Rosenblum Vintner's Cuvée Zinfandel XXXV

The last one of these that I had was XXXIV, and it was just not good. The XXXIII was beautiful, a steal for the price. This is better than its predecessor, however it still can't compete with XXXIII.

It has a lot of character, big fruit, some spice, some tannins, but by no means is it a "cellar for years" type of wine. Get a few bottles to keep handy. If you want to cellar it, keep it for a couple of years at the most. I had a couple of bottles of Rosenblum go bad, warning me that five years was apparently too long.

That caused me to consider that some wines should be enjoyed sooner rather than later. I often think long and hard about whether or not I should hold onto THAT bottle--you know the one, we all have at least one--and what am I really gaining by doing so?

Some of their wines may really work for your palate, however don't be disappointed if these are a turnoff. In my limited experience, I have found Rosenblum to be inconsistent. And I'm not sure if that is the store's fault for not storing them properly, or if the grapes are so wild they are growing and changing unpredictably in the bottle. I'm happy to conduct more research.


Bottom line: Drink it if you must. There is arguably better value for your dollar out there.

Bodegas "Viva Tu" Tempranillo 2010 Paso Robles

Bodegas is just really good wine, plain and simple. Their Viva Tu blend is complex and beautiful from the start. Once it opens up, it is even better. Plus they have fun artwork on their labels. A small tasting room in Paso is where we discovered their gem-like offerings. They have many others tasty wines that I recommend, some of whom I have posted about already, others I will post about in the future!

Bottom line: Drink it! If you are disappointed, it's your own fault.

Witch Creek Winery Aglianico 2011

This unusual wine was originally intended to be my Halloween post, but it will have to be Friday the 13th instead. We discovered the tasting room of Witch Creek in the town of Julian, just outside of San Diego. It was raining and a generally lovely day, and one of the best things to do, should one find oneself in just such a situation, is to secure comfort in the tasting of wines.

All the wines here are a bit unusual. Varietals that were familiar, like Aglianico, but I recall also a Montepulciano and several others I no longer remember (and a search for the tasting sheet I kept from there yielded no results--worst report ever?). We picked up a couple of blends and a bottle of their port which was light a delicious.

Only 100 cases were made of this particular vintage. So its dark fruit, but also savory notes, like sage and salt, were just...bewitching. I know, but stick with me here. The grapes were sourced from fields in Mexico and likely being so much closer to the equator, their chemical makeup was just different. All their wines were enticing and strange and exotic and alluring. They were almost like parallel universe wines. So close to a thing I know intimately and yet, just different enough to make me question my approach to tasting.

Bottom line: It cast a spell on me.

Acronym Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

Well, they can't all be winners. Their subtitle says "great red wine." What a load of shit. The only part of that statement that is true is the "red" part. And I can only skeptically agree that they used cabernet sauvignon grapes in California, because I imagine there is some business rule that you can't misrepresent the what and where of your products.

Next time use grapes, instead of grapefruit. They are very different. Trust me.


Bottom line: No! No! A thousand times No!

Folie a Deux Zinfandel 2012

Yowza! I was surprised. We all were! Folie a Deux has nice wines. They are kind, and complex in their own way, but not necessarily upper-echelon sophisticated type razzmatazz. Well, I'm eating my words!

This blew us all away, even before it had a chance to fully open. Bravo!

Bottom line: Run, don't walk, to your nearest vino dispensilator!

The Path Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 Sonoma

There we were, on the path toward wine drinkin', and it was a big ol' caber-net sa-VIG-nun, the like a-which I ain't never seen. And then we saw it: The Path!

And it was very 50/50 for me. My housemate from New Zealand was a "no" on this one. I figured that some people may like it, you know, if they are on, say their sixth or seventh bottle of wine. I realize that isn't exactly helpful, but it is hard to make something of this wine, when there doesn't seem to be much there to begin with.

The Path is misleading, as in don't follow it, because it doesn't actually lead anywhere. Even on the bottle it suggests a route, but honestly I don't see a cairn or a destination. If you want to walk nowhere, I guess this is your jam (which it has no jam, so don't get your hopes up. When you arrive wherever the path leads you, there will be no jam, so do not expect it). Not that there isn't anything wrong with a good old fashioned "amble about," however, like an after dinner stroll, those typically lead you back home, or that you know eventually where you will end up before you even start, which says to me, why do I need a path at all?


Bottom line: don't say I didn't warn you! Because I didn't.

Catena Malbec 2012

No sooner had I planned my posting schedule, having convinced myself that "I can do this!," than I was sidelined by a trip, a rather intensive eleven-day excursion through seven national parks. Unfortunately, it all happened so quickly that I didn't have time to load up posts in the pipeline, so I just came off looking like the Flakiest Flake in Flaketown.

I would apologize, but it will probably happen again.

So back to wine: this wine was a gift, and it should have been cellared for several years. It was hard and tannic. It did open up a bit on the second day, but as far as malbecs go, it wasn't my favorite. It was good, but even for the price there are better options out there.

Bottom line: If curiosity is killing your cat, let it develop...for a couple of years.

Cameron Hughes Lot 467 Zin, Syrah, Petite Sirah 2012

Well, well, well... look who it is! It's me! Yes, I have been away from this for a while, sorting out my time, my priorities, and trying to turn it all into a life that will work for me. I have discussed new endeavors with people, and started to diversify my interests. But of all the things I have planned, I knew I needed to carve out time to resume this blog in earnest, learning via tasting, reviewing and generally talking shit about new wines.

I am intending to post every other day at 5PM, since it typically takes me two days to go through a bottle of wine by myself. If it turns out I am fortunate enough to have help, I may post more frequently. I remember a day when I would drink an entire bottle of wine in an evening and think nothing of it. But as years pass, the tolerance we have for some vices changes, but also our relationship with those vices changes, where we just don't need or want them in the same way. I think it is almost more accurate to say I don't want to drink an entire bottle of wine in an evening; it really doesn't sound fun. Whereas once I thought of it as an accomplishment, I now think of it more as a warning sign.

Anyway, all that fanfare for this. My first review here is not exactly returning with a bang, though I do have more tastiness scheduled later. I probably should have doubled up for my return and at least brought you a drinkable suggestion, but instead, here is more of a cautionary tale:

Don't.

This wine isn't the worst I've had for the price. We found it at Costco and it was less than $10. I found nothing spectacular hiding in these flavors. They were muted and blended to the point of having no distinctive characteristics, like mixing the wrong colors together. But do remember that wine is always subjective--one person's art, you know... If you are a fan of cheap wine-flavored wine, then you'll like this. It had a sweetness to it that made it drinkable, but I would say just get Menage--it's a way better wine and serves the same purpose as the 3rd or 4th bottle.

If this is your first time reading, I feel I should explain that last sentence a bit. In a given evening of wine drinking, I structure the presentation, the way they do for tastings, But I do so in reverse order of complexity. I typically start with the best (according to me), and gradually move toward something less nuanced. Partially because unlike a tasting, people are out and out drinking the wines, not just tasting, and it is easy to be distracted with good conversation. And it is easy for one's taste buds to get shot over an evening. A sip of even an exceptional wine may occur absently. So I start with something good, and by the 3rd of 4th bottle when people are just drinking to drink, I pull out the cheap stuff--anything that is good enough to enjoy, but not the subject of the conversation. By then, we are leaping from subject to subject anyway. The consensus among my friends is "If I have good wine, I'd like to remember it" so we start with the best when palettes are freshest.

Cameron Hughes does have many good wines. Though from what I am able to glean from their website, they appear to source wines from all over the world, receiving them three ways: in grape-form which they start wine-ifying from scratch; barreled wine which they then age, blend and bottle; or wine fully bottled and ready to distribute, where all they have to do is slap their label on it. These come from a variety of sources all over the world, and therefore they don't actually grow their own grapes.

Bottom line (because there is always a bottom line): Skip it. Don't be lured in by the pretty metallic teal on the label. It is a lie.

Returning soon!

Hey all, sorry for neglecting you. I have been on vacation in Yellowstone, and will return to my wine drinking duties shortly.

I can say that Yellowstone is damn pretty, and I highly recommend you visit. I would pick not the week leading up to Labor Day, however, or really around any major holiday.

Though given how cosmopolitan the attendees are, you may be S.O.L. anytime of year, well, except between October and May. Maybe a little snowy and starving-and-desperate-to-eat-wolfy.

But it is super pretty and amazing, and like a good wine, it may just change your life.

Curtis Viognier 2012

I am not a fan of Viognier. There some weird flavor in them that is dry and crappy. But I can no longer say they are all awful. This Curtis was definitely better than any others I have had. It was light,  a gently fruity sweetness, but also nice round and buttery Chardy-like flavor.

If you like whites, you'll like this one. It's-a goooood. It's not light like a Sauv Blanc, it's beefier like a Chardy, and maybe a little more so. I'm not sure what it is about this varietal, but I personally find it a little confounding. Like it is hard for me to get my mind around the flavor.

But rather than being repulsed, like my experiences with Pinot Grigio, (or Pinot Gris), which all taste like zombie feet, I find myself intrigued.

Bottom line: Drink it!

Simi Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

I was all excited about SIMI. Mostly because of those big capital letters. It's one of the more expensive cheap wines at Costco, at $15 per bottle.

This wine is super generic. It is the most wine-flavored wine I have ever wined in my wine-hole.

There is no complexity. It is flatter than a [flattest thing ever]. There was no identifiable flavors. Once I thought I was getting vanilla, but then... I wasn't.

Bottom line: Meh. If your experiencing too good of day, this, the prozac of wine, will even you out.

F. J. Serra Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

This was a fun cheap wine. Not spectacular, but not awful. I think it was about $12 or so. I know I post a lot about cheap wines, but it's because my housemate keeps buying them for us to drink. He's good about picking out new and different ones.

So as long has he keeps providing them I'm going to keep blogging about them.

Bottom line: fine in a pinch, but it won't change your life.

Tobin James Chardonnay James Gang Reserve 2012

Tobin James! The party tasting room! This is a fun winery. Their sun logo is on everything, and not just on some garbage merchandise. Some are cleverly thought out and a little unique and different from other wineries. If you have been to wineries you start to see the same kinds of things over and over again.

So I definitely recommend this Chardy in the warm late afternoon. Or even a small glass at lunch can be quite refreshing. It is lightly fruity, but not sweet. A very elegant balance between sweet and dry. This wine is just a fun time in a bottle. If you don't like fun, I think there's a pinot gris waiting for you in your '85 Pontiac. SNAP!

Bottom line: You like fun don't you? Drink it!

Grizzly Republic Grenache 2008

This wine is from our recent trip to Paso Robles, where we explored a whole new, and as it turns out, magical!, area of California. Paso = Go There!

Grenache is typically a pinot-like wine. Though personally I find it sweeter and just better, in about every possible way. (Incidentally there also exists in the world a Grenache-Blanc, just as there is a Pinot-Gris, however Pinot-Gris is undrinkable swill).

This Grenache is unique in that the year these grapes were growing, there was a forest fire nearby and the smoke settled over the vines. You can TASTE the SMOKE in the wine!!! It is the craziest thing! It is like a natural event that occurred in history has been saved in this bottle.

Now, Grenache is a lighter wine than, say a Cab Sauv, but what I feel it has in common with Pinot is it has a lot of subtle complexity. You definitely get fruit, though lighter fruits, like raspberries or cranberries, and a bit of spice, some vanilla. And a forest fire in your mouth!

Don't be put off by my talk of the smoke. It is not at all overwhelming. It is there, but it in no way overpowers the enjoyment of the wine. I just can't shut the hell up about it because it is so unusual!

Bottom line: Drink it!

Napa Cellars Zinfandel 2012

This Zin is a friggin' delight. Though not without tannins, it isn't too sharp and pointy. It has a spiciness you would expect from a good zin, and beautiful dark cherry and berry fruits carry through the nose and into the finish. And it just has a big and bold flavor. I swear my friend Beth can hear me opening this from Hollywood.

I'm sure you can pair this with just about anything until the cows come home, but it is perfectly good to just drink. Which we did. We drank the entire thing in one sitting,

Napa Cellars has both their Classic collection, which is where this Zin is categorized, and a Platinum Reserve, which features a Chardy, Cab Sauv, and a Syrah.

I'm currently cellaring my Platinum Reserve bottles, but believe me, I can foresee a time when I have to bust into the good stuff. But luckily I had enough foresight to grab Classic Collection Cabs, Syrahs, Zins and Merlots. They are all above average wines, but the Cab and Zin in particular are quite good. And affordable. You can find them in the grocery stores for between 18 and 25 per bottle, and many stores offer 6-pack discounts, so you can actually save more money on some very good wine.

Not "good" wine. REALLY good wine. I hesitate to call these "great," because when you have great wine, the rest of the world just becomes a little desaturated, and you really start to understand the difference. And your taste starts to discriminate a bit.

But if you are having a party and need (or just 'want,' I'm not judgin') some REALLY good wine, this is like the slightly nerdy professor, who is also a little sexy, who starts off a little serious and turns out to be a lot of fun, mostly for his extensive knowledge of dirty jokes.

Bottom line: Loosen up and drink it!