2009 Mohua New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, $13.99

OK. I love this wine already & I haven't even cracked it open yet.

I enjoy New Zealand sauvignon blanc, I really do. I find them unmatched by any from Cali, that's for damn sure. This one in particular has a lot of things in its favor. One, it's a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand. Two, it's got a screw top. Three, it's got a 13% alcohol content. And four, it's earth friendly - profits from this bottle of wine help fund conservation projects to help the survival of the mohua, a small native bird on the brink of extinction.

Like I said, what's not to love? Even if the wine sucks, I'll be glad I bought it.

The aroma on this wine is shockingly good. I smell the crispness & minerally goodness in here first, followed by an overwhelming - and delightful - aroma of exotic green berries. It makes me salivate. I watch the raggedy sheet fall down the side of the glass into the medium-yellow body. It's not pale yellow, but it doesn't look like somebody peed in the glass, either.

I am so pleased by the taste of this wine. It tastes exactly how it smells. On the palate, I get the beautiful, fresh mineral taste coupled with the crispness & acidity, both of which are honed to perfection. On the finish, I get the berry taste. It's gooseberries.

Even the mouthfeel (...) is good. It starts off thin over the lips, but as I feel it on my tongue & palate, it feels fuller. And smooth. The acidity is there, but it's a smooth acidity, one that doesn't tingle my salivary glands or overpower the taste. Nice.

I love, love, love this wine. I am instructing all of you, my readers, to do a good deed & purchase this bottle. You may not love it as much as I do, but you'll feel better about yourself for purchasing it. Go. CT Beverage Mart. Go!

Cheers!

Kate

Estancia Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands 2006 Pinot Noir, $23.99

OK. Estancia, in my esteemed opinion, is like Robert Mondavi & Rodney Strong. They're everywhere at every price point. Which is not a bad thing, but really, how many do we need? Now, I adore Mondavi & I'm a huge fan of Rodney's select stuff, so I'm willing to give it a go. Hell, it's Cinco de Mayo. This is as close to a margarita as I'm gonna get.

In the glass, this wine looks like a cross between plum juice & strawberry juice. Weird, but those are the vibes I'm getting. A thick, slow-moving sheet sets up along the side of the glass, forming some stubby little legs after about ten seconds. The back of the bottle advertises a "spice-laced fragrance...with lush fruit and exotic smokiness." Um, maybe. I smell the alcohol up front (which is a big duh with a wine that clocks in with a 14.5% alcohol content), but beyond that, I smell earthiness, like wetlands, with a little mixed-berry aroma at the tail end of the nose.

This wine makes me incredibly happy. The mouthfeel (...) is priceless. Silky, medium-bodied, smooth. I would buy this wine just for the feel of it. On the taste side, I'm getting a quick hit of non-descript fruit & blueberries on the mid-palate, which dulls into a pleasant bitterness as it glides down my throat. I know, it doesn't sound appetizing when I put it that way, but trust me, it's fantastic.

This being said, this is not a wine I want to share. This is not a wine I would break out with friends, or order at dinner. This wine would be very food-friendly, but right now, I'm enjoying it just by itself, all alone at home. HA! Best Cinco de Mayo ever. Find out more at www.estanciawinery.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Ruinart Champagne, N/V, $69.99

I'm ba-ACK!

OK, I have to say, that was one hell of a Lenten season. Not only did I slip up a couple of times (a night in Florida with a magnum of house chianti & a night in West Hartford's Barcelona come to mind), but Charlie Sheen failed to deliver the goods. Bummer. But I learned the only good thing about giving up wine for 40 days is that you end up with a full wine fridge when it's over. Awesomeness.

One of the things I purchased was this bottle of champagne, for Easter at my in-law's house. For those of you who don't know, my father-in-law, Ta, is pretty ill. He's got terminal cancer, Mantle cell lymphoma to be exact. And he likes to drink. So I bought a bottle of this champagne for him. It came in a killer bottle in a fancy box. On a side note, the only reason I've ever heard of Ruinart champagne is b/c my FAVORITE boutique chocolatier, Vosges, infuses their champagne truffles with this. Yum.

As soon as I opened this bottle, the smell of apples hit me. Like the freshest apple juice you've ever smelled, all different types of juicy apples & one of those hand-held juicer things. It's a little darker yellow in color, like a clear, pale apple juice. How's that for irony?

In my mouth, this wine is dry. That's the first thing that comes to mind. Dry. The taste of alcohol is intermittent, the taste hitting on the rugae but disappearing at the mid-palate. I personally find the lack of apples on the palate disappointing. I also find the mouthfeel (...) a little disappointing, a little thin & watery. And dry. I think I mentioned that already.

The worst part about this wine is that, at the first sip, I thought it was the best champagne I'd ever tasted. By the time I swallowed, it tasted no better than my two favorite bubbly stand-bys, which I won't name now b/c I'll be reviewing them later, but one is $14.99 & the other is $18.99. That's a whole lot cheaper than $69.99.

That being said, I don't regret buying this champagne in a kick-ass bottle. I wanted Ta to have real champagne for Easter, not just the sparkling wine one, and this one fit the bill nicely w/out a three-digit price tag. So, my final review is this. If you want the real deal at a decent price, this will do. If you just want a bubbly, steer clear from Reims.

Cheers!

Kate

Public Service Announcement

To My Readers -

Beginning March 9th, 2011, I am officially giving up alcohol for Lent. (No, not crazy; Charlie Sheen's crazy.) I apologize for not being able to keep you updated on the latest & greatest wines, but I do promise that when I return, there will be more amazing wines to come. So sit back, hang tight & try not to miss me too much. I'm sure Mr. Sheen will keep you entertained until I return.

Cheers!

Sober Kate

2006 Olvena Garnacha-Syrah, $17.99

OK. It's bad to admit this, but I bought this wine for the bottle. It's a cool, almost cushion-cut (if you're into diamond shapes) bottle with actual edges, reminiscent of a high-end olive oil bottle. And it comes packaged in a box. A black box with an orange interior. Way cool. I normally have to pay over $100 to get a wine packaged in a box, so for under $20, I was game.

I love the smell of this wine. It's like grape jam, fresh strawberries, black pepper & sugar-free strawberry-kiwi Jello-O all hit my nostrils at once. There are lots of legs on the glass, denoting the heaviness of the wine's body. The color is a red-purple, clear, almost clear like a pinot noir (which is fast becoming one of my favorite grapes, but I digress).

This wine goes down my throat like water, it glides down so smooth & easy. On my palate, I'm tasting tannins, but mellow tannins, mellow like a little baby. On the finish, which lingers for a few seconds, I get strawberry Jell-O flavor on top of those tannins. Interesting side note: I can't taste or smell a lick of alcohol, despite its 14% alcohol content. It reminds me of the time I went to a bar with my sister, when she ordered some tropical drink that tasted like it had no alcohol in it, so she proceeded to order them & ended up tanked after the 3rd drink. You could get seriously sloppy on this wine if you're not careful.

Grenache is not my favorite grape (it's Julie's), but I could really get into this bottle. SSSH! Don't tell Julie I'm getting her a bottle for her birthday. Learn more at www.bodegasolovena.com, and please, don't forget that there's alcohol in it.

Cheers!

Kate

2009 Pacific Rim Columbia Valley Riesling, $10.99

OK. I am so excited because I've got another Pacific Rim wine to blog about, and you all know how much I dig this winery. It's so funny - I'm not even a riesling fan. But I feel like whatever this vineyard puts out, between the pretty label and the screw-top and the delicious taste, I'm never dissatisfied.

This riesling is, according to the back label, medium dry, just short of medium sweet, with "aromas of jasmine, pear and apple." (It also boasts an 11.7% alcohol content, which is pretty decent for these guys.) Mmm. The best part is that I can actually smell the jasmine in this wine, in equal amounts with the pear & apple. I also smell a lot of honeysuckle in this wine, which moves slowly in a sheet down the side of the glass.

As for the taste, the first thing I think is that this wine tastes like I took the dry & sweet rieslings, mixed them together, dumped them in a glass and drank. They're not kidding when they report this wine as being a nice compromise between the two. Mid-palate, I'm getting some hints of brown sugar cube, along with gala apple & the two aforementioned flowers. The aftertaste is like a soft, warm sugar cookie, but the finish is quick.

I like this wine, though it's definitely not my favorite in a long list of Pacific Rim wines. That's cool, though. I like trying new things & experimenting with all the labels this winery has to offer. And hey, maybe someday I'll be able to blog about a wine of theirs that has higher than a 13% alcohol content, you never know. www.RiselingRules.com.

Cheers!

Kate

2009 Bogle Vineyards California Chardonnay, $11.99

OK. First of all, I'd like to say, Happy New Year! Second, I'd like to say: I love snow days.

It is snowing like a demon where I come from. I've been watching the news all morning, and this storm, the one they're calling Winter Storm Benedict, has pretty much closed the entire state. The snow is falling at 3 - 4 inches per hour & a lot of the state has already seen over 2 feet of snow. That's feet, people. Two feet.

So, since I obviously didn't go to work, what better way to spend a snow day than sipping on and blogging about wine?

Now, I know I'm a little messed up. I know that winter calls for red while summer calls for white. I'm a little backwards. I truly enjoy red in the summer & white in the winter. For me, it's a no-brainer. Cold while it's cold, warm while it's warm. Which is why I lusted over & decided upon this bottle of chard.

This is a buttery-gold chard in color, really beautiful. It's not heavy, falling in a single sheet on the side of the glass. But it sure smells heavy, with its mouth-watering butter & oak aromas. And it doesn't smell like alcohol, despite its 13.5% alcohol content. This wine is making me salivate.

And no wonder! This wine tastes heavy too, though not in mouthfeel (ARGH!!!). In taste, it's a heavyweight, luckily tasting exactly the way it smells. It smells like oak & butter, with a tight alcohol taste on the finish. It's not complicated. Also, it's not smooth the way a buttery, oakey chardonnay usually is; it's sharp, like a sauvignon blanc. There's a little bite to it.

I suspect that if you, the reader, aren't usually a fan of a buttery, oakey chard, this is a great one to try. It's got the body of a sauvignon blanc with the taste of an oak monster. Quite possibly the best of both worlds. I highly recommend it, especially at this price point. It's a better white than a lot of others for the money. Learn more at www.boglewinery.com.

Cheers!

Kate