus a hint of tobacco or cigar box aromas. It smells rich. It smells like it’s not about to fuck around.

The Prisoner is a full-bodied wine that really coats your mouth. Here is an actual note I wrote in my notebook:

Tannin structure out the ass

This, I assure you, should be translated as “lots of structure.” The tannins aren’t rough or overpowering, though. Raspberry and cherry do a little dance, make a little love, and get down with a nicely-balanced earthiness and acidity that just makes itself known on the mid-palate. The lingering finish of cherries keeps you coming back for more.

I say god damn, this is some tasty wine.

The Prisoner has gained a cult following, and it is deserved. This latest vintage is a great example of California red blends done well, and for around $30 a bottle it won’t take your pocketbook captive.

Verdict: A

2008 The Prisoner

2008 The Prisoner

Tags: 2008, A, cabernet sauvignon, charbono, grenache, Napa Valley, Orin Swift Cellars, petite sirah, syrah, zinfandel

View Comments

June 10th, 2010

You’re Gonna Love This Syrah; Or, You Really Won’t

2007 Salinia “Heintz Ranch” Syrah

Sonoma's Russian River

I struggled with the title of this one a bit. The fact of the matter is that this syrah, from winemaking couple Kevin and Jennifer Kelley of the NPA, is something I liked quite a bit, but I could see how many would not.

Ain’t that the fun part about wine?

Salinia is the Kelley’s micro-winery with a bit more of a traditional place in the wine world than the Natural Process Alliance. For one, Salinia wine comes in glass bottles. The purpose and driving force behind Salinia seems to be pretty different. While NPA wines are all about process (and the extraction of the winemaker from it in many ways), Salinia wines are all about terroir. The specific vineyard sites, and the general location in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley near the town of Occidental, CA, are chosen for what they bring specifically to the wines.

The thing is, that can’t be all there is to it. Terroir is important, obviously, but other wineries source grapes from Heintz Ranch, and I can’t believe they taste quite like this.

In the glass, the ’07 Syrah offering from Salinia is ruby at its core, but lightens to almost-clear, muted pink at the edges. The nose on this wine is stinky (in that way I oh-so-love) with pickle brine, manzanilla olive, and pimento pepper.

On the palate is more of the same. There is good tannin structure here, and as the wine has just been released, it’s entirely possible that with a few years’ time, it will taste nothing like this, but for now: olives. Manzanilla, kalamata, and olive brine. This is like the wine world’s version of a dirty martini.

It’s different, it’s interesting. It’s stinky in a fun, drinkable way. It really tastes very natural, very un-screwed-around-with, which is a complement in and of itself.

Verdict: B+

(photo: Flickr user clkohan / CC BY-NC-ND)

Tags: 2007, B+, Russian River Valley, Salinia, syrah

View Comments

June 1st, 2010

I Just Don’t Know Why Anyone Would Drink This

2007 TRÉ Cellars California Syrah

I get supermarket wine, I really do.

Not everyone lives near a wine shop. Not everyone wants to bother with an additional trip to a wine shop to buy their wine. Many people just drink wine, and all they want to do is drink something familiar and inoffensive that won’t break the bank.

I was sent several bottles of an admittedly supermarket-grade wine (it was right there in their literature) to review here on Notes. One was a chardonnay that really pleasantly surprised me, and one was a cabernet sauvignon I couldn’t find much to say good things about.

There are two more bottles. This is one of them. It is far, far more the latter than the former.

The 2007 TRÉ Cellars California Syrah is the TRÉ in the pink label. Its grapes come from some of the most prestigious growing regions across California. The TRÉ Cellars motto is “Three generations of winemakers. Three brothers continuing the family legacy. Three unique characters, sharing a common vision, To create the perfect wine to be enjoyed as ‘One of Life’s Simple Pleasures.’”

None of this tells you anything about what’s in the bottle, of course.

In the glass, the syrah is a dark maroon red at its core, with lightening, pinker-but-still-red edges. The nose offers some interesting aromas, including strawberry, stewed cherry, and red apple skin. Not something I’m writing home about, but the nose certainly had me in the mood for a fruit-forward, young-drinking, quality wine.

Oops.

The wine is medium-to-full bodied, with harsh, unforgiving tannins and a hint of raspberry. But that’s not the main flavor note. It’s not what I walked away from still tasting, still thinking about in this wine. No no, the fruit is there—I just question whether anyone will know when they taste the note that dominated the bouquet on the palate. What aroma-slash-flavor is this, you ask?

Pen ink.

Yeah. Pen ink. A little metallic, a bit oddly minty, the 2007 TRÉ Cellars California Syrah tastes like pen ink. I guess I can’t judge people if they like this—but I certainly wouldn’t be able to understand them.

Verdict: D+

(full disclosure: I was sent this bottle as a press sample from Folsom & Associates)

2007 TRE Cellars California Syrah

2007 TRE Cellars California Syrah

Tags: 2007, California, D+, Guglielmo Winery, syrah, Tre Cellars

View Comments

May 21st, 2010

Color Me Converted

2007 Leviathan

Statue of Bacchus

Ah, the “Napa Cult Wine.” The perennially-overpriced subject of scorn and ridicule the internet over. Everyone’s tired of Napa fruit and paying the Napa markup. There’s nothing new under the sun, everyone out there is overrated anyway, so forth and so on and et cetera ad nauseum.

Anyone from Napa still reading? I think all that’s horsehockey, by the way. Just wanted to get everyone on the same page.

Still, of the Napa Cult Wines I’ve had, the 2007 Leviathan is the first one to truly live up to all the hype. And what hype there is for this wine!

Some background: Leviathan is a garage wine project from husband-and-wife duo, winemaker Andy Erickson (Screaming Eagle, Staglin, Hartwell, Favia, Ovid, Dancing Hares, Jonata, Dalla Valle, Arietta) and viticulturalist Anie Favia (Screaming Eagle, Favia, and Abreu). Erickson has an MS in Enology from UC Davis, and cut his teeth in the 1990s at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.

The Napa pedigree on these two is second-to-none. So what about the wine?

40% cabernet franc, 30% cabernet sauvignon, 16% syrah, and 14% merlot, all Napa juice. It’s maybe the best red blend I’ve had. Ever.

In the glass, the wine is gorgeous, with a brilliant garnet core and only slightly lighter ruby edges. On the nose is some really awesome fruit, like blackcurrant, raspberry, and ripe red cherry, but it’s all muted and held in check by a bit of nutmeg and allspice.

This is as full-bodied as wine gets, without getting sickly sweet and syrupy like dessert wine. The tannins are soft and lush, and everything here is in such balance, that I didn’t notice any of the heat. And at 14.5%, I was expecting it. Blackberry and raspberry are the main notes on the palate, and the wine does remain fantasically fruity.

If you’re an anti-flavor fascist, you won’t care for this wine. But if you still love juice for being juice (even if only sometimes) then you need to try this. It isn’t even that expensive, available for $40–$50 from numerous online retailers. Sure, that’s no drop in the bucket, but this isn’t an “everyday” drinker. The tannins and balance lead me to believe you could easily get 5+ years of aging out of it if you wanted, but it tastes so fucking good right now, I wouldn’t bother.

I’m a convert to the cult of Leviathan. This is crazy, silly good juice.

Verdict: A

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mamjodh/ / CC BY 2.0)

Tags: 2007, A, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, Leviathan, merlot, Napa Valley, syrah

View Comments

April 9th, 2010

Scrumptious Spanish Sipper

2008 Altos del Cuco Monastrell / Syrah / Tempranillo

What the hell is Monastrell?

After thinking for a bit that I’d hit my 42nd variety en route to the Wine Century Club, a quick search dans le Goog reveals it instead to be a synonym for Mourvedre. The most famous such synonym, in my opinion, is Syrah/Shiraz, but I’ve discovered a few during my journey to try to nail down 100 different wine varieties, including Zinfandel/Primitivo, and Tempranillo/Tinta Roriz.

Add Mourvedre/Monastrell to the list. Which is good in at least one way: I don’t feel as bad for never having even heard of Monastrell before this wine hit my doorstep.

OK, so on to the wine itself, which, for purposes of always trying to toss as much information down your gullet as I can, hails from D.O. Yecla, Spain, and retails for damn near pennies. The varietal breakdown is 40% Monastrell, 30% Syrah, 30% Tempranillo. If the wine had a major identity crisis, that would be 40% Mourvedre, 30% Shiraz, 30% Tinta Roriz. But I digress.

The wine is very opaque in the glass, nearly black at the core but fading to a very nice ruby red at the edges. The nose is full of fruit, of black cherry jam and raspberries. On the palate, the Altos del Cuco is medium-bodied, young and vibrant. The black cherry jam makes itself known here, and there’s also a mild spice of some sort that does well to balance out the fruitiness and keep this from being a ridiculous fruitstrosity.

Not the best wine in the world, but eminently drinkable, and thoroughly enjoyable. This is party wine, frankly, and while it may not pair easily with lots of food, it’s the perfect before- or after-dinner wine to imbibe with friends.

And you can do so much worse at this price point.

Verdict: B+

(full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample from Opici Import Company)

2008 Altos del Cuco

2008 Altos del Cuco

Tags: 2008, Altos del Cuco, B+, mourvedre, syrah, tempranillo, Yecla

View Comments

Page 1 of 41234