Pillar Box Red

2007.  Wine Spectator 83 points. Not bad.  Not great.  Tasty.  Bold.  Goes great with Pepperoni Pizza.  $5.99 at Costco.   Jumping Jack Flash it's a gas gas gas!

Shoofly

Put it simply, I love finding a great deal on good wine.  Then again, if I can find a great wine for a good deal, that's even better. 

If the good deal means I pay less than ten bucks for a delicious bottle of wine, then sign me up now!

The 2008 Shoofly Australian Shiraz fits in that really good under $10 bottle.  Like I've said before, this is always a cool thing when I find something that could easily pass for a bottle two to three times the amount (never mind those chain restaurants that sell $10 bottles for $40)...

This wine kicks ass.  It's got great dark berry fruit, a nice peppery finish, enough acidity to enjoy with pizza, spaghetti, burgers, or just drink on its' own. 

Did I mention a hint of black licorice... my favorite? 

This stuff is pretty easy to find, especially if there's a World Market nearby.  Look it up.  Buy a case.  Just have it around... well, just in case.

Shoofly.  A really good wine at a great price!

Cheers!

Sea Smoke on the Water

I remember hearing the Deep Purple classic back in 1973 or so in junior high school. We had a dance and the opening chords of this song infiltrated my brain and I was an instant fan. My next album was Machine Head. It rocked. I decided to buy more Deep Purple albums after that.

They were good.

But they weren't Machine Head.

I was unable to recreate the same feelings and reaction that I had when I first heard Smoke on the Water.

I had a similar experience with Sea Smoke Southing. The 2005 and 2006 were incredible. I couldn't get enough. These wines had the depth and structure of cabernet. Intense. Full bodied. I figured that I would just keep buying Sea Smoke wines forever and ever.

I bought the 2007 last year.

It's not as good.

We opened it last Saturday night and it's not great.

I expect greatness for $50 per bottle. Plus Tax. Plus Shipping.  I have a right to.

It's not great.

It's good... but has almost no depth. It's not unpleasant tasting but it's wimpy. Like if Deep Purple started covering Barry Manilow songs.

We drank it anyway. Because it cost $50. Plus Tax. Plus Shipping.

But it wasn't worth it.

After, I plucked a 3-day old bottle of 2007 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Cabernet.

It walked all over the Sea Smoke.

The fog cleared. The $7.99 bottle was better than the $50 bottle. And I didn't have to pay shipping.

I'm not disappointed, though. It's like music. Just because an album is great doesn't mean the next one will be. Except it's not like music.

Once you drink the wine, it's gone. You can't go back and drink it again.

But I can go back and listen to Machine Head over and over again. And enjoy it with several bottles of $7.99 wine.

And I won't miss the Sea Smoke at all.

But I'll have Smoke on the Water.

And, at least this year, that is even better.

Cheers!

Linne Calodo

It's clear that I enjoy many wines from the Paso Robles area. Most of the wineries I like best are on the west side of highway 101, although there are a couple on the east side that I like as well.

A few years back, my wife and I stopped by the Linne Calodo winery. It was more of a barn, really. Nothing fancy. Dirt Road. Big wooden doors. Not the shiny kind.

Tasted two or three wines. I don't remember.

And they were fantastic. So, we bought one bottle. The Outsider. A blend of about 63% Zinfandel, 20% Syrah, and 17% Mourvedre.

And I put it in my Vino Temp. Until last night.

We opened it as part of a home cooked Valentine's dinner. Shrimp Alexander. Baby Greens Salad. Grilled Cajun Prime New York Steak.

And The Outsider. The wine was fantastic. It had amazing structure. The nose was intoxicating. The food pairing was perfect.

The bottle was gone in less than an hour.

That never happens here. It usually takes 2-3 hours.

We couldn't get enough of it.

I'm going back for more.

Cheers!

Denner

Paso Robles would be nothing but a roadside truck stop if not for the wineries and vineyards there. And it would be just a bit more than nothing if the wine wasn't any good. Fortunately, neither is the case.

I know there are people who pride themselves on finding those subtle little wines whose flavors and nuances are buried beneath the surface and are more difficult to detect than Waldo but I'm not one of 'em.

I like flavor. I like complexity. And I'm of the opinion that if I have to spend minutes trying to figure out the little essences that make a wine special, then it probably isn't very special and I'm diluting myself into believing that the price I paid for it was justified.

This is why I like Denner. They make great wines. They make flavorful wines. They make complex wines. They make several wines that age nicely. They make wines that I keep coming back to.

They make wines that taste like wine. These wines have fruit flavors without being overly ripe and obvious but generously enough so that I don't have to hunt and peck to taste them. These wines also finish nicely.

And the go great with food.

I'm not going to go into many details but the Ditch Digger, Dirt Worshipper, and Syrah are fantastic. And, although I tend to focus on reds more often than not, their Theresa and Viognier are wonderful.

For the person used to dropping $10-15 per bottle on wine, Denner might seem a bit pricey, generally falling between $30-45. But I've paid $70-80 on wine that isn't even in the same league as the Denner wines.

Of course, we're not talking about everyday drinking wines (although to drink them everyday would be a distinct pleasure). We're talking about wines for special occasions, friends coming over for dinner, Valentine's day, birthdays, graduations, etc. (College graduations that is)

Denner. It's one of the reasons that Paso Robles is much more than a truck stop. It's one of the reasons that I keep going back to Paso Robles.

Cheers!

Obsessed with Columbia Crest

I write much about the Columbia Crest wines. In this recessive economy, there's nothing like finding a really good wine for under $10.

I don't mean to disrespect those that make really expensive good wines, some of them great, in fact. But high price doesn't mean the highest quality.

Let's start with the ratings.... most of the Columbia Crest wines, year after year, garner between 85 and 90 points on Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. Even that corporate guy at Beverages and More rates these wines in the same range. This includes the Two Vines, Grand Estates, and, of course, their consistently wonderful reserve wines.

How do they do it? Did they just pick a great location, start growing grapes, and hit the lottery?

They produce an incredible amount of wine. You can find them everywhere - groceries, discount warehouses, wine warehouses.... even Rite Aid!!!

And their wines drink like they came from small boutique wineries.

They're good. They're easy to find. They're affordable.

They make enough varietals to keep things interesting... Cabernet, Cab Franc, Merlot, Chardonnay, Syrah... name it, they pretty much do it. I just haven't found a Tempranillo yet.

The 2007 Columbia Crest Grand Reserve garnered 89 points from Wine Spectator. I thought it would get about 92... it's that good! I've not had a bottle of Cabernet under $10 with this kind of depth and complexity... yeah, like lots of flavors.

So, I've bought some. And I'm going to buy some more.

And I'm going to drink it. And I'm going to share it with friends. And I know they will love it too.

These guys know what they're doing up there in Washington State. Much more than the guys in Washington DC.

Cheers!

More on Fess Parker...

It's easy to disrespect any Hollywood personality who decides to make wine... dismiss their efforts as over the top or too commercial.

This is the reputation I've heard attributed to the Fess Parker wines. Big name - bad wine.

Perhaps this was once the case. I don't know. I hadn't tasted the Fess Parker wines until last year. I saw them around now and then but hadn't tasted them.

Now I have. And they're good. Some of them are really good. And a couple of them are flat out great.

During a recent visit to Fess Parker, we tasted several of their wines. A nominal $10 fee was charged and we kept the glass. A nice glass. Reidel.

The 2007 Chardonnay "Ashley" was nice.... the tasting notes matched our taste buds on this one.... and the 2008 Viognier "Santa Barbara County" was equally as good - a bit sweet, perhaps, but tangy enough for balance.

Then we tasted the Pinot. The 2006 Rio Vista was gentle but not wimpy. The 2006 Bien Nacido was fantastic... reminded me of some of the more stellar Pinot Noir we've had recently from places like Sea Smoke and Foxen.

The 2006 Syrah "American Tradition Reserve" had some of the bold and jammy quality I've come to expect from Central California Syrah - as I do with many Australian Syrah.... fortunately, this was balanced with a nice tight peppery finish and soft tannins. I can say the same for the Rodney's Vineyard Syrah, although it was a bit bolder with fruit characteristics that were a bit more ripe than the ATR... and delicious in its own right.

To top everything off, we tasted the Big Easy Syrah. Game Over!

The Big Easy was every bit the big ass Syrah from California. Big to the taste and Easy to drink. A great wine.

And a great place to spend a cool and sunny Saturday afternoon.

Cheers!