Clos du Val 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, $24.99

OK. If you know anything at all about the wines I drink, you would know that cabernet from Napa Valley takes the cake. It pushes all the right buttons for me. Now, this one here is not exactly pure cabernet. It's 85% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc, 5% merlot & 4% petit verdot. Ahhh, the PV. I'm in love just after reading the label.

This wine is so dark in the glass it's almost black. There's a purpley-red tinge around the perimeter, but all in all, it's dark. You couldn't see through this if you tried. That's the PV for you. God, I love PV.

It takes a while for the legs to form on the side of the glass, but when they do, they're slow and long. They creep down to the wine, never breaking up, never turning into a sheet. And there are a lot of them. This is no cheesy, two-legs-and-we're-done kind of wine. This is one heavy bad boy. On the nose, I smell two things: the alcohol content (13.5%) and the petit verdot. Man, that is one distinctive grape, and you either love it or hate it. You know I love it.

The back of the bottle proclaims that there are "flavors of dark fruit" on the palate. I wonder, what exactly constitutes dark fruit? Granted, I'm not tasting happy strawberries or raspberries on the palate - really, all I taste is petit verdot & these amazing tannins that are powerful but mellow at the same time. Does that make sense at all? Those tannins are there & they're totally not pushovers, but at the same time, it's almost like they're saying, "Yeah, we're here, and we used to be bitter, but we've mellowed out." Yummy. This is exactly the kind of wine I could drink my entire life & not get tired of.

The aftertaste is long on this wine. It's reminiscent of fake sweeteners, but not in the flavor sense. You know when you have artificial sweeteners & they leave a distinctive tang/burn down the back of your throat? This wine does the same thing. The aftertaste leaves this mellow chemical burn down the back of my throat that's at once comforting and perplexing. Again, that's the PV talking. It's so funny that just a small amount of PV can radically change the structure of an entire bottle of wine.

Love. I am in love, love, love with this wine. It's not the cheapest wine out there, but it's by far not the most expensive, either. I think, if I had to pick only one wine to drink for the rest of my life, this would be it. This is my wine. This wine defines everything about me & what I'm looking for in a wine...hell, even in my life. I dare you to try it once & see if you don't agree. www.closduval.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Jacob's Creek Non-Vintage Chardonnay - Pinot Noir Brut Cuvee, $16.99

OK. What's up with all these non-vintage wines lately? Well, like I've mentioned before, if the price is right & the taste is good, bring it.

I adore a good bubbly, even more so at a good price, and I have never seen this bottle before. Sure, I've seen Jacob's Creek, and I love them for putting out a decent wine at a decent price. Their other wines can be found everywhere. This one I found by accident at a little packey near Shady Glen in the Manchester Parkade. Actually, I was kinda surprised when I went in there, b/c they have a LOT of stuff I haven't seen before, even though they have a small selection.

A sparkling wine calls for a champagne flute. I love looking at all the bubbles in this glass. Actually, I love hearing them pop in the flute next to me, sort of like a Rice Krispies cereal pop.

On the nose, I smell a little bit of yeast, a little bit of apple. Green apple, sliced, crisp & crunchy. Mmm. But mostly, I smell joy. This sparkling wine is meant to be opened for happy occasions.

There's not much on the palate, the effervescence totally takes over & nullifies the taste till the back of my tongue. From there, I can taste a little more of that green sliced apple taste along with some French baguette, mixed with nut flavors - walnut, mostly, with some hazelnut & almond. There's a touch of oak in here, as well there should, since this is an 80 - 20 blend in favor of the chard.

Another thing I should mention: this sparkler glides down my throat. Despite the 12% alcohol content & the loud pop of those beautiful bubbles, this goes down clean & easy. I am in love.

SPEED, don't just drive, to the Manchester Parkade to find this beauty. It's that good, I promise. Learn more at www.jacobscreek.com.au.

Cheers!

Kate

Pacific Rim Non-Vintage Dry Riesling, $10.99

OK. So I can practically see you all thinking, What's the deal with all the Pacific Rim? Doesn't this b*tch drink anything other than Pacific Rim?

Well, of course I do. But I love Pacific Rim, for its taste & its price point. You know, sometimes you just want to open a bottle of wine where you don't have to fidget with the fancy wine opener (this has a screw top), you don't have to feel guilty about opening up a pricey bottle (I can buy five of these & spend less than I would on a bottle of Bommarito - more on that to come), and you can sip & enjoy. This wine in particular is very near & dear to my heart.

On June 2nd, 2004, I was introduced to this wine at my dear friend Carly's 25th birthday party at Legal Sea Foods in Copley Square, Boston. My date Kate Knowles, who's originally from Cali, introduced me to this wine & to the fish stew called cioppino. This was actually the 1st wine I'd ever tried & liked. I liked it a lot. Of course, it was from Bonny Doon Vineyards back in '04. Things have changed a little since then.

I also got drunk on this wine on the night of June 22nd, 2006. Less than 18 hours before my sister Missy & brother-in-law Justin got married, my boyfriend at the time dumped me. At 11:00 at night. What a loser. This wine was my comfort that night & the following day, when I was so upset about being the fat, just-dumped, older sister of the bride.

On the nose, this wine smells like any other dry riesling, crisp & acidic. It has a lower alcohol content (12.5% - figures it was the one to break me in) & forms a thin sheet on the glass.

On the palate, this wine is just as crisp as it ever was. I taste a faint hint of apricot on the mid-palate, which the back of the bottle promises. The bottle also promises tastes of lime, but I don't taste lime, I only get the acidity of the lime. The finish is short but pleasant. Mainly, the taste that sticks out is the acidity & the freshness. This is not a sweet wine.

As you've probably gathered, I adore this wine. This is my 1st love, so if you don't love it, don't tell me! www.pacificrimwinemakers.com.

Cheers!

Kate

P.S. You can get a really bangin' cioppino at Bobby Flay's "Bar Americain" at Mohegan Sun in CT, if you're interested. Also, I had another really great cioppino at "Scoma" in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. Both are highly recommended.

P.P.S. This photo is of me & Kate Knowles at Carly's birthday party. God, I miss that girl every day. Dr. Knowles! If you stumble across this blog, holler back at me!

Pacific Rim Non-Vintage Chenin Blanc, $10.99

OK. Back to one of my favorite sweet winemakers.

I am obsessed with tracking down a bottle of Paumanok Vineyards chenin blanc. I read about it in Food & Wine magazine; apparently it's one of - if not the - best Chenin Blanc in the U.S. And made in New York State, no less! Heh heh, good luck trying to find it, though. Apparently, this wine is not one of the best-kept secrets in the States. Everybody knows about it.

So this is my runner-up coveted chenin blanc. First off, it's a non-vintage, but that doesn't matter so much to me if the wine tastes good & is well-priced. It's not much in the alcohol content department (12.5%). It's not much on the nose, either. This is one of the first wines I've actually smelled where I don't get much of a scent at all.

On the palate, the first thing that hits me is honey-covered honeydew melon. The back of the bottle says that there is "an eruption of floral notes and...pear, key lime and creme brulee." In all honesty, I don't taste any of those flavors, which is kind of a bummer b/c I'm a big fan of pear & key lime...and don't even get me started on creme brulee. The aftertaste is a little disappointing. Well, it's nonexistent, just like the scent on this wine.

So yes, chenin blanc is a little on the sweet side. Not sweet like Pacific Rim's sweet riesling, but sweet enough. And I love Pacific Rim, more so than most other vineyards in the U.S. So, until I can get my hands on a bottle from Paumanok, this one will have to do.

Cheers!

Kate

Foxglove Central Coast Chardonnay 2009, $12.99

OK. By now, if you've been following either of my blogs for any amount of time, you probably know that I am a big chardonnay fan as far as the non-red, non-sparkly wines go. I know, I don't get it either. But this bottle, which I picked up at Stew Leonard's, has a 91-point rating. That's a pretty high rating for a pretty small price.

For a white wine, this wine is so heavy that it almost, almost forms legs on the glass. Yeah, baby! That's the kind of white I like to drink, heavy. On the nose, I get a sweet, happy aroma, a bouquet of apricot, pineapple & peach. To be more specific, it smells like you took the juice that covers the pineapple rings & mixed it in with canned, artificially-sweetened apricots in that sugary syrup. I can also sense the teensiest scent of a sauvignon blanc in there. It's a tight, complex nose.

This wine tastes exactly how it smells. It doesn't fake you out or pull any punches. What you smell is what you get. And this wine goes down like water. Water. It's smooth, light, and clean. I don't even feel that alcohol-laced tingle on the underside of my tongue or the back of my throat as I swallow. Which is quite a feat, considering the 13.9% alcohol content.

This wine is great: well-priced, easy-drinking, highly-rated, and tastes just damn good. With a respectable alcohol content, to boot! Now, I know that I'm not supposed to pick favorites, but this one is a winner. Go look for it, it's a can't-miss! Find out more at www.varnerwine.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling Columbia Valley 2008, $10.99

OK. I am a sucker for Pacific Rim, and I'm not even a riesling fan. Whatever it is they do to these grapes, it is nothing short of astounding.

First off all, this wine gets major points from me because 1) It's got a screw top - love that, and 2) The bottle is accented in purple, my favorite color. So right away, it's hard to go wrong.

This wine is so light & pretty in the glass, with a graceful thin sheet gliding down the side of the glass. On the nose, it smells like a beautiful bouquet of mellow fruits & flowers - cantaloupe, peaches, honeysuckle. I am in love with the smell of this wine.

The taste is exactly as it smells. What you smell is what you get. I love the lingering honey notes on the aftertaste. Make no mistake, this is a sweet wine, even though the back of the bottle proclaims that it's only "medium-sweet." BS. It's sweet. Not sickeningly sweet, but sweet enough. I could see this wine being amazing paired with a creme brulee or an almond/pear tart or a fruit crisp. A delicate, understated sweet dessert, not chocolate - chocolate would completely overpower this riesling.

My only disappointment is this wine's low alcohol content. It's a miniscule 8.5%. That's something Julie would laugh at. Normally, I would too. But I love this wine, I do. And I'm so glad it's available at the Cost Cutters Liquor Store (affectionately referred to as the "packey") right across the street from my office. I can get out of work, swing by, pick up a bottle for a low price & head home a happier camper.

Learn more about this sweet riesling and more at www.rieslingrules.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Bogle Vineyards 2007 Phantom, $21.99

OK. I am a complete sucker for wines that come in a limited shipment. It's like Christmas: it only comes once a year, and when it's gone, it's gone. Stew Leonard's sent out an e-mail saying that the supplies this year were so limited that they couldn't take any phone orders for or hold any bottles of this petite syrah/old vine zinfandel/mourvedre blend. So you know I had to hustle my heinie down there and pick up a couple of bottles.

Disclaimer: I nearly killed myself to get into this bottle. The neck of this bottle is so big that I couldn't get the foil cutter around it, and had to resort to a corkscrew to rip the foil off. The foil is so frickin' tough that I slipped and almost cut my finger off. Well, not really, but my index finger is still throbbing.

This wine looks exactly like a cup of purple grape juice in the glass. It's pretty. On the glass, this wine forms a thin sheet with just a couple of thin legs running down within the sheet, so you can tell it's pretty medium-bodied. On the nose, the first thing that hits me is the scent of alcohol, which shouldn't come as a surprise, given the 14.5% sucker punch of an alcohol content.

Now for the taste. At first sip, I get this incredible deluge of flavors in my mouth, blackberries and raspberries with a hint of strawberries. I get a taste of rubbing alcohol in there, followed by a bitter component in the aftertaste, where the flavor of the old vine zin shines like the star of the show.

Hmm. I keep sipping this wine, but I'm not sure how much I like it. Straight-up red zinfandel makes me puke. It's the only grape I can't stomach. Granted, I've been sick on cheap wine before, but red zin in any quality makes me throw up. (FYI: the wine that got me bad was called Plungerhead. It came really well recommended and had a really cool bottle, but I threw up for hours.) I suppose that doesn't make me the best wine reviewer, it makes me sort of prejudiced against this grape and any blends that contain it.

All in all, this wine could probably use an hour or two of decanting. The tannins are harsh & bitter, and I really need a more mellow feel on my tongue and palate. Ask me again when I've decanted the entire bottle. Oh well, at least I bought two bottles. Maybe I'll open up the bottle in the cellar next year & report back.

Cheers!

Kate