Concannon’s Crimson & Clover wine, Revisited

Concannon’s Crimson & Clover wine, Revisited

I’m doing a revisit of Concannon’s Crimson & Clover. My original assessment of it can be found here. I’ve been looking for this wine ever since; to my delight and surprise, I found it up in Tehachapi, last Friday evening. I have since located it in my local store.

Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover, 2010 Livermore Valley Red Table Wine Alcohol, 13.7% by volume. Price: Originally $11.99, on sale for $8.40 on a 30% off discount at Vons.

On the Label: “My dad, James Concannon, began his winemaking career over 50 years ago. Following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, he remains one of California’s most innovative and inspiring winemakers. This velvety wine is a living tribute to my father, who was the first to bottle Petite Sirah which continues to thrive in the gravelly soil of the Livermore Valley.

A vibrant red blend of signature Livermore Valley varietals, Crimson & Clover honors my dad’s enduring spirit that runs deep in the Irish roots of our family. This lush wine has deep flavors of blackberries and rich chocolate balanced by a long, silky finish. Pair with black pepper crusted filet mignon or grilled artichoke with tarragon aioli.”

My Take: I remember being slightly disappointed in this wine when I tasted it in February, and wanting another bottle to hold for a few months. I can joyfully say that, YES! THIS is a bottle of wine that any hostess would be pleased to receive, and you can now drink it right after opening. After airing a bit, it’s even better. It has a richness, a lovely jammy flavor that doesn’t get cloying, and goes great with hearty foods. It’s even better with cheese and crackers after dinner.

I enjoyed it up in Tehachapi, and relished it even more at home this past week. I’ve got a bottle stashed away and will most likely buy another bottle (or two) while it’s still on sale. I am SO happy to be able to review this wine again – and even happier that it’s now been released. Originally it was supposed to release in the spring; last week was the first time I’ve seen it on the shelves, and I have been looking. I’m glad they waited.

My Rating: ~ Stay away! This is MY wine, you slut!

Time is pressing and I’m running late for work. The only other wine-related thing I can think of to mention is that we tried the Two Buck Chuck Chardonnay last night – and had to turn it into sangria with the help of a couple of oranges and a slice of lemon. Yeah, it was that bad. But the oranges and lemon made it taste, ever-so-vaguely, like a shadow of a mimosa (orange juice and sparkling wine) without the bubbles. So we managed to save the wine. Now we’ll see how long it takes us to actually drink it…

May your weekend before Christmas be happy, stress-free,  and filled with simple joys. (Stop laughing!) Be good, my lovelies! Merry Yule, Joyous Winter Solstice! (We’re all still here!)

As usual, this is just my honest opinion and depend upon my mood, the weather, and what cycle the moon is in. Your taste buds will differ.

~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~

Demon Soul, Blood Dreams and Demon Hunt are all available for the Kindle! Have you fallen into the Caine Brothers’ world yet?

My Rating System: Undrinkable, Barely Drinkable, Drinkable, Very Drinkable, and the ever popular Stay away! This is MY wine, you slut!

 

Beaujolais Nouveau

Beaujolais Nouveau

In these days of high unemployment and global financial crisis, it’s nice to relax with a bottle of wine that doesn’t break your pocketbook. I’m here to sort out the memorable from the truly awful, and each bottle is under $10 unless noted otherwise.

Beaujolais Nouveau is made from the Gamay grape and is typically bottled 6 to 8 weeks after harvest which is GOOD NEWS for those who can’t handle the tannins from aged wines – Nouveau typically has far less tannins. It is the first wine of the harvest, made to celebrate the harvest, but until WW II was kept at home for local consumption. For more information on Beaujolais Nouveau, go here.

The first time I tried it, back in the 1980s when the wine world used to make a big fuss about Beaujolais Nouveau, it was the first wine I’d had that tasted like a fruity Kool Aid with a nice banana flavor to it. There are two offerings from Georges Deboeuf; one from inside the “controllee” of the Beaujolais region, and one from the surrounding villages (Beaujolais-Villages); unfortunately, I’ve only got the one from Georges Deboeuf. But I did find a pretender! Below are two “Nouveau” wines.

Oh, and remember this is NOT a wine to stock in your cellar (if you like it). Buy it, drink it! Do not let it age because trust me, age does not improve this wine.

These are the 2006 bottles.

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2012  Cuvee Spe´ciale – Appellation Beaujolais-Villages Controlleé   Alcohol 12% by Volume; under $10 at Cost Plus World Market

On the Label: “The 2012 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Villages Nouveau, the first wine of the new vintage, has arrived! Time to enjoy and celebrate the harvest in style iwth this charming wine!

Thirty years ago, Georges Duboeuf introduced American wine enthusiasts to the delights of his Beaujolais Nouveau. Beaujolais Villages Nouveau is packed with generous, round, black and red berries aromas.”


My Take: It was better 30 years ago. That’s a knee-jerk reaction and I’m aware of that. But I didn’t get the light, fruity Kool Aid flavor I was hoping for; no banana taste. It had a heavier feel to it, which makes me wonder what this year’s vintage Beaujolais will taste like in a few years. However, it is inoffensive, not overly priced, and has a fun label that you can actually buy in tie form for that busy executive in your life.

My Rating: ~ Drinkable ~ And if you bone up on the whole Beaujolais Nouveau mystique, you can bring a bottle of this plus some stories to share the next time you are invited to dinner. Find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/georgesduboeuf

Charles Shaw Red Table Wine Nouveau 2012 Napa and Sonoma, California $1.99 at

Label from the 2010 Vintage

Trader Joe’s in California; $2.99 elsewhere.

On the Label: The typical Government Warning and that’s about it.

My Take: This bottling just made me laugh. I understand the reasoning behind it; they can’t put Beaujolais on the label – but to just toss a bunch of different grapes into a wine and decant it into bottles after a couple of months seems strange to me, even for Two Buck Chuck. The wine wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a good red wine, either.

My Rating: ~ Barely Drinkable ~ If it lands at your table somehow, add fruit to it and turn it into Sangria. You’ll be glad you did. However, others have different opinions on this wine. Go to Vivino.com and check out their ratings.

As usual, this is just my honest opinion and depend upon my mood, the weather, and what cycle the moon is in. Your taste buds will differ.

~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~

Demon Soul, Blood Dreams and Demon Hunt are all available for the Kindle! Have you fallen into the Caine Brothers’ world yet?

My Rating System: Undrinkable, Barely Drinkable, Drinkable, Very Drinkable, and the ever popular Stay away! This is MY wine, you slut!

 

Two Buck Chuck, Revisited

Two Buck Chuck, Revisited

In these days of high unemployment and global financial crisis, it’s nice to relax with a bottle of wine that doesn’t break your pocketbook. I’m here to sort out the memorable from the truly awful, and each bottle is under $10.

It has been years since I regularly purchased Two Buck Chuck, the ubiquitous Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw wines. Since the ready cash has been less ready as of late, the hubby thought it would be a good idea to give some of them another try. So here we go, delving into the mysteries of Two Buck Chuck.

photo of Charles Shaw MerlotCharles Shaw Merlot 2011 Alcohol 12.5% by Volume; $1.99 at Trader Joe’s

On The Label: “Cellared and bottled by Charles Shaw Winery, Napa and Sonoma, California”

My Take: Well, the label is interesting. They take grapes from the premier growing areas in California and use those in their wines. Hm…

The last time I had a bottle of Two Buck Chuck (actually I’m talking several years ago now), it was awful. I have a strange tolerance for bad wine – after the first few gulps, you can get used to anything – but that bottle turned me away from the wine for a very long time. This Merlot, however, was flavorful, with lots of fruit and a hint of depth. It went well with the chicken quesadillas and guacamole we had that night for dinner. Plus the lower alcohol content was nice; reds tend to hover between 13.5% and 14%.

My Rating: ~ Drinkable ~

(TIP: If you don’t want your dinner guests to know what name brand of wine you’re pouring, decant it first and hide the bottle. There’s no need to tell a soul!)

Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc, 2011 Alcohol 12.5% by Volume – $1.99 at Trader photo of bottle of sauvignon blancJoe’s

On the Label: See above, lol.

My Take: Like almost all Sauvignon Blancs, this one has a crisp, almost sharp flavor. It’s a terrific spritzer wine, very like the Shaw Pinot Grigio, though we are past spritzer season here at Chez Ashworth. Will I rush out to buy it again? Um, not until next summer. Perhaps.

My Rating: ~ Drinkable ~

Overall, I was pleased that, should the worst happen and I be out on the streets with my hands out, begging, I can still find a bottle of wine that I can drink and only pay $1.99 for it. I still have a Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon in my wine cellar to try…I’ll admit I’m a bit scared! But as I was poking about the internet, I saw an article that said since Two Buck Chuck started selling, they’ve sold over six hundred million bottles. So they must be doing something right!

Have a great weekend, folks – and be good to one another.

As usual, this is just my honest opinion and depend upon my mood, the weather, and what cycle the moon is in. Your taste buds will differ.

~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~

Demon Soul, Blood Dreams and Demon Hunt are all available for the Kindle! Have you fallen into the Caine Brothers’ world yet?

My Rating Scale: Undrinkable, Barely Drinkable, Drinkable, Very Drinkable, and the ever popular Stay away! This is MY wine, you slut!

Two Pinot Grigios under $10

Two Pinot Grigios under $10

Pinot Grigio if you’re in Italy, or Pinot Gris if you’re in France, is on an upswing in the United States. Considered the “new Chardonnay” due to it’s rising popularity in the past ten years, it’s an easy sipping wine that can wow both the knowledgeable and the casual drinker. From everything I’ve read, there are no “rules” for Pinot Grigios – they can be barrel aged in oak or stainless steel, left completely dry or with a bit of residual sugar left behind. This will inevitably change the wine from producer to producer, and the color will range from a pale gray to a light pink.

I’m contrasting two very different Pinot Grigios today. A friend, Christine London, poked fun at me and asked when I’d be reviewing Two Buck Chuck; so the next time I happened to be in Trader Joe’s, I picked up a bottle of their Pinot Grigio to give it a taste. Christine, this one’s for you!

Here’s the scoop:

Charles Shaw Winery Pinot Grigio, 2010, California $1.99 at Trader Joe’s. Napa and Sonoma Valley, California Alcohol 12.5% by volume. For more info on the wine maker, go here.

On the Label: The label was uninformative, which in my book is not a bad thing.

My take: Eh. It’s not a bad wine. Please do yourself a favor and drink very cold. If it’s a dinner wine, and I highly recommend it as such, keep it in an ice bucket. It’s got a high acidity level, which cuts through spicy foods well.

If you’re having a party, consider stocking up on this wine as a mixing wine – white wine spritzers on a hot summer day, with a splash of lime or lemon – this wine is excellent for that purpose. If you’re sipping it poolside, make sure you have a sharp cheese and some crackers to go with it as you’ll enjoy the wine more.

In these uncertain economic times, the producers of all the Two Buck Chuck varietals are making wines available to a wide population at ridiculously low prices. If you like them, then your wallet will be ecstatically happy. If you don’t, then the hunt for inexpensive and tasty wine continues.

My rating: ~Drinkable~ especially for the price. I much prefer other wines, but will come back to this one. Maybe it just needs a year in the bottle? I’ll see if I can find a 2009.

Concannon Pinot Grigio Central Coast, 2010 Regularly $8.99, on sale $6.65 at Vons. (Sorry – I couldn’t find a pic of the Pinot Grigio!)

On the Label: “Roots. Rocks. Intrigue. Since 1883, Concannon Vineyard has been handcrafting fine varietal wines from grapes grown along the Central Coast of California, a diverse region that stretches north from Santa Barbara to the San Francisco Bay. We carefully select the most ideal vineyards for growing each varietal and craft this expressive fruit into superb wines.

“The coastal fog blankets the grapes and protects them from too much heat…and too much cold. This allows for gradual ripening, producing aromas and flavors of citrus, melon and honeysuckle. This well-balanced, crisp Pinot Grigio goes well with somked salmon or roasted pork tenderloin.”

My first impression: A friendly wine. Why? It had a screwtop. Oh now, stop it. Don’t lift your nose and sniff. Screwtops make complete sense. Cork is expensive, and can fail. A screwtop can’t, especially when they add a sealer to it underneath the top. From my readings, South Africa and Australia don’t have the same “cheap” connotation for screwtops as Americans do, and they’ve whole-heartedly embraced the screwtop on their wines. I say, good for them! And I hope America soon follows suit.

Now to the wine itself: I could definitely smell and taste the melon and honeysuckle, which surprised me. This is a light, refreshing wine with a zing on the aftertaste, as well as a hint of sweetness to it that makes it an excellent sipping wine.

I paired it with a roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and a salad and it made the whole meal feel summery and fresh in the heat of the evening.

I find I’m liking Pinot Grigio a lot, and I’ll pick it up when I need a refreshing white wine. Overall it’s a friendly varietal that pairs well with lots of different foods. Several are terrific sipping wines, and they make a nice change from Chardonnay at a summer party.

My rating: ~Very Drinkable~ . A bargain even when not on sale!

REMEMBER: Your tastebuds may vary. What I love, you may hate, and vice-versa. So if it’s under $10 and in your taste ballpark, go ahead and give it a try no matter what I’ve rated it.

Now, weigh in on screw tops. Yay or nay, and why? Is it more romantic, having to uncork a wine?

My go-to Pinot Noir, under $10

My go-to Pinot Noir, under $10

Welcome back to Wine Friday! It’s Memorial Day weekend and you’ll probably have something on the grill at some point, unless it’s still snowing/raining where you live. I’m currently loving the So Cal sunshine! So let’s get to it.

Talking about wine…It cracks me up to read Food & Wine Magazine, and see what they recommend to drink. The May 2011 issue touts “discovering fantastic pinot noir” on the cover. As it turns out, that article is about some great winemaker in Italy making Patagonian Pinot Noir. Not, I think, something I’ll find at Vons for under $10.

Looking further in the magazine, I think maybe I’m going to get lucky – there’s an article on page 70 about “Finding Tasty Wine on a Public-TV Budget”, so I head over there to check it out.

The article is well written but I skim it, looking for the prices…aHA! Found them! To my surprise, all the wines are at the $15 or lower price range. Hmmm. There’s a 2009 Bibi Graetz Bianco Di Casamatta for $11 – apparently it’s a vibrant, citrusy Vermentino.

Um. What? Any wine that makes me think of rats and cockroaches isn’t on my radar (Vermentino – vermin – get it? lol…).

The next one is a 2008 Argiolas Perdera at $12, from the Monica grape (who knew?), and this is a juicy red that’s now grown in Sardinia. Ooookay.

Well now here’s one that I understand. More or less. It’s a 2008 Michele Chiarlo Le Orme Barbera D’Asti for $12. This is an aromatic, berry-rich wine, which according to the author has a fantastic price tag.

Okay now I’m just tired, lol! I’m a busy woman. I pick up my wines at the grocery store, and I search out those well under $10 a bottle. Am I the only one? Don’t think so. All the above wines can be found in several NY City wine shops which is great if you live in NY City. We don’t have a wine shop where I live. Oh, WAIT – we DO! BevMo! Okay, consider this whine cut short.

Still…when I get dinner, and need to pick up wine to go with, I really don’t want to hop on the freeway at rush hour and question the BevMo staff about wines made from the Monica grape that are in my price range.  I buy 95% of my wine at my local grocery store, so getting a well-made wine for as little as possible is always my goal.

(Before I go further, I do adore Trader Joe’s and still shop there for wine, but I outgrew Two Buck Chuck about ten years ago. I still try $2 bottles of wine, though. You never know when you’ll hit on a winner.)

I have a definite go-to wine that I buy when I don’t want to think and don’t want to spend over $6. My go-to wine is the Smoking Loon Pinot Noir. It’s usually $5.99 at Vons, sometimes it goes up to $6.99 – but even when it’s NOT on “special”, it’s a $9.99 bottle of wine – at least, it is in California.

As a matter of fact, when I go wine tasting up in Paso Robles, if a wine isn’t considerably better in my mouth than a Smoking Loon Pinot, I won’t buy it. I really don’t want to spend the money, especially now.

Why Smoking Loon Pinot Noir? It’s consistent over vintages. It’s an easy sipping wine that goes with a lot of different foods. It’s got depth, flavor, and a nice lingering taste (plus, goes great with either a campfire or at the beach). It’s perfect with an elegant chicken dish, vegetarian offerings, or hamburgers and dogs off the grill. It’s unpretentious, a nice bottle of wine. Kind of like the unspoiled girl next door.

Okay – I understand that I’m not talking of the taste of the wine, the aromas, the flavors that I sense – I guess because my tastebuds will vary from yours. I will include those things when I write while I sip, and that’s not the case currently – but always remember, when it comes to wine? Your mileage may vary.

Oops, and I forgot! I rate the Smoking Loon Pinot Noir as ~Very Drinkable~ mainly because it has been consistent over the past five years. Plus – I just discovered that Smoking Loon is owned by the Sebastiani family, and has been in existence since 2000. So there are their bona fides!

Anyway – to further my wine education (which began many years ago with a trip to Napa Valley), I will continue to read Food & Wine Magazine (as they highlight expensive wine and fouffy food, for the most part, also NOT CHEAP to make, tho in their defense they never promised CHEAP dishes, now did they?) and stop by at BevMo for tastings. Plus have tastings with friends – that way, you get more opinions than just mine.

In the meantime, if you’ve got a wine you like that’s under $10 a bottle (and I’m not talking box or jug wines – I’ll get to those in a year or so), give me a holler!

Coming next week (probably): Three different Chardonnays, under $10

P.S. Oh, one thing I should mention – these wines are mostly grown in California, and I live in California – so my prices will be lower than yours if you’re in the Central states or on the other coast. I can tell you that every time I visit my friend Tammy in Snowmass, Colorado, I am shocked at the wine prices – one bottle of Smoking Loon there is around $15!