Rusack 2008 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir, Reserve, $42.00

OK. One of - OK, he is - my go-to guys in the wine industry is the unmistakable Gary Vaynerchuk. Watching his Wine Library TV and reading his books & articles really gives me insight and drives me crazy wanting to try some of his highest-rated wines. In particular, in 2008 he reviewed this pinot noir (albeit the 2006 vintage) and scored it quite highly. I have been desperate to track it down, since I find pinot noir to be either really good or really bad. The catch? Rusack Vineyards is so small, it won't ship to CT, not even if your local package store begs. But they will ship to FL.

So I had them ship it down here for when I would be here. Yes, I know how this makes me sound, but whatever.

Right off the bat, I am horrified - and horrifyingly disappointed - that the cork begins to crumble as soon as I try to remove it. I mean, disastrous. This wine is way too expensive for this to be happening. I pull out my trusty Houdini which, thankfully, removes the cork in more or less one piece, but not without depositing some bits of cork back into the bottle. Blasphemous.

Moving on. This is a really dark-colored pinot; it looks like a less-opaque version of cabernet or merlot. Legs form in about 10 seconds, dripping slowly down the side of the glass. On the nose, I get the smell of drunken strawberries - young, not-quite-ripe strawberries drowned in vodka - which isn't so surprising, given its 14.5% alcohol content. (Yet another reason I like FL: the wines I try here always tend to have a higher-than-normal alcohol content.)

Holy CRAP, this wine is good.

Despite the cork bits floating around, I am genuinely moved by this wine. The first thing I notice is the mouthfeel, which is simply incredible. The heft is commanding, but so polished at the same time, almost like someone took a silver-polishing rag & scrubbed this wine before bottling it. On the palate & the beginning of the finish, all I taste are tannins. Firm, smooth tannins. Yet, as the finish continues, I get these beautiful flavors of fruit & flowers. I get the taste of rose petals, plums & cherries. They are so pretty that it almost bums me out to take another sip & wash away all these pretty flavors.

I check the back of the bottle and, lo and behold, it states that they integrated flavors of "cherry, violet and black plum" into this wine. Spot on. I love it when the back of the bottle gets it right.

Yes, I know this wine is expensive, and yes, I know I had to go through great pains to track it down. Was it worth it? Without a doubt, yes. It may not be a wine I'd drink on a Tuesday night, but it is a fine wine that I would spend the money on again & again.

I am also glad that I agreed with Gary's assessment of this wine. While I love Gary and find his tasting notes to be insightful & fascinating, I don't always agree with him. (A 2001 Hungarian dessert wine, one that cost me $56, comes to mind.) So, cheers to Gary, cheers to Rusack, and especially cheers to the state of FL for making this all happen. God, I love this state. http://www.rusack.com/

Cheers!

Kate

Michael David 2008 Petite Petit, Lodi Appellation, $17.00

OK. So here I am, back in FL. I think you guys might have caught a post a little bit back about buying wine at Target in FL, which still amuses me to no end. (Though not as much as being able to buy wine at CVS.) I was in a great mood when I bought this wine b/c I paid a lot less for it than I would normally pay for it in CT.

In the glass, a gazillion skinny little legs form immediately and drip back into the body of the wine, which is a super dark, reddish-purplish-black color that I can't see my fingers through. The nose is harsh & tannin-filled, very old-world with a cedar box component. The alcohol is only slightly evident on the nose, despite this wine's sucker punch of a 15% alcohol content.

On the palate, there's tannins. Lots of them. Big, mellow tannins with a hint of dirt. Then, as I swallow, that mellow chemical burn - an unmistakable trademark of the petit verdot, which comprises 15% of this wine - lingers, at once soothing & comforting.

This is definitely an old-world wine, both in aroma & taste. There are no happy fruit flavors in this wine. Instead, there is a truckload of tannins with a hint of cedar. It's a very mature taste, very refined.

I love this wine for a lot of reasons - the refined taste, the high alcohol content, the petit verdot component, the elephants & circus theme on the bottle. But most of all, I love it for the fact that this wine could go head-to-head with an old-world French wine more than twice the price and, in my opinion, win. www.lodivineyards.com

Cheers!
Kate

Channing Daughters 2009 Rosato di Cabernet Sauvignon - Mudd Vineyard, $18.00

OK. We all know how I feel about pink wine. (Blech.) But we also all know how I feel about cabernet sauvignon. (Love!) So this wine, a gift to me from my girl Woman, is a study & a challenge to me all at once. Bring it on!

In the glass, this wine is pale, pale, pale! It's the color of white-peach flesh, or maybe the blush in the cheeks of a girl in a Renaissance painting. Pretty! It is extremely heavy in body with legs forming immediately (and by the truckload). On the nose, I get a whiff of salt air & sea breeze (not the alcoholic drink, thank you very much). Not sure where that salt came from, but I am sure enjoying it.

Holy cow! This wine has just shot across my palate & shocked me in a way that I cannot believe. At first sip, right over my lips and teeth, all I taste is alcohol. Surprising, especially when you take into account the low 12.5% alcohol content. Then I get a hint of sweet, but sweet with a force behind it - I guess the best way to describe it is like sweet that's been knocked into my mouth off a baseball bat. And when I say sweet, I mean sweetness like a grape-flavored Jolly Rancher candy. And then, just when I think this wine is going to be all sweetness, it turns tart at the tail end, making me pucker up and think of something like a sour grape martini. The sour finish lingers, reminiscent of grape-flavored NERDS candy. An alcoholic candy store in my mouth.

Again, this is the reason why I love it when people bring me wine as a gift. This is not a wine I normally would have picked out by myself - in fact, the only pink wine I have EVER sought out was Francis Ford Coppola's Sofia Rose (and even then, it was really more for the bottle) - but I love this. I love cab, even when it's pink. Hoo-Rah! http://www.channingdaughters.com/index.php

Cheers!

Kate

Barbed Wire Meritage 2009, $11.99

OK, I just have to get this out of my system...I love Florida! Not only is it sunshiney & happy, but the local Target carries some halfway-decent wines (sometimes ones I've never seen before) at some pretty good prices. I flew into MCO last night, hit up Target to pick up my favorite snackey treats (hummus & raw veggies), and of course to find a bottle of wine. This one was the winner. And it was on sale, too! Kudos to you, state of FL, for being my second home & for selling wine all over the place!

This meritage is a blend of cabernet & merlot with a 13% alcohol content. The back of the bottle brags that it is a "bold, classic Bordeaux-style blend." Well, I'm game. And the all-black bottle taunted me.

In the glass, this wine is super-dark & almost opaque, with long, instantly-forming legs that shoot straight down the glass like they're racing to the finish line. On the nose, it truly smells like a classic Bordeaux-style wine, with damp earth & rusty nail aromas.

On the palate, this wine is extremely interesting. It's almost like a warm, rare steak on the mid-palate, but with a long, disappointingly bitter finish. The tannins are young & firm, almost to the point where this wine feels like it could be undrinkable. That being said, the mouthfeel is incredibly smooth, the wine feels very lush on the palate, and there is only a tiny alcohol tingle to remind you that there's actually alcohol in here.

I'd have to say, to fully enjoy this wine, a half-hour of decanting should do the trick. But c'mon! This wine is from Napa. When was the last time you had a twelve-dollar red from Napa? For the flavor-to-price ratio, the only thing better is Layer Cake cab.

This wine is from Sutter Home, made especially for Target. It's on sale now if you're interested. Go! Go!

Cheers!
Kate

Souverain Chardonnay 2009, $17.00

OK. I had a killer party on Friday, and one of my co-workers who reads this blog (she's ALSO the one who introduced me to that package store next to Ginza - you know who you are!) brought me this lovely bottle as a gift. So I figured I might as well open it up & drink it. After all, it is a chardonnay, it is from Sonoma & Napa, and it does have an alcohol content of 13.9%. Killer!

The back of the bottle has this to say about this wine: "Superb fruit, eight months of oak aging, and lees-stirring have created a rich wine with intense notes of pear and nectarine." Excellent. I'm salivating already.

This is a light yellow-colored wine, looking almost like a sauvignon blanc, but with a much heavier body - the chubby little legs spring up immediately and meander down the side of the glass. On the nose, this wine is very reminiscent of the Trinitas chard with its heavy, oakey, buttery aroma.

On the palate, this wine is really incredible. On the mid-palate, I get a honey-covered fruit flavor, but not a pear or nectarine but almost like a clementine. You know those teeny little easy-to-peel, often seedless oranges? Yeah, those. After the blink-and-you-miss-it deluge of honeyed clementine, the finish is long & buttery, with hints of almond & bakery bread.

The mouthfeel (...) is also incredible, thin but luscious, with the tiniest hint of acidity to it. I cannot believe how good this chardonnay is. This is why I tell people to give me wine as gifts - not because I'm a wino (which I sort of am), but because I LOVE sharing the experience of wine with people. I don't drink wine to get drunk; I drink it to expand my palate & share my tasting notes with others. That being said, I also love being introduced to new wines, especially wines that I wouldn't necessarily pick out by myself, that totally blow me away. Just like this one. I'll have to ask my co-worker where she bought this so I can replenish my wine fridge. http://www.souverain.com/index.cfm?method=homepage.showpage

Cheers!

Kate

Aquinas 2009 Napa Valley Pinot Noir, $17.99

OK. I used to be a huge fan of Aquinas' cabernet, back in the day when they still sold it by the glass at Max Amore in Glastonbury. I totally found this bottle by accident. I was eating lunch at my favorite Japanese restaurant, Ginza in Wethersfield, when my eating companions pointed out that there was a brand-new package store next door. It was so new, I didn't even get the name. But I liked it in there. The selection was great, the prices were incredible, and you know I'll be going back.

So back to the wine. Pinot noir is growing on me, something I never thought would happen but obviously suprised the heck outta me. It has that pretty purple-ruby color that I love, and it surprisingly leaves a bunch of thin legs down the side of the glass. On the nose, I get an interesting whiff of seaweed salad (ironic, no?) - it's wild!

Unfortunately, the flavor is a little disappointing.

This wine is not bad - far from it. It's just nothing special. The mouthfeel (...) is very nice, silky & smooth. The flavor is not exceptional, though. I don't get the "polished notes of cherries and red berries" on my palate, though I do taste the tannins. But, to be fair, the tannins are quite the opposite of bitter, and there's no alcohol burn down my throat, despite the 13.8% alcohol content.

Bottom line? For a few more dollars, I'd rather purchase the Rodney Strong Estate Vineyards. That being said, I'm tracking down a bottle of the cab. Now that's love. http://marketplace.donandsons.com/Brands/Aquinas

Cheers!

Kate

Layer Cake Cabernet Sauvignon, Vintage 2009, $16.99

OK. Much like the New Yorkers, when the threat of Hurricane Irene hits, I make sure I have booze. I like my wine, the NY-ers like vodka. It doesn't matter what you're drinking, though, as long as you like it & have enough of it.

I bought this wine yesterday. Yes, it's another Layer Cake wine, but like I mentioned in my last posting, I like Layer Cake. And I was so excited when I checked out their website b/c I didn't realize they made a cab. I've had their shiraz, their malbec, their primitivo (better known as zinfandel), and now their chardonnay. This? I like cab best of all, so I can't wait to try it.

I've opened this wine at my parents' "compound" (so named b/c they have back-up generators, extra beds & a three-car brick garage attached to their brick home). Since my entire extended family is here, I needed a strong wine to make it through the next couple of days.

The alcohol is prominent on the nose! Not surprising, especially since this wine contains a 14.1% alcohol content. (So it's not vodka. Close enough.) I truly get an alcohol burn in my nostrils at the tail end of the sniff. Otherwise, the nose is very, very tight - it smells like tannins, dark & bitter. The legs are long & beautiful down the side of the glass.

BOOM!

This might be the best young cab I've ever tried, and I don't make that comment lightly. The first thing that hits me is that it's smooth. The mouthfeel (...) is absolutely incredible! It is so easy & silky on my palate and tongue, it's like drinking wine-flavored water.

Much like the scents on the nose, the flavors on the palate are tight - almost too tight to discern. There is a dull chocolate component on the palate, not dark like an enjoyable Hershey's Special Dark miniature - one of my personal favorite things in life - but more dark like Lindt's Excellence 99% Cocoa Bar (http://www.lindtusa.com/product-exec/product_id/41/category_id/5/nm/Excellence_99_Cocoa_Bar), which is an ashy, dry, smoky pure-chocolate bar. The tannins exhibit a buttery, aged-in-oak flavor, almost as if this cab was a sibling to the chardonnay. The finish is a few seconds long, but mellow & satisfying.

I truly believe that this cab rivals the $70 cabernet from Cakebread Cellars, but at a much better price point. If you, my readers, enjoy a well-crafted cabernet sauvignon at a reasonable price, this one is it. This is my hurricane gift to you. Irene will be best remembered for Layer Cake's cab!

Cheers!

Kate