Ken Wright Cellars 2009 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, $34.99

Uh-oh. What the hell am I thinking, opening up a 35-dollar bottle of wine on a school night? Oh well, too late now.

Believe it or not, this has been a great week for me. Work days have moved along quickly - I can't believe tomorrow is Thursday - and I've even dropped five pounds. Nice! So guess what? I'm treating myself to a 35-dollar bottle of wine. Besides, it's about time I opened this bad boy up. It's been sitting in my wine fridge for the last four months.

On the nose, this wine has some pretty cherry blossoms mixed with a teeny bit of unwashed plum. It's very pretty in the glass, almost clear to a fault, with just enough purple mixed in. It's actually fairly heavy in body, leaving plenty of chubby little legs dripping down the side of the glass.

On the palate, this wine blows me away. It tastes even better than my previous favorite pinot, the undeniably good Rodney Strong Estate Vineyards from Russian River Valley. Even better! I get tart, soft cherries, plus the aforementioned cherry blossoms, mixed with good tannins. The mouthfeel (...) is outrageous! Just like Jem the 80s cartoon, but edible. OK, a little off subject, but the mouthfeel is insanely lush, soft, full & gorgeous. And even more incredible, I have no clue there's any alcohol in this. It doesn't taste like alcohol or contain the stinging burn of alcohol, despite having an alcohol content of 13.5%.

I can't believe I have a new winner in the pinot noir category. I didn't even have high hopes for this wine! Now here's a way to make any school night better, even if it is a little pricey (I could buy three actual school-night wines for less dough than this bottle). Please, please, please splurge a little on this bottle. You'll thank me later. http://www.kenwrightcellars.com/kwchome.shtml

Cheers!

Kate

Pine Ridge 2010 Chenin Blanc + Viognier, $12.99

OK. Those of you who have been reading my wine blog(s) for any length of time know that I prefer red over white, but if I must have white, I prefer a heavy, buttery, oakey chardonnay. You would also know that my personal holy trinity of red wine is cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot & either malbec or tempranillo (depending on the day). But what about my holy trinity of white wines? Without a doubt, it's chardonnay, chenin blanc & viognier. Despite the sweetness that the viognier (and sometimes the chenin blanc too) can bring, there's something about their body & heft that make me love them. So when I saw this white blend of 79% chenin blanc & 21% viognier with a 13% alcohol content, I was sold.

This wine looks like pee in the glass. Yeah, OK, not the most appetizing image. But if you can move past its color, this wine is just dripping with aromas of peach, honey, apricot, baby spring flowers...I want to eat it. It is so heavy-bodied that the legs just drip down the side of the glass, more so than even some of the red wines I've had.

But the best part about this wine is the taste. Despite its aroma, it is not sweet. Its flavor is reminiscent of a sauvignon blanc, slightly sharp, good acidity, minerally with hints of unwashed apple & pear on the tail end. Delicious!

I am so pleased with this wine, and not just b/c it's a good wine at a good price. As I've explained before, I'm not a fan of white wines from CA, especially not ones that aren't chardonnay. I'm not a huge fan of CA sauvignon blanc b/c I think there are other places - New Zealand, Chile, Australia - that turn out it better. This is a lovely alternative to CA sauvignon blanc, one I will purchase again. http://www.pineridgewinery.com/

Cheers!

Kate

B.R. Cohn 2009 Sonoma County Chardonnay, $19.99

OK. Back to my beloved chard. I love oaky, creamy, buttery, heavy-weight chardonnay. Now, just so you all don't go thinking I dislike unoaked chard, I don't. I just don't want an unoaked chard that's trying to be sauvignon blanc.

This is a hefty white wine. It forms a thick sheet on the glass that just hangs there & looks like it wants to form legs. On the nose, it smells like honeysuckle, lavender & honey-covered peaches. There's not a lick of alcohol in the scent, pretty impressive for a 14.1% alcohol punch.

I love the way this wine feels in my mouth. It is thick, heavy & silky, all at the same time. It is so smooth. I taste alcohol & peaches on the mid-palate, with the peach taste growing stronger on the finish. And man, the finish is going on for a while.

Personally, I happen to love B.R. Cohn. And I do love this wine. That being said, I have to be in the mood for this wine. This is not an easy-drinking, toss-back-a-glass-on-Tuesday-night wine. (Oops.) I just have to be in the mood for this wine so I can properly enjoy it & appreciate it. Learn more at www.brcohn.com.

Cheers!

Kate

Todd Lauren 2009 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, $19.99

OK. I've never seen the movie Sideways (with my girl Sandra Oh, who plays Dr. Yang on Grey's Anatomy), but apparently it gave pinot noir a shot at stardom. It also crapped all over my beloved oakey chardonnay, but that's beside the point. The point is, I don't care what wine is popular (hence the reason you don't see me buying pinot grigio), I just go with what I think tastes good. If you happen to respect and/or appreciate my tasting notes, great. If not, that's great too.

So this wine came recommended to me by Bruce at Stew Leonard's. It's very pretty in the glass, a sort of red ruby/purple amethyst gem color that's so clear I can practically see through it. It's a heavy-bodied light body wine - does that make sense? It starts off as a sheet but, after 60 seconds, forms legs if left undisturbed long enough. I suppose that would make it heavy-bodied, but I'm leaving it as somewhere in the middle. The nose is very Old World, smelling of tannins & sour. On second sniff, it smells gamy & leathery, almost like a shoe in the oven with a Cornish hen.

Great, a sneaker in the oven with a roast chicken. Yeah, I know, doesn't sound too appealing to me, either.

One of the many reasons I love wine is that oftentimes, the wine doesn't taste at all like how the wine smells. In this case, that's a great thing. I get this very pretty flower/berry taste in my mouth, like daisies & blackberries mixed together, with a little bit of earthy, minerally flavors lurking on the tail end. It's smooth & silky on the palate, without a hint of alcohol burn or tingle. That's impressive, given the 13.8% alcohol content.

This is a nice wine that impresses me, but doesn't blow me away. And lets face it, $20 for a bottle of wine isn't cheap. I can think of wines at the ten-dollars-and-under price point (see http://chicksreviewcheapwine.blogspot.com/ for more details) that are nice bottles to relax with on a Wednesday night. I can also come up with other bottles for $20 or better, even pinot noirs, that'll knock my socks off for the same exact price. So, while I enjoyed this wine, I won't purchase it again.

Cheers!

Kate

P.S. Now, that bottle of Mohua, on the other hand, I've already bought again. And the Rodney Strong Russian River Valley pinot noir, too.

P.P.S. I'd like to send out a very special "F**k You" to Governor Dan Malloy for not only raising the sales tax yesterday and putting our state workers' jobs in jeopardy, but for also imposing a luxury tax on cars over $50,000, jewelry over $4000, gasoline, cigarettes, manis/pedis, hairdressing services & wine. I hope he pulls a John G. Rowland & gets arrested sometime during his term.

Honig 2009 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, $14.99

OK. I am not having a good day so I've never looked forward to drinking & blogging about wine this much. I figured I may as well go with a sauvignon blanc from CA b/c, if it sucks, at least it will go along with my crappy mood. If it doesn't, then it will lift my spirits.

So, why am I in such a foul mood, you ask? Good question. My dad is trying to transfer a vehicle to me, but I need auto insurance. The plan was to insure the car under my significant other's policy, where we could get a multi-car discount. It was a lot of phone calls & wasted time to the insurance company. Finally, we were all ready to go to the DMV, and my dad notices that the VIN number on the vehicle is incorrect. The insurance agent missed one letter in the VIN number & screwed everything up. My S.O. called the insurance agent back for a correction, but said insurance agent was gone. And probably 'til Monday. I wouldn't have minded, but I wasted my entire afternoon for this, and the agent is a freakin' d-bag.

So back to this wine, which came highly recommended by Bruce & Phil at Stew Leonard's. It's medium-yellow in color, leaving a clingy sheet down the side of the glass. It smells amazing, fresh, green & mineral-y. I get white rocks & a hint of green grass. Pretty.

On the palate, this wine is soft & lightweight. I get a spritz of citrus, followed by sour. On the finish, I get the freshness of green, but not exactly grass the way grass is, more like grass reinterpreted. And, curiously enough, I don't taste alcohol in this, despite its 13.5% alcohol content.

This is a nice, happy, easy-drinking summertime wine at a decent price. It doesn't exactly blow me away, but it's a nicer CA sauvignon blanc than most. Hell, I've recommended others that were lesser in quality, higher in price & lower in alcohol content than this one. So check it out, you might not be sorry. So even though I personally won't buy it again, I can see other people liking it quite a lot. Check them out at www.honingwine.com.

Cheers!

Kate

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