wine reviews – Page 2 – Trust The Devil You Know

Wine Review: 2015 Nighthawk Black, Bota Box

They’re not kidding about the black part.

Bota Box Nighthawk Black is thick and jammy and remains black even when help up to the light.

One issue with box wine is that it can’t really be decanted. Well, I guess it could be but with that would come an obligation to drink all of what was poured because boxed wine is a lot like a tube of toothpaste; once it’s out, there’s no putting it back in.

I find this wine benefits from having a few minutes to breathe but it’s well worth the wait as it opens up very nicely. Smooth, lots of oak, jammy to boot, dark chocolate and black as the night. Needless to say, I liked it, a lot. And, not for nothin’, but it goes pretty well with a Little (filter tip) Swisher Sweet.

Another thing I appreciate about Bota Box is their concern for not trashing the earth with their packaging. The boxes are made from unbleached recycled material and are themselves recyclable. Inside, the bag is BPA free and it, along with the spout, are also recyclable. (So, recycle them!)

Other pertinent details: 13.5% alcohol and no red wine headache 😀

Wine Review: 2014 California Rose’, Menage A Trois

Way back in the beginning of all this wine business, I bought a bottle of really bad Rose’, then I tried a few more at various local wineries and didn’t like them either so naturally I assumed that all Rose’ was terrible.

As it turns out, not all Rose’ is terrible.

Just some of it.

Rose’ is wildly popular right now. Its the feel-good wine of the summer. I can’t peruse my wine feed on Twitter and not see dozens of posts featuring frosty glasses of alluring pink wine.

Am I missing something?

I started to wonder if all these folks had awful taste in wine or if I had just experienced a bit of bad luck. Suspecting that the latter was the truth, I decided to give Rose’ one more try.

If there’s one winemaker who can be relied upon to get something right, it’s Menage A Trois. I have yet to try a wine from them that wasn’t delicious so off to my local state regulated liquor store I went.

Here’s what I learned:

Rose’ should be chilled but not ice cold. It’s not beer or soda and ice cold is too cold, bringing out the less pleasant tart and bitter notes. 60-70 degrees (Fahrenheit, obviously) is ideal. At this temperature, Menage A Trois Rose is smooth like buttah, lightly sweet and just barely tart. Most importantly, it’s smooth. Life is too short to choke down wine that punches you in the throat.

I paired it with chicken tiki Masala, which was excellent, but I also think it would go nicely with a mandarin and strawberry spinach salad topped with vinaigrette dressing and Gorgonzola cheese.

Menage A Trois creates their Rose’ blend from Merlot, Syrah, and Gewurztraminer.

The label describes it as, “raspberries, strawberries, lychee nuts, and flowers.” I have no idea what lychee nuts taste like and have yet to make a habit of eating flowers but this Rose is quite delectable nonetheless. It’s also 13.5% alcohol so there is nothing weak or foo-foo about it.

Menage A Trois Rose’ is the grown up, feel good, beverage of summer 🙂

Xavier recommends accompanying your Rose’ with Billy Joel’s “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant”.

Wine Review: 2015 Pinot Noir, Old Soul Vineyards – Lodi, CA

Yesterday, after wrapping up a fun shopping trip for cactus and gardening supplies at Lowe’s, Xavier says, “Hey, we’re really close to the Frederick Wine Ho”, which is husband-speak for, “I want to go there and buy stuff”, so we did.

Now, the place is actually called Frederick Wine House, but it shows up on my bank statement as Frederick Wine Ho so that has become it’s new unofficial name.

Anyway, a while back we were there to fetch some Cabernet Sauvignon from the Devil’s Locker but, upon entering the store, wine magnets moved my feet in a bee-line to this enchanting bottle of Old Soul Pinot Noir. I didn’t get it that day but I kept it in the memory banks for future reference.

Serious question: Is that a tree or a grape vine?

Old Soul Vineyards is actually a sub-brand of a larger company known as Oak Ridge Winery. If you scroll down on this page https://shoporw.vintegrate.com/ you can see all of their brands.

Fun fact: A few weeks ago, Xavier and I took a little road trip out to Trader Joe’s in Reston, VA specifically for the purpose of perusing their wine selection. On that trip we found what turned out to be an excellent Lodi based Zinfandel from Old Vine Zin. A bit of research revealed that Old Vine Zin is also a sub-brand of Oak Ridge Winery.

Old Vine Zin (Old Zin Vine?) will be a post for another day but, sufficed to say, the bottle didn’t last long.

Back to the Old Soul Pinot Noir, which is positively excellent, and not just because of the groovy label…

If dark chocolate and an oak tree got drunk on espresso and had a baby, it would be this wine. Boasting a prominent oak flavor (not unlike Red Velvet from Cupcake) and slightly bitter, though very pleasant, tones of dark chocolate and espresso, this is the kind of wine that makes me want to put a straw in the bottle and refer to the whole thing as “one drink”. As in, “What?? I only had ONE drink…”

For best results, enjoy by candlelight by the patio on a hot summer evening.

This is not really part of the wine review but these are the new cacti mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Wine Review: RedVolution, Bota Box

In preparation for the rest of my life, I’ve gone back to school. Starting with this summer semester, I’ve begun course work online from Central New Mexico Community College. This means that, in addition to working full time, I now come home and spend three to four hours doing homework every night. While it also explains why I haven’t been writing very many wine reviews lately, it does not mean that I haven’t been enjoying my fair share of wine and keeping notes in my special wine journal for future blog posts.

One of my recent favorites is RedVolution from Bota Box.

Upon realizing that the wine budget was rivaling my car payment, I knew I had to find a more sustainable alternative.

Enter stage left: the box.

When you buy a bottle of wine, a good percentage of the price is actually the bottle itself, the label and the cork. In other words, you’re paying for packaging, not wine.

Box wine, on the other hand, does not come in a bottle that looks sophisticated sitting on the coffee table for one night, but the difference is that it sits on the kitchen counter for at least a week. This 3 liter box is equivalent in volume to four 750ml (regular size) bottles of wine and costs about $20. Say what you will but there is no $5 bottle of wine that is going to rival the yumminess of RedVolution so, you know, math wins.

RedVolution is one of those ideal red blends. They don’t say what’s in it but it’s very smooth and exhibits a subtle smoky quality. The box says cherries and cocoa and I would agree with that claim. I’ve never gotten a headache from RedVolution and even though it’s packs a wallop at 13.5% alcohol, it doesn’t hit me very hard. The perfect end to a 14+ hour day of dealing with stressful idiots and then trying to teach myself to be smart is a delicious and calming glass of RedVolution.

Wine Review: 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon, Casillero del Diablo

Straight from the Devil’s locker.

The direct translation of Casillero is “pigeon hole” or “locker”.

From their website, I would guess that they are making reference to the Devil’s personal collection but let’s not get caught up on semantics.

It’s no secret that Xavier and I eat at Cacique a lot. I mean a lot.

I’ve had this Cabernet Sauvignon twice at Cacique and still liked it enough to get a bottle of my very own.

Caserillo del Diablo doesn’t mess around. This is the best Cabernet Sauvignon I’ve had. It’s got just the right amount of everything: right amount of oak, right amount of fruit, right amount of smooth finish, and generally the right amount of awesome.

I often find Cab to be a little full bodied, too bold, too much upper cut to the upper palate, but Caserillo del Diablo is not like that at all. It’s silky smooth and seriously dangerous. The bottle disappears very easily.

Other pertinent facts: NO red wine headache.

This is the first wine from Chile that I’ve had and I have to say that maybe Kricket is onto something. Chile tastes good.

Wine Review: 2013 Syrah, Blackstone

This is both the first wine from Blackstone and the first Syrah I have tried.

Blackstone wine is not particularly pricey but it is very good. I think this bottle was about $9.00.

First impressions, I don’t know if all Syrah is this way but the one from Blackstone is a very soft red wine. It opens with a little kick but mellows quickly with a long, smooth finish. Think dark fruit and smooth coffee.

Blackstone Syrah is an easy drinking wine that causes the bottom of the bottle to appear all too quickly.

You may have noticed that I review a lot of red blends of which Syrah is often a key ingredient. In the blends it can be difficult to isolate the individual varietals but tasting the Syrah by itself I can now recognize it as the predominate flavor in many of the blends that I really like.

Incidentally, Syrah is made from the exact same grape as Shiraz. I reviewed a Shiraz awhile back and, if my memory serves, Xavier said it was crass (the wine, not my review). I see now that crass is an accurate description. Shiraz wears sunglasses indoors and swears in front of children. Syrah speaks in complete sentences and reads books that have more words than pictures.

I don’t know why Syrah isn’t more popular. In fact, Blackstone is the only option for Syrah at my neighborhood store, and maybe that says more about the store than the varietal, but I would love to see more options nonetheless.

If you know of any good ones, please leave your recommendations in the comments section below.

Wine Review: Red Blend, 7 Moons

Seemingly out of nowhere, this wine just appeared in the feature sale bin at my neighborhood liquor store. It also showed up at the one gas station in our local area that is allowed to sell wine.

The label was cool so naturally we bought it.

This seems to be the only wine available from 7 Moons.

www.7moonswine.com

7 moon swine

With regard to flavor, this is one of my all time favorites. It’s so good, I want to pour it in a Big Gulp cup and take it with me to work.

It is entirely possible that 7 Moons may have sold their soul to the devil for this wine recipe. Smooth with luscious cherries, chocolate, vanilla and a nice amount of oak. If I had known that red wine could be this good I would’ve started drinking it years ago.

I don’t know how to score wine but if I did, I would give it a D for devilishly good.

This deliciousness comes at price though, and it’s more than $11.99.

The trade off is that, even after only one glass, I woke up with a truly horrific red wine headache… three times.

It tastes so good that I almost don’t care but if red wine gives you headaches, this is not your huckleberry.

Wine Review: 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, 14 Hands Winery

On a Sunday afternoon, Xavier and I went to lunch at a local restaurant called La Paz. It’s right up the street from our all time fave, Cacique, and we thought it would be fun to try a new place.

We thought wrong.

La Paz is why restaurants outside of New Mexico should not serve food they don’t understand. Additionally, the service was terrible. It took an hour to get our food and the food we finally got was mediocre at best.

Speaking of mediocre, the wine list was also laughable. Featuring such fine selections as Sutter Home White Zinfandel and Bare Foot Pinot Noir, I seriously considered just ordering an iced tea but then I saw one choice that looked promising: 14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon.

I had never tried it but I knew that 14 Hands wine usually cost more than $6 at the store so it was the creme de la creme so to speak.

This glass of wine was quite delightful and, were it not for it’s presence, we probably would have left when the waiter came to apologize for the 45 minute wait, explaining that the kitchen had sent our food to the wrong table, and promising that our lunch would be delivered eventually.

Despite the underwhelming nature of the restaurant, I really did enjoy the wine so I decided to get a bottle of my very own.

I wish this story got better but, well, it kinda doesn’t.

There was something amiss about the bottle I bought. While it generally tasted alright, it smelled weird.

Perhaps I should rephrase. I thought it smelled weird. Xavier said, “That’s what Cabernet Sauvignon smells like.”

He thought it smelled fine.

Oddly enough, I thought it tasted alright just as long as I didn’t sniff the top of the bottle. Overall though, I liked the wine I had in the restaurant better than the bottle I brought home.

The restaurant wine was dark and smooth, very full bodied and pleasantly woody with a good amount of oak.

Maybe I got a dud bottle. I’m sure it happens from time to time.

Wine Review: 2014 California Red Wine, Black Ink

Xavier and I went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill and we each ordered a $12 glass of Black Ink California Red Wine. The menu described it as tasting like licorice and caramel. I guess you could say that but I doubt I would’ve come up with it on my own.

We really liked it though so the next day we went out and spent $12.99 on a bottle of our very own.

Did I mention that we paid $12 a glass at the restaurant?

This is my argument for drinking at home.

Xavier opened the bottle that night so I didn’t notice until just now that the cork has an octopus on it.

The octopus is the most intelligent of the invertebrate creatures and pretty much the most awesome thing that lives in the ocean.

As for the wine, it is nicely balanced; oak and dark fruit.

The label describes it as mysterious and that is the best adjective of all.

This wine is very good and all too easy to keep drinking while trying to conjure descriptive words to describe it’s awesome flavor.

We managed not to kill the whole bottle in one night and by that I mean there might be half a glass left.

I got dibs.

Wine Review: 2014 Angel Food, Cupcake Vineyards

Xavier says this is not an angel.

“But how do you know,” I ask, “have you met many angels?”

“Does an angel send you selfies?”

He still says it’s not an angel.

img_9103-1

I have to say that there is absolutely nothing about this wine from Cupcake Vineyards that resembles angel food cake.

Not even a little bit.

I would also like to point out that the wine is called Angel Food and not Angel Food Cake. Ergo, you will not see me getting all butt hurt because it doesn’t taste like cake.

You know, just sayin’.

To the contrary, the first sips taste very strongly of granny smith apple. If the label read “Apple Wine”, I wouldn’t have even questioned it.

One of these days I’ll learn to open the wine prior to when I want to drink it.

The reason I say that is because after half an hour or so, somewhere in the 2nd glass, the flavor did mellow out considerably and the sweeter, softer qualities began to come through.

The label describes it as a “creamy mouthful”, which is an unfortunate choice of words, but I concur that after it’s been open for awhile, Angel Food, is indeed creamy and slightly sweet.

Xavier particularly likes white wines that have these types of qualities and when I asked him what he thought it tasted like he said, “It tastes like the past tense. We need to get another bottle.”