Pendulum 2007 Columbia Valley Red Wine, $17.99

OK. I almost got killed buying this wine at Toast in West Hartford Center. I ran across the street just as the light changed & I literally had to hold out my hand to stop two cars from mowing me down. Ah, story of my life. Good thing the ADA gave me life insurance.

This is not a bottle I would normally buy. First of all, what kind of grapes are in it? The back of the bottle doesn't say much except for "Intense flavors of berry, chocolate and spice artfully blended to achieve a complex and worldly wine." Not really my style. But it does have a 14.1% alcohol content. I can live with that.

I'm coming up on the one-year anniversary of my beloved Grandpa's death. For those of you who have been reading my wine blogs long enough to remember, my grandfather passed away last year on June 4th. Grandpa, who adored sweet wines, would have been intrigued by the description on the back label. And that is the reason I bought it, as well as the reason I'm opening it up right now.

In the glass, it looks like any other red wine - cab, syrah, merlot, take your pick. The body is so heavy that the wine clings to the side of the glass for a good 10 seconds before the legs begin to form - long, thin, spindly legs that take their time traveling down the glass. The scent of rubbing alcohol assaults my nostrils first, but midway through the sniff, I get this fantastic chocolate-covered cherry scent, much like the dark chocolate chocolate-covered cherries from Russel Stover that have the liquid-filled centers. Mmm, chocolate-covered cherries.

To borrow a phrase from the wine lord Gary Vaynerchuck, this wine has obnoxious silkiness to it. It is so lush, smooth & silky in my mouth, it feels like I am holding a wad of satin sheets in my mouth. (The real satin sheets, not that fake crap.) On the palate, I get this intense chocolate/cherry/berry mix, like I'm dipping fresh fruit into dark chocolate fondue. Oh, delicious. The finish lingers, reminiscent of grenache. I bet the predominant grape in here is grenache, which is totally cool by me.

The best part about this wine is that it's not sweet. Sure, it sounds sweet with its fruit & chocolate flavors, but there's a spicy little zip to it. It's like a dinner wine that's trying to be dessert-friendly. It could be great with dessert, but right now I'm liking it just as it is, chilling by myself with a glass in my hand. It makes me want to visit Walla Walla, WA.

Cheers!

Kate

P.S.: This is my official blog post in remembrance of Grandpa. On the actual date - June 4th - I will be attending his memorial mass, followed by my cousin Jen's wedding. I don't know if this wine would've been sweet enough for Grandpa, but I bet he'd be ballsy enough to try it. I miss you, Grandpa, and I still love you.

Bogle Vineyards 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, $11.99

OK. I'm backwards, and we all know it.

Back in January, in the middle of a snowstorm that eventually dumped over two feet of snow on the state of CT, I opened - and blogged about drinking - Bogle's chardonnay. Today is the first hot day in CT, hitting 86 degrees by 11 a.m., and here I am, blogging about Bogle's cabernet. What can I say? Red when it's hot, white when it's not.

This wine is absolutely beautiful in the glass, a gorgeous purple-ruby color. The nose is a little weak, smelling like cabernet tannins & little else. There is not a drop of alcohol on the nose, regardless of its 13.5% alcohol content.

A sour patch hits my palate when I take a sip. After that, I taste nothing. There's nothing on the mid-palate, nothing on the finish.

I can't say that this wine is entirely bad, though. It's not exactly a fine wine, definitely not a complex one, and maybe a little disappointing, but it's one that's easy to drink at a decent price point. It's not as good as the chardonnay, but that don't mean I'm performing alcohol abuse & dumping it down the drain.

Cheers!

Kate

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