Rodney Strong Vineyards Charlotte's Home Sauvignon Blanc 2008, $11.99

OK. Everyone knows I prefer red over white. That's just who I am, which is sorta ironic, because my ENTIRE FAMILY prefers white over red. Go figure. (Shoutout to my dad, who will try any wine once: you rock for that! Even if he does prefer margaritas, from Margaritaville especially.) However, my wine fridge is pretty full on the red side. I have a dual-temperature, two-zoned wine fridge with two racks for white and four racks for red. You know it's bad when the white side is full of specialty beer and not white wine. So I asked Bruce at Stew Leonard's to pick out a good white for me, one that I won't feel guilty about drinking. You know, you tend to feel guilty when you open up a bottle that costs $30 or more just because you want a glass of wine. He picked this one out for me.

I have a problem, one that I'm still working on overcoming. I hate it when wines are a "popular" label. Take Robert Mondavi, for example. He's everywhere, from Woodbridge to the highest highs. It used to annoy me, until I took the wine seriously & tried it. Now I love Mondavi. I feel the same way about Rodney Strong. Plus, it's got a screw-top, which I feel gets a really bad rap in the wine world. So I took this wine and tried to love it.

Readers, I don't love it.

Now, to be fair, for its price point, this is a very good wine. It's got a decent alcohol content (13.8%) and a good taste. If I were blindfolded, I'd know without a doubt that I was drinking a sauvignon blanc. But that's as far as it goes. It's just not special.

This wine smells like alcohol on the nose, and its legs on the glass are nonexistent, really a fast-moving sheet that slides down the side of the glass like a kid down a playground slide. The back of the bottle claims that this wine has "ripe pear, spiced melon, citrus and a clean mineral character" contained within. I taste the minerals, I do, and I like them. I enjoy the mineral taste. (I wouldn't be drinking Fiji mineral water on a regular basis if I didn't enjoy mineral taste.) But, try as I might, I cannot taste the pear, the melon or the citrus, and I'm more than two glasses in.

I don't know what I was expecting. This is a very happy, easy-drinking wine, but it's not complex. Maybe I like a heavy, complex wine. Maybe that's my problem. But if you, the reader, prefer not to think about your wine and just enjoy it, then I'd recommend this wine in a second. You can learn more about it at www.rodneystrong.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Block 2 Syrah Horse Heaven Hills 2008, $19.99

OK. So this is sort of a cult wine at Stew Leonard's. Bruce sadly informed me that, after their next shipment, there will be no more Block 2 Syrah. There will be a Block 2 Cabernet, which is more my speed, but right now I've got the syrah in my hands, so that doesn't do me any good. And just so you know, this is not a straight-up syrah, it's got malbec & merlot mixed in, but it's still more than three-quarters syrah.

Onto the wine. Despite this wine's high alcohol content (14.6%), I don't smell any alcohol on the nose. I get a peppery scent, with almost a weird raw fish scent if I close my eyes & focus enough. I'm a sushi lover in addition to a wine lover, so this doesn't turn me off at all. On the glass, there are legs for days - short, thick, rounded legs. It's exciting to see such a heavy-bodied wine.

Wow, this wine is smooth. If this wine were a man, it'd be the type of man dressed in a luxe three-piece Hugo Boss suit with shiny shoes on his feet, a Rolex on his wrist & a Cuban cigar in his hand. Actually, that pretty much sums up how this wine tastes, like dark chocolate with a hint of shiny metal & the slightest bit of cigar smoke. This taste is mostly on the aftertaste, but wow, is it good. I'm excited when a wine is so full of contradictions: it smells like sushi but tastes like dark chocolate? Sign me up.

Here's the joke: I'm not even a fan of syrah. For some reason, I equate Syrah with Old Vine Zinfandel, which is the only wine I can't stomach. I don't know why, it must be some Freudian thing. But if all Syrahs were like this one, this little grape could become one of my favorites. And just think, if this vineyard can make a syrah taste this good, then imagine what is can do with a cabernet. Can't wait to find out!

Cheers!

Kate

Fincha Flichman Paisaje de Tupungato 2007, $19.99

OK. Anyone who knows me knows how much I adore red wine. If I had a gun to my head & had to pick one wine to drink for the rest of my life, it would be cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley, followed directly by any red from Chile/Argentina/Spain. That should tell you a little bit about what kind of a wine drinker I am.

This wine falls into the 2nd category. It's a cabernet/malbec/merlot blend from Argentina with a high alcohol content (14.5%). It came highly recommended from Bruce at Stew Leonard's, who told me that the wine shop there is now catering almost exclusively to people like me, people who appreciate a fine wine & are willing to try something new.

This wine is very light, though not light-colored, in the glass. The wine falls in a sheet down the side of the glass, reminiscent of a sauvignon blanc. Odd, but manageable.

Prepare for a shock when you smell this wine. On the nose, all I can smell is rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol like when you were a kid & you fell, and Mom came to the rescue to clean the scrape before putting Neosporin & a Band-Aid on top. Obviously, this is due to the high alcohol content, but it still comes as a shock when you continually sniff the glass to see what other scent is in there, but nothing else comes on.

On the palate, this wine is kind of ho-hum. It tastes exactly as the back of the bottle describes it: "a...subtle combination of Cabernet sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot...combining the landscape and the spirit with which we wish to pay homage to our land." Read between the lines: this wine tastes like how a winery smells. You know that scent if you've been to even a local winery, the raw wood, the dirty hay, the damp earth, and the peppery alcohol. That's exactly what this wine tastes like. It tastes like you put ye olde vineyard wine shoppe in the blender.

Overall, I'm a little disappointed in this wine. I can think of better wines at this price point. While I'm feeling good after one glass & I most certainly won't be dumping it down the drain (alcohol abuse!), I will not be purchasing it again.

However, if you, the reader, are interested in dirty, earthy red wines, I encourage you to find out more information about this wine at www.flichman.com.ar or www.evaton.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Cline Viognier 2008, $10.99

OK. I like California wines better than French & Italian wines, and I'm not the hugest fan of white wine, so it makes sense for me to try something white from Cali.

The back label says that this grape is rich & exotically perfumed. I'll drink to that, no pun intended. On the nose, this wine smells pretty, like lots of field flowers and candy mixed together. And not chocolate candy, sugary candy like SweetTarts (a personal favorite of mine) and Pez. The back label also says that their viognier is "loaded with pineapple, peach and apricot flavors accented by floral and citrus notes." I get that. I taste the acidic pineapple and I taste the wildflowers in the aftertaste.

That being said, I'm a little disappointed because I didn't expect this wine to be sweet. I'm not a fan of sweet wines. My husband, that's the only way he'll drink it. But me, I like something not so sweet. On the plus side, this wine has some crispness and freshness to it. It's not like a riesling per se, more like somebody mixed half a bottle of riesling with a bottle of New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

I'm feeling good from the 14% alcohol by volume content after just one glass. This is some seriously potent stuff.

I like this wine. Not my favorite, of course, but one that I will buy again if the opportunity arises. The sweetness & the alcohol content will make my husband putty in my hands. ;)

Cheers!

Kate

Welcome!

Hi peeps! For those who don't know me, I'm Kate, and I have a cool blog with my girl Julie on cheap wine. (Said wine blog is Chicks Review Cheap Wine, check it out after you're done reading my blog!)

Now, while I don't have a problem with wines that are $10 and under, I like to try and review a lot of wines, and most of them don't fall into that category. So, because I like to take tasting notes and share the love, I've decided to start my own blog. Please join me, bring your own bottle, and we'll make it a party.

Cheers!

Kate