Wannabe Wino

Bella has to be one of my favorite vineyards for big red wines. I regret the day I ever had to cut their club and am VERY happy to now be a member again. On the other hand, joining up again means that if I want another club I have to give up one that I already have. Ack!

I still have massive numbers of tomatoes in my garden (seriously, I think I grew mutant tomato plants, we must have picked hundreds of tomatoes and are still picking them) so I whipped up some fresh sauce, tossed in a bunch of basil and parmasean cheese, cooked up some pasta and called it a meal. With the dinner, I picked a bottle of the 2005 Bella Hillside Cuvee to drink. We picked up 2 bottles of this on our latest trip to Bella and received a 3rd in a club shipment. The wine cost $28 minus a club discount, clocked in a 14.9% alcohol by volume, and had a real cork closure. The Hillside Cuvee is a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Zinfandel, 11% Petite Sirah, 10% Petite Verdot.


On the nose of the wine I found espresso, dark cherries, blackberries, plum, chocolate, brown sugar, currants. The fruit struck me as big and dark, with lots of hints of other enticing aromas. In the mouth I got flavors of blackberry, plum, currants, boysenberry, blueberry, spice, and a bit of chocolate. The fruit came through as fresh and tart.

Overall, the wine seemed a bit tannic, and it had a little bit of heat. I think this one needs some time, so I'll hang onto my other two bottles and will report back over the next couple of years as we drink them. Not such a great match with my pasta dinner, but made for an excellent after dinner drink!

Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Israeli Wine Direct.

Tonight I pulled out a bottle of 2006 Flam Classico from Israel that I received as a sample from Israeli Wine Direct. The wine is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot. It has a real cork closure, clocks in at 14.5% alcohol by volume, and can be purchased from Israeli Wine Direct for $24.99.

I will be the first to admit that this was not an inspired match. I served tacos for dinner, topped with sharp cheddar cheese and fresh tomatoes from my garden. So I would guess it's probably a good thing that this wine actually needed a ton of time to open up, and I didn't have to experience what I knew in my head was going to be a not very good food and wine pairing. I would certainly suggest opening this wine at least 2 hours before you intend to serve it and probably decanting it as well.


My first thought on sniffing this wine was funky. After two hours, it was still there, but it's not a bad thing, it's the funky nose I associate with Cabernet Sauvignon and a long time ago, it was something that put me off from red wines, I didn't understand that Cabernet Sauvignon was supposed to (or could) smell that way. The nose was eucalyptus, horsey, tack room, earthy, leathery funk. It smelled like Vick's Vapor Rub, mint, band aid, dark fruit, berries, cherries, spice, and pine tree. It's the nose that I now really love about a Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the mouth I found cherries, plums, big juicy berries, oak, vanilla, pine tree, bitter chocolate/coffee (sometimes I have trouble distinguishing the two in wine), and black cherries. The plums stood out more than anything else in the mouth for me. Overall, the wine had a very firm structure and plenty of tannins to spare. Serve it with a big juicy steak!

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as sample.

Let's talk about something really cool and revolutionary from a long established Sonoma Winery. A first, that I am aware of, in the wine industry, in what I can only hope will become an industry standard. Rodney Strong is a well-recognized and well respected wine brand, and they are breaking ground in many ways with their new wine project.

Rodney Strong chose to do something with their new allocated brand, Rockaway, that no other winery I know of has done: they released it in a concentrated effort to wine bloggers before it was released to main stream media, in a pr campaign that culminates in the release of the first vintage on September 1. I am happy and honored to join the company of Jeff from Good Grape, Dr. Debs from Good Wine Under $20, Tim of WineCast, Kori of WinePeeps, Renee from Feed Me/Drink Me, and Joe from 1 Wine Dude, in being among the first to announce this wine to you. I highly suggest you visit all of the above mentioned sites for further reviews of Rockaway, all from the unique perspectives of these great bloggers.



Tasting the Rockaway initial release, a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, presented an opportunity I could not pass up. Being part of a release of a brand new wine brand, before it even hits the standard wine publications is part of a breakthrough effort.

A little about Rockaway. Rockaway is a "winery within a winery" project for Rodney Strong, currently under the leadership of owner Tom Klein. Over the last 10 years, Rodney Strong has undergone a program of replanting or purchasing high quality vineyards in the Alexander Valley. The result is Rockaway, and its soon to be followers from the 2006 and 2007 vintages, Brother's Ridge and Alexander's Crown. To craft these wines, grapes from only the best (meaning most tasty) vines/rows of the vineyard are selected and sorted in the vineyard before being delivered directly to the tanks where they will undergo fermentation. In a final feat of expressing the best of the land, the wine is made completely of free-run juice, meaning that it is crushed without the use of a press, and thus containing only the grape juice, without interference from the pressing of skins and seeds, which can add bitter flavors and more tannins to the wine.

Now the wine. 2005 Rockaway Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Malbec, and 4% Petite Verdot. It has a real cork closure and clocks in at 15.4% alcohol by volume. Rockaway is a single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from the Alexander Valley. The wine is expected to cost about $75 and will be released only through an allocation program. An allocation program means that you sign up for the winery's list and are then entitled to purchase a certain number of bottles. It will be the only way to get your hands on a bottle of Rockaway.

On the nose I found vanilla and another slightly sweet aroma that I can't place. The vanilla on the nose blew off fairly quickly, revealing raspberries, blueberries, spice, earth, leather, mint, a hint of eucalyptus, blackberry, black currant, and cedar. The fruit smelled quite ripe and the aroma was wonderful. I had to yell at Matt to not drink it too quickly as I really wanted to enjoy this wine after getting a whiff of the nose! In the mouth I found black currant, earth, forest, spice, cloves, wood, cedar, blackberries, strawberry, and the slightest hint of cocoa. The fruit was dark and prominent.

I served the wine with petite fillet mignon which may have been the best match of Cabernet Sauvignon and steak I have ever had. As soon as I new I was getting this wine, I started planning my steak dinner to go with it. The wine had excellent structure and great balance, even with the higher alcohol content. The tannins were also there, making it the perfect match with the juicy meaty and slightly fatty steak. A definite must of a pairing for this absolutely delicious wine. I would be most interested to see how this wine tastes in 5-10 as I think it will be able to age with the best of them and will only get better with time.

If this sounds up your alley, be sure to head over to the Rockaway Vineyard site and add your name to the allocation list so you'll be able to get your hands on some!

Our host for this edition of WBW, the brain-child of Lenn of Lenndevous, is Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. He chose French Cabernet Franc as theme for this month (ostensibly as a result of his recent trip tasting in France!). You can watch his vlog about the event here, but the jist is pick a French Cabernet Franc and post your link by April 2, 2008 in the comments to the entry on his website.

I'll admit straight up that I sorta cheated on this one. Having been in travel mode since before Gary's theme announcement, I really didn't have much of a chance to pick up a bottle for this month or shop around. I popped into my favorite local shop, The Winery in Old Town Alexandria, and sadly could not come up with a full on Cabernet Franc. So I went with a 25% Cabernet Franc, 70% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon Bordeaux style blend.

The wine is a 2004 Chateau Quercy Saint-Emilion Grand Cru. It clocked in at 13% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and cost me $25.99. This is out of the price range I'm usually willing to spend on unknown wines, but the shop owner highly recommended it, and desperate times call for desperate measures.

On the nose of the wine I found cocoa powder, espresso, strawberry, herbs, and an overall smoky quality. In the mouth the fruit was dusty and smoky. I almost felt like I was drinking cedar grilled cherries and strawberries, but with fresh raspberries and a slightly biting herb bouquet dipped in espresso.

The wine was tannic on the first night, but smoothed considerably on the second. On the second night the wine took on an even smokier quality with more oak and cedar coming through, and the fruit being less dusty or smoky. I believe this one has quite a few years of age left on it.

Many thanks to Gary for hosting WBW this month. I'll be particularly interested to see what form the round-up will take! And as always, barring another other internetless interludes, I will let you know when the round-up is posted and when the May WBW theme is announced!

Even though this bottle of wine clocked in at 14.1% alcohol (which in my opinion, for a CA Cabernet Sauvignon is actually low) it was still a BIG wine. Kind of sad when I feel that 14.1% alcohol is low, but given that I have seen over 16% alcohol for some bottles, I would gather my perspective is a bit skewed, but that is a discussion for another day.

The wine in question was a 2004 Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon from the Alexander Valley. It had a real cork closure and was purchased by my dad, so I don't know what he paid, but it looks to be available online for about $20. A word of caution, this wine needs more time in the bottle or a good decanting before you drink it.

On the nose of the wine I found black cherry, blackberry, leather, and plums. In the mouth there were cherries and dark berries. The wine was tannic and the mouth didn't open up while I was drinking it, and I really only got the one glass since 6 of us were sharing the bottle!

One evening at my parents' house, a lot of wine was consumed in one evening. We had around 10 people at the house and the wine was flowing all evening.

I believe this was the second bottle of the evening. We started with a Sauvignon Blanc, but my Aunt didn't like it and requested a Merlot. I just happened to have a Merlot blend on hand!

The wine was a Chateau Rocher Corbin 2002 Montagne Saint Emillion. I purchased it for $18.99 minus a 10% case discount at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria, it had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume. The wine was a blend of 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.

On the nose I found dark fruit, blackberries, oak, and black currants. In the mouth the flavors were of black currants, plums, and other dark fruit. The wine was tannic and a bit chewy in the mouth, this was definitely a wine that would benefit from being consumed with food. We finished the bottle up over a roast turkey and all the fixings, but I think it would be better with a pork roast.

The wine for Christmas dinner was this bottle of 2004 Lake Sonoma Winery Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I picked this bottle up at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria for around $22, it had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume.

On the nose I found currants, red berries, oak, leather, earth, and licorice. In the mouth the flavors were dark berries, cream, vanilla, black currants, and spices. Everyone loved this bottle of wine.

It was served with a surf and turf dinner of beef tenderloin and baked stuffed shrimp, prepared by my cousin and my Godmother. Just turf for me, shrimp and I are not friends! The wine was an excellent match with the beef tenderloin, a perfect match for the dinner!

I got a lot of wine this Christmas. I took about a case to CT with me for holiday dinners and such and I returned back to VA with 2.5 cases of wine. People really like giving a wino more wine apparently!

This bottle was a 2005 Francis Coppola Diamond Collection
Ivory Label Cabernet Sauvignon. (Wow, that's a mouthful of a name for the wine.) It clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure.

The nose on the wine was minty (something I've noticed in a a few Cabernet Sauvignons lately), and had vanilla and strawberry aromas. I thought this was oddly light on the nose with only a bit of spice, not what I usually expect from a Cabernet Sauvignon. In the mouth the wine was a bit darker. I found muted blackberry and thought the wine was a bit earthy. After a while some strawberries and black currants came through. The second glass of wine (drank about an hour after the first) was much better and more developed than the first.

We actually stopped in at the Coppola Winery on our first trip to Sonoma, but we didn't taste. They have lovely grounds and a beautiful patio with a restaurant, which is where we ate lunch one day. A lovely way to spend an afternoon, with sweeping views of the vineyard.

The wine for the evening was a 2005 Wild Horse Cabernet Sauvignon. We decanted it because the flavors were really tight when we poured the first glass. We're also using our stemless Riedel glasses that we got as a Christmas gift (my first Riedel!).

The wine was also a gift, it clocked in at 13.9% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure and hails from Paso Robles.

On the nose I found dark blackberries, cherries, black currants, and spices. It also had a little minty/vegetal essence to the aroma. In the mouth I got flavors of blackberries, spice, leather, and currants. The wine was really tannic and needs to be decanted for hours if you want to drink it now. I would estimate that we had the wine in the decanter for around 3 hours before it really opened up enough.

The wine was a 2004 Fritz Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine came in a club shipment, cost us $28 minus a club discount, clocked in at 14.2%, and had a real cork closure.

On the nose I found raisins, cherry, spices, and oak. I also noted some earthy undertones. In the mouth I found berries and a bit of cherry. The wine was tannic and didn't seem ready to drink. I'd hold onto this one if you have any.

I served this with BBQ spare ribs, corn, and rice pilaf when my folks were here visiting. I think the wine would have been a really good match with the dinner had I let it decant for a few hours or saved the bottle for a couple more years.

*Disclaimer: I received this bottle of wine from WineQ as a sample because I'm a member of their Beta Club.

The bottle was a 2004 Joseph Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon from the Alexander Valley. It clocks in at 14.4%, had a real cork closure and can be purchased from WineQ for $39.99.

I've got two pictures of this bottle because I wanted to make sure you could see the very nifty drawing of a mountain lion on the label. Also very cool was the mountain lion head on the foil and again on the cork. However, when I went to read the back of the label, I must confess that I have no idea what a stone fruit is, and the bottle says the wine is characterized by fleshy stone fruit.

On the nose I found lots and lots of berries of all kinds. Blackberries, blueberries, huckleberries....I also got vanilla cream and some underlying hints of leather. In the mouth, more blueberries and blackberries, with black currants and vanilla.

I served this bottle with what I knew was not going to be a fantastic match (parmesan baked tilapia and cheese risotto), but it didn't so much matter as the wine needed much time to air/time to breathe before it was ready to drink. After about an hour in our glasses it was great and is very drinkable now, though I would guess that with some more time in the bottle this will be a fabulous bottle of wine.

This bottle of wine arrived on my doorstep many months ago from my Mother In-law who discovered at her high school reunion that several of her classmates now own vineyards. And she sent me a bottle from each classmate's vineyard. The first one we drank was a bottle of Esmeralda from Chatom Vineyards.

Tonight's wine was a 2004 Buehler Papa's Knoll Cabernet Sauvignon, another one from California. The wine had a real cork closure and was 14.9% alcohol by volume. The winery lists it as sold out, but it was selling for $45 a bottle.

On the nose I found black plums, Coke, all spice, and vanilla. In the mouth my notes say "holy big wine." Sometimes I get a little punchy when jotting things down :) It was a big, dark, powerful wine. You could have put a light directly against the glass and not even seen a glimmer on the other side of the glass. This was one of the darkest wines I've ever seen. Besides that lovely description, I found more plums, spice, cherries, and raspberries in the mouth.

The wine was a bit tannic in the mouth. I would say this one could easily sit around for another 10 years or so, but my Mother In-law was hoping I would drink them a lot faster than that to give her an opinion on the wines! The wine had real depth and many layers of flavor. It kept getting better with each sip. The fruit was really fresh and I could see it still being that was in 5-10 years. A delicious wine.

That whole week without the internet in New Orleans and the fact that the house has become a time (and money) suck is really throwing off my rhythm over here.

The wine was a 2005 Mounts Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. It cost us $26 at the winery and had a real cork closure. The website for the winery is still very much under construction, so there's not much info available and the bottle got recycled before I could write down the alcohol by volume content.

On the nose I found vanilla, plum, dark currants, raspberries, and chocolate. The aroma was amazing. In the mouth were raspberries, leather, and dark currants. The wine was a bit tannic and would probably do well with several more years of aging or an hour or so in the decanter before serving.

I served the wine with a not so elegant meal of bratwurst, couscous, and green beans. The match was serviceable, but didn't blow me away by any stretch of the imagination. I think I'd drink it with a peppery steak if I had another bottle.

That time of month has rolled around and wine bloggers all over the world (well hopefully, I'm not sure how easy this theme will be for those outside North America) are raising glasses of Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon, our theme for this month. This month's lovely and gracious host is Catie of Through the Walla Walla Grape Vine, no surprise that the theme is Washington-centric!

I've been a WBW slacker for the last two months, though I think I had very good reasons for my absence from the festivities. However, I'm back in the saddle for this month, though even being here in the US, it was no easy feat to find a Washington State wine that was not Chauteau St. Michelle or Columbia Crest. I ventured to Total Wine and More in Alexandria, VA to find my wine this month. To my utter surprise, they actually had two Cabernet Sauvignons from Walla Walla, but Matt would not have been pleased if I brought home a $52 or $34 bottle of wine. Other than that, in the nearly 1000 bottles that must have been Cabernet Sauvignon, there were only 5 options...2 of which belonged to the aforementioned wineries. I finally settled on a bottle, after literally examining every bottle to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

My entry for this WBW is a $12.99 bottle of 2003 Bridgman Cabernet Sauvignon from the Yakima Valley of Washington State. It had a plastic cork closure and weighs in at 13.9% alcohol by volume.

On the nose there was alcohol at first. That eventually blew off. Underneath were aromas of bell pepper with an herbacious note, blackberries, blueberries, oak and something oddly sweet. Overall, I would say the fruit was very sweet on the nose. In the mouth there were candied blackberries and overall it was sweet in the mouth though it had smoky undertones.

I served the wine with brautwurst on the grill and homemade macaroni and cheese. It was a fairly good match, though I think perhaps it would have been better with a steak.

Overall, an okay foray into Washington Cabernet, though I wish I could have justified the ones from Walla Walla!

Again with that whole moving thing, I uncovered wines that have been hanging around for quite some time in corners and under books and such. This was another one I found while moving.

It was a 2004 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. I *believe* I picked this up for around $10 at Costco in August, 2006, but I could be horribly off on the price. Whatever the case may be, I remember buying it because I was in Costco picking up cheap bottles of wine for a large group of people we were having over. As is turns out, none of the wine actually got consumed that day and I ended up with a mish-mosh of cheap wine hanging around. Such is life.

On the nose were berries, mostly blackberries, with maybe a little blueberry perhaps from the Petite Sirah blended in and alcohol, despite the bottle only being 13.5% alcohol. After that blew off, there were aromas of vanilla and oak.

In the mouth I found mostly blackberries. However, after it had been sitting out for a while, there were other dark fruits present, pretty much indistinguishable, but perhaps cherries?

I served it with keilbalsa off the grill, rice pilaf and green beans. It was a quick meal that I threw together after a long day spent tiling and grouting and I didn't want to open a pricey wine with it. For $10 the wine was simple, fruity, and drinkable, though the strong alcohol scent and presence really surprised me given the low level.

One evening out at my in-laws, Matt decided he wanted his dad to make fried chicken so that he could actually learn how to do it himself, as his last few tries have been a bit of a disaster. With that in mind, my mother in-law picked up all the fixings for dinner and invited family friends over, whom we hadn't seen since September and who hadn't had the opportunity to see the in-law's new house.

My mother in-law wanted to have wine with dinner and what she had in the cabinet were 2 bottles of 2001 Franciscan Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from the Oakville Estate. The wine was 13.5% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure. I can see from their website that the 2003 runs $28 a bottle and I would venture to guess this one was somewhere in the same neighborhood, though I can't seem to find it on the internet. I'd venture to guess some wine stores must have it though as I can pretty much guarantee it wasn't around in the cabinet last time we visited!

On the nose the wine displayed black cherries, plums and raisins, a bit of spice and some oak. In the mouth it was smooth, with a little spice, with flavors of plums, leather and cherries. It is drinking well now and if you have it or buy it I would suggest consuming it fairly soon. Not a great match with dinner, but it would do well with a steak!

As I mentioned before, we happened to be sitting at the wine blending table with two men who own a vineyard. They are the only custom crush client of Nelson Family Vineyards at the moment and they are currently awaiting the bottling of their second custom crush, a 2006. They were kind enough to break out a bottle of their 2005 Trixie's Cat House Cabernet, and while I'm not usually one for cutesy labels, I must admit, the play on words in this one makes me chuckle. The grapes are sourced from their vineyards, the vineyards at Miralago and are completely Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the glass the wine was a dark garnet color. Now, I know I don't normally note color, but I do when it stands out, and this one struck me as a really pretty color. On the nose there were raisins with a little toasty oak and dark dried chaerries. Later, as the glass sat out, I could get hints of strawberries and bitter chocolate.

In the mouth it was fruity and smooth with raisins and red currents. The wine had an excellent balance to it, with tannins that seemed to suggest to me it could age for a while. I certainly enjoyed my glass (or two) as it aired over the course of an hour. This was the first custom crush wine I have had and I wish I could get a bottle or two, as I really liked it!

As I've mentioned at least a few times now, Matt and I did some excellent wine tasting with Ken of Ala Wine and his wife while we were in the Sonoma area (which I probably should have been more clear about as I think many people, including Ken, thought we were actually in Sonoma, rather we were staying just outside of Healdsburg). While visiting the in-laws I received an email from Ken inquiring about our schedule and asking if we would like to do some tasting with him and his wife Cori (sorry if I didn't get the spelling on that right!). I quickly said we would be delighted and thus we headed to their home on Thursday. Sadly, I underestimated the traffic and we were a touch late, but we eventually made it! You can head on over to Ken's blog to read full details of all the wines we tasted, I'll just give you some brief tasting notes here.

But first, Ken and Cori are wonderful people and we had the best time with them (and their really active cat, seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a cat move that fast!). Their home is lovely and it was so incredibly kind of them to have us over. This was Matt's first experience in actually talking about wines and writing notes while he tasted, he usually leaves it up to me and will occassionally offer an opinion if I prod him enough, but he enjoyed it and is already talking about getting tasting sheets and hosting a tasting at our house. After we finished tasting Cori suggested we all go grab dinner and we went to a great Italian place where I just had to get fettucini alfredo as we had been talking about how a cream based sauce would be great with one of the wines we tasted and the craving stuck in my head. We got to taste some great wines and meet some interesting new people, all in all a fantastic evening in my book! Thanks again for having us!

Onto the notes:

First up, a 2005 Unionville Vineyards Chardonnay, from New Jersey. Now, I know you must be thinking, Huh? New Jersey? But actually this isn't the first wine I've had from New Jersey as I had a friend in law school in that area and she would frequently bring back wines from various vineyards. The Unionville Chardonnay could best be described as having a damp nose with a slight hint of oak and undertones of lemons. In the mouth there were lemons and pears. It had a short finish, but was smooth with a good mouthfeel. The wine was slightly tart and left a clean feeling in the mouth. We discussed having this wine with an herbed chicken or a pasta with cream sauce and decided it would be really food friendly. It doesn't appear on their website, but the last 2 vintages were $19.99 a bottle.

Second on the list was a 2004 Cliff Creek Syrah. The nose of this wine was full of dark fruits, specifically black cherries and blueberries with a touch of maple syrup, as odd as that sounds, but it worked and was a very pleasing nose. The wine clocks in at 14.6% alcohol by volume and I can see from their website runs for $35. In the mouth there were black cherries and the wine was fairly smooth but appeared to have tannins that would allow it to age, and hopefully bring out more of the flavors we found in the nose.

Next up was a 2002 Meola Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. On those nose of this one we found oak, black currants and peppers. In the mouth there was a distinct taste of dried fruits, mostly currants and raisins. We all liked this wine, but thought that it would be even better if we decanted, so Ken did so and we went back to it later. After an hour or so decanting, this wine was much better. It had opened up and the powerful impression of dried fruit was gone, as were the peppers, showing a sweet nose with strawberries and more strawberries in the mouth. I would venture to guess you should age this one and it will be an excellent wine in a few years. Looks like the winery is sold out, but it goes for $50 and has 14% alcohol by volume.

Fourth bottle of the evening found us drinking a 2004 EOS Reserve Petite Sirah from Paso Robles. I love Petite Sirah, so I may be biased, but this was my favorite wine of the evening. The wine does not appear on the website, but the 2003 vintage does, which was also a big award winner and goes for $25 a bottle. If that's the price of the 2004, I say run and get some. On the nose was an enticing aroma of raspberries, plums and pipe tobacco. In the mouth, gobs of raspberries, strawberry jam and a bit of blackberry, plus a note of the tobacco from the nose. The finish was long and very pleasant, overall this was just a lovely wine.

Finally we tried what would be my first ice wine and my first Fingerlakes wine, a 2005 Casa Larga Fiori Delle Stelle Vidal Ice Wine. It appears to cost $25/375 ml and was 11.5% alcohol by volume with 17% residual sugar. I can't find a website for the winery. On the nose there was peach, honey, apricots, with honey, mandarin oranges (yes, like the ones in the can), pear and green apple to be found in the mouth. The wine was tart, not cloying or palate coating at all. It was well balanced with excellent structure. It really was a dessert in and of itself. I may now be spoiled to all other dessert wines but ice wine.

Now, if you are an incredibly avid reader of my ramblings, you might be thinking, hum, didn't she review the 2004 Nelson Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon back in November? And the answer is, yes, I reviewed the regular garden variety, but tonight I am reviewing the 2004 Nelson Family Vineyards Top Row Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and I am blown away!

The wine clocks in at 14.3% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure and cost us around $19 in a club shipment. The wines from Nelson are very reasonably priced and represent great values for our wine budget. I actually need to get in touch with Chris Nelson as several months ago I asked him to answer some questions about his vineyard for the blog and he agreed, then things got crazy for me (read: we found, bid on and bought a house) and I haven't had a chance to sit down and draw up the questions. I promise I will do so soon readers!

Back to the wine. I get blackberries on the nose to begin with. They jumped out of the bottle when I opened it. My glass has been out for a few hours now and I am getting a touch of earth and something almost slightly minty (can't say I've seen that before!). Under those aromas comes some cedar and a little oak.

In the mouth I am finding plums, black currants and blackberries. The mouth is full of dark fruit. Following the fruit is a cedar taste. The fruit lingers in the mouth.

Overall, this wine is drinking really well right now. (Again, woo hoo, I'm back with wines I'm loving!) In the mouth it is smooth and silky and I don't get any tannins or alcohol heat. I served this with bruschetta and pork chops that I cooked in the crockpot in pasta sauce all day. I liked the match of the pasta sauce flavors with the dark fruit in this bottle. I would drink this one anytime you are ready if you have it around, it's drinking beautifully.

I picked this bottle of 2003 Fritz Cabernet Sauvignon from our collection to pair with a dinner of homemade tomato sauce and ravioli. It cost us $30, is 13.9% alcohol by volume and is sealed with a real cork. We picked this one up from Fritz this summer and I have one more bottle still in the racks.

Now I've recently been worried that perhaps our wine has been cooked over this winter by the heat in our apartment. As hard as I try, it's very difficult to regulate the temperature in an apartment building that insists on keeping the heat on even when it's 70 out. I try my best and have been freezing my tush off sleeping with out window in the bedroom open even when it's 20 or below out. However, my fears have been put to rest over the past few days as we have had bottle after bottle that has been perfect. I'm now more inclined to believe that it may have simply been a case that got cooked in shipping, which actually makes sense to me now that I have pulled UPS records. One of our cases arrived suspiciously late compared to the others, despite the fact that all 14 were shipped on the same day. I can't say for sure that all the wines I've been "eh" about lately came from that box, but if I were a betting woman....

Back to the wine. On the nose, I got dark fruit aromas, possibly black currants. Later, I could detect blackberry. Then layers of leather and a spice I can't identify, plus something that smells like a spicy tree or plant, but isn't oaky or woody or cedar or vegetal. (Could I be more vague?)

In the mouth I found black currants. After a while some oak and spices showed through. Overall, this wine was incredibly smooth in the mouth, I would even call it silky after airing for a while. The wine is drinking very well right now, though I will be curious to see how the next bottle drinks. This time I will be more careful about actually saving the second bottle, though really, I could drink it now and be perfectly happy with it.