I’ll be honest.  I went into this review a little biased.   Having already reviewed a few of their wines, including their 2009 cabernet sauvignon and 2009 pinot noir, I’m somewhat familiar with the story behind this winery.  They’re relatively new on the block, and still cutting their stylistic teeth on their first few vintages.  And while working with power reds like pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon offers some margin of error, pinot grigio does not.

But I’m here to report that this wine pleasantly surprised me.  Pinot grigio is not a complex wine, and examples from Napa can come across even more muted than more genuine, Italian versions.   But this wine offered vibrancy, along with complex fruit that one rarely sees in this varietal.

On the nose, the wine is a bit vegetal, with hints of grass and celery.  But it also serves up a soft lychee-like fruit that is pleasant and somewhat exotic.  Overall, the nose is far more potent than I would have expected, and quite inticing, too.  However, it doesn’t offer the same level of crispness that Italian versions would normally offer.

On the palate the acidity in the wine takes time to show, but once it does, the wine offers up a slightly sweet and vibrant style, if only slightly off-balance.  The winemaker’s notes tout tropical citrus, but I failed to pick up any tropical fruit.  There is plenty of sour apple and a touch of sweet lime as well.  Still, the wine offers more complexity than I’ve found in other pinot grigios at even twice the price.

This style will appeal to most lighter-bodied, white wine drinkers, but I expect that most pinot grigio purists won’t find this wine appealing.   If your tastes appeal to more exotic sauvignon blancs, but you’re looking for an even better value, the Flip Flop 2010 deserves a try.

A  Salute!

Wine: Flip Flop
Variety: Pinot Grigio
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 85
Price: $7.00

Find Flip Flop 2010 Pinot Grigio with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Over the last year or so I’ve done some ranting about zinfandel blends and how I see a growing demand for these wines.  Apothic Red is one incredibly popular example of this style of wine appealing to consumers and now Gnarly Head has come out with their own answer to the zinfandel blend with Authentic Red.

Gnarly Head Authentic Red hails from Lodi, California, which I consider to be the zinfandel capital of the world.  There’s something about Lodi that just makes it an ideal location for zinfandel.  It could be the climate, it could be the soil, it could be the people… but it’s probably a combination of those.  And, what’s more, 2010 was a great year for Lodi zinfandel.

OK… so, I’m going on about the zinfandel part of this, but that’s not all that’s in this wine.  The blend here is 50% zinfandel, 20% merlot, 17% cabernet sauvignon, 10% petite sirah and 3% syrah.

The nose on this wine is intense and beautiful, with cherry cola, blackberry and spice aromas.  The palate is fruit-forward—very fruit-forward—with rich, juicy blackberry, black cherry and blueberry flavors.  In a way, it’s almost like a slice of blueberry pie.  While I wouldn’t call this a sweet wine, there is a definite sweetness to the fruit flavors.  On the mid-palate, dark chocolate flavors show up to the party.  The acidity is good and the mouthfeel is nice.  It finishes long with lingering chocolate and black cherry flavors.

This isn’t a wine that’s going to appeal to snobs looking for a refined and elegant wine.  This is a casual, fun wine with bold flavors that are intense enough to stand up to rich foods like barbecue or burgers.  Those looking for a rich, juicy, fruit-forward wine will love this one.

Wine: Gnarly Head Authentic Red
Variety: Zinfandel blend
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $11.99

Find Gnarly Head Authentic Red with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

When I first started this website a lot of people commented that I must love Trader Joe’s because of all the bargains they have on wine.  And as much as I wanted to love Trader Joe’s, I just never became a big fan.  Most of the wines I tasted from them were nothing special, albeit they were dirt cheap — which is something I always love.  Plus there’s something about the folks working there that just seems inauthentic to me… they’re way too happy and remind me of flair-clad servers at TGI Fridays.

Anyway, while it seems like everyone I meet associates Trader Joe’s with dirt cheap wine, they are not the only one in that game.  The folks from Aldi sent a few of their wines our way to taste and I’d say they’re giving TJ’s some competition.  I’ve never been an Aldi shopper, so I had no idea they were carrying wines and I was a little surprised when they showed up.

I’ll admit that I was a little bit skeptical at first.  But as I looked them over, I saw a few things that were both intriguing and reassuring.  First, I was surprised to see the regions on the wines, Chianti, Napa Valley and Mosel.  Then I was reassured when I checked the alcohol levels and found them to be appropriate for the styles.  Sometimes I’ve found that really cheap wine will have an alcohol level that’s lower than normal, resulting in thin, bland wine, but that wasn’t the case here.  I also liked the backside of the labels, which has helpful graphics for folks who don’t know their wine well yet.

Now I will say that none of these wines absolutely blew me away, but none of them were bad either.  And for the dirt cheap prices, they are some bargains!

Gonfalone Chianti 2009

I’m a big fan of Chianti, but if I have a choice I’m usually going to select a Chianti Classico versus a Chianti.  I expect that a lot of wine consumers aren’t clear on the differences between Chianti and Chianti Classico and that’s an unfortunate circumstance of the names being so similar.  And I could confuse you even more by going into the other sub-types of Chianti.  But basic difference between Chianti and Chianti Classico is the region of production.  While Chianti comes from a rather broad region in Tuscany, Chianti Classico comes from a more limited region, selected for the quality of its grapes.  There are some other differences too, but I’ll leave it at that for now.  And while I tend to prefer Chianti Classico, I was pleasantly surprised by this Chianti from Gonfalone.

The nose on this wine is nice.  It shows well balanced raspberry, nutmeg, strawberry and perfume aromas with moderate intensity.  The palate is dry and offers plenty of ripe fruit flavors, like raspberry, plum and sour cherry, plus a little bit of spice.  Where it misses is on the acidity, which is more restrained than I would expect for a Chianti, although it’s not terribly off the mark.  The finish is decent, with lingering raspberry tea flavors.  Overall, it smells and tastes nice, but lacks some vibrancy due to the restrained acidity.

For the price, this is an extreme value.

Wine: Gonfalone Chianti 
Variety: Chianti
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 84
Price: $5.99

Walker Napa Valley Red Wine 2007

The color is a brownish, brick red.  It doesn’t have the bright red color of most young red blends, but then as a 2007, it ‘s not so young anymore.  I was actually a touch surprised to see them carrying a 2007.  Although it doesn’t say this anywhere on the bottle, this wine is a blend of merlot, syrah and cabernet sauvignon.

The nose on this wine shows cherry and plum aromas, as well as quite a bit of oak, which takes on nutmeg and cedar characteristics in this one.  The oak is a little heavy, but not offensively so.  The palate is medium bodied, which is exactly what the label says.  It does have some nice fruit flavors on the palate that give a touch of sweetness and touch of tart, such as raspberry, plum and strawberry.  There are some subtle tannins too.  The finish is a continuation of the fruit flavors with a bit of residual sugar leaving a slightly sweet flavor on your tongue.  This isn’t a wine that I’m going to rant and rave about, but it’s OK for what it is and still quite a value.

Wine: Walker
Variety: Red blend
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 83
Price: $7.99

Landshut Riesling

When I saw this wine I cringed a bit because I’ve tasted far too many bad, sweet rieslings in the past and I was skeptical.  But then I saw that it was from Mosel, which gave me some reassurance.  But the proof is ultimately with what’s in the bottle and I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

The nose is a little tight, but shows expecable aromas for a riesling, like honeysuckle, apple and lime.  The palate is sweet, with peach, apple and lime flavors.  It has enough acidity to bring it to life on your tongue, although a little more acidity would help the overall balance with the sweetness.  It finishes long, with lingering sweet apple flavors.

Wine: Landshut
Variety: Riesling
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 9.5%
Rating: 83
Price: $4.99

Disclosure: These wines were received as a media sample.

Just because the New Year’s holiday is over is no reason to stop drinking sparkling wine.  And so, here are a couple more bubblies worth checking out.

Both of these wines come from the Bronco Wine Company.  You won’t see that name on the labels anywhere, but Bronco owns both of these brands, as well as numerous other “value” wine brands.  Bronco is probably best known as the company that produces the Charles Shaw brand (aka “Two-buck Chuck”) sold at Trader Joe’s.  While these wines are quite as cheap as two-buck, they are still quite reasonably priced, particularly for bubbly.

There is one thing you might not like about these wines.  If you’ve ever paid $30 or more for a bottle of bubbly, you may feel foolish after tasting one of these.

Hacienda Brut

The nose is a little on the tight side, but shows some yeast, straw and apple aromas.  The palate has a creamy and bubbly mouth feel and offers apple, pear, lime and mineral flavors.  It has a very harmonious balance of texture, fruit, acid and mineral.  I honestly didn’t expect this wine to be this good, but I’m glad that it is.

Wine: Hacienda Brut
Variety: White Blend
Vintage: N/V
Alcohol: 12%
Rating: 87
Price: $12.99

Find Hacienda Brut with Snooth

Domaine Laurier Brut

Interestingly, we reviewed this wine two years ago and didn’t have a good impression of it at the time.  That just goes to show that even though this wine is labeled as a non-vintage wine, it will still show differently from one year to the next.

This wine has smoky yeast and apple aromas.  A wine like this would not see any oak, so I would think that the smoke is just an expression of the yeast.  The palate has tart, green apple, lime and straw flavors with plenty of bubble and a creamy texture.  A salty mineral note hits the midpalate and continues into the finish, where the green apple also lingers. For the price of this bubbly, I have zero complaints.

Wine: Domaine Laurier Brut
Variety: White Blend
Vintage: N/V
Alcohol: 11.5%
Rating: 87
Price: $12.99

Find Domaine Laurier Brut with Snooth

Disclosure: These wines were received as a sample.

I imagine that for many American wine consumers, particularly those who are relatively new to wine, the question, “What is a Claret?” is the thought that crosses your mind as you see this bottle on the shelves.  ”Is it a varietal?  Is it a location?  I know I’ve heard James Bond refer to a wine as a Claret.”  These are all legitimate questions and thoughts to have.  I too once thought, “What’s the difference between a Claret and a Bordeaux?”

Well, it’s really quite simple.  ”Claret” is a British term that has been used for centuries as a generic name for Bordeaux.  It’s not indicative of a particular part of Bordeaux or a specific varietal, it’s just another name for Bordeaux.  The French historically haven’t used the term themselves, although I’ve read that they are reclaiming the word in 2012 to describe wines that are “light and fruity, easy to drink, in the same style as the original claret when it was prized by the English in former centuries.”

So, the next question you may be pondering is, “Is this wine from Bordeaux?”  The answer to that question is, “no.”  In the case of Francis Coppola Winery they are using Claret to indicate this wine is the style of a Bordeaux.  It’s a Bordeaux style blend from California with 81% cabernet sauvignon, 9% petite verdot, 5% malbec, 3% merlot and 2% cabernet franc.  You may notice that the wine is also labeled as a Cabernet Sauvignon and although it’s a blend, American wines can technically be labeled as a varietal if they are made from 75% or more of a single variety.

In addition to the blend, another touch that adds to the Bordeaux-like nature of this wine is the fact that it was aged for 15 months in French oak.

Harmonious is the first word that comes to mind when smelling this wine.  Complex is the second word, as there’s a lot going on here with black cherry, blueberry, plum, vanilla and toasted oak aromas.  The palate is elegant, with a silky mouth feel serving up plum, blackberry and black currant flavors.  The finish offers a touch of spice and black tea, with the fruit flavors sustaining and balancing the bitterness of the tannins.  This is a very approachable and pleasant-drinking claret, or cabernet sauvignon… whatever you want to call it.

While the suggested retail price of this is $20, a quick online search turned up prices as low as $14.

Have you tried it?  Let us know what you think.

Wine: Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Claret
Variety: Bordeaux-style blend
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 90
Price: $20.00

Find Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Claret with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Today we’re taking a look at another Californian red blend.  This one is a blend of 46% syrah, 31% malbec and 23% petit verdot from Ancient Peaks Winery in Paso Robles.

This wine is a deep, dark purplish-red color with incredible density.  It’s almost inky in appearance.  The nose is just as powerful as the wine is dark, with intense aromas of nutmeg, cedar, plum and chocolate covered cherry.  The palate continues the bold theme of this wine, with jammy fruit flavors, like cherry and plum.  And I do mean jammy.  Wowee, this wine is so dense it’s almost chewy.  There’s plenty of spice on the palate to make this interesting too.  The acidity and tannins are good, and the wine finishes with intense cherry flavors, almost like a cherry cough drop.  It’s a very big wine, which won’t be everyone’s thing.  But if you’re into bold, rich wines, this one is a winner.

The suggested retail price comes in just north of our typical $20 limit, but I’ve seen it for sale as low as $16.00.  And at that price, this wine is a steal!

Wine: Ancient Peaks Winery Renegade
Variety: Red blend
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 90
Price: $23.00

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Some of the most interesting wines I’ve been coming across lately are blends.  Pure varietal wines are fine, but putting together a blend allows winemakers to leverage the characteristics of different grapes to create balance and complexity.

The Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover is a new release from Concannon and is a petite sirah blend.  Concannon has quite a history with petite sirah as they were the first to produce it in America.  The blend here is 50% petite sirah, 25% cabernet sauvignon, 15% syrah and 10% zinfandel, which sounds to me like a uniquely Californian blend.

The “Crimson & Clover” name isn’t an homage to Tommy James & the Shondells or to Joan Jett.  Rather, it is meant to represent the Concannon family history with wine (Crimson) and their Irish heritage (Clover).  And if you didn’t know, the “Conservancy” name, which is part of a portfolio of wines at Concannon, comes from the fact that the land where the grapes are grown is part of a conservancy.  Specifically, the grapes come from the Livermore Valley in the Tri-Valley Conservancy, which is an area of over 3,100 acres protected from urban sprawl by a conservation trust.

The nose on this wine is absolutely beautiful, with licorice aromatics leading the experience.  It also shows some plum, candied fruits and cedar on the nose.  The palate is very nice too, with a perfect blend of abundant, ripe fruit flavors and spice.  The fruit shows expressions of plum and cherry, while the spice is a combo of nutmeg and black pepper.  The spices really come out on the finish, which also brings out the tart side of the fruit.  The mouth feel is slightly silky.  This is a very approachable and exciting wine.  Good stuff!

Wine: Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover
Variety: Petite sirah blend
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.7%
Rating: 90
Price: $18.00

Find Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Oh, and just in case you have a certain song rolling around in your head after reading this, here you go…

Robert Mondavi was one of the most important pioneers of Californian wine, if not the most important.  He is know for his tremendous contributions to technological advancements and marketing of California wine.  And it’s a shame that this the first time we’ve reviewed a wine bearing his name, although we have reviewed other wines from the Mondavi family.

Although started as a family company, the winery was acquired by Constellation Brands in 2004, where it resides today.  There are a few different brands that bear the Robert Mondavi name and the Robert Mondavi Private Selection brand is a mid-level brand — despite the fact that “private selection” might imply that it’s the best stuff, selected for a private few, lucky consumers.  That’s good marketing!  While it’s not the cheapest wine you can find with the Robert Mondavi name on it, it’s far from the most expensive.

Now while I’m being a little bit snarky about the name, I’m not going to complain about the wine in this bottle.  It smells and tastes like what I expect from an inexpensive, Californian pinot noir — in a good way, I know some folks would say they expect an inexpensive, Californian pinot noir to suck.  But it’s not bad, and for the price it’s a steal!

The nose on this wine is pleasant, with aromas like nutmeg, vanilla, cherry and a subtle frankincense.  At least that’s what comes to mind.  I honestly haven’t smelled actual frankincense in some time, but the wine has a perfume / incense fragrance that made me think of frankincense.

In the mouth it offers tart cherry flavors up front, with some strawberry flavors and spice coming into play on the mid-palate.  The finish is a touch bitter, but not offensively so.  The acidity is good and the tannins are subtle, but sufficient.  All told, this is a decent, although somewhat predictible, pinot noir.

Wine: Robert Mondavi Private Selection
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price:  $11.00

Find Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Today we’re reviewing yet another wine from the bargain wine mega-producer, Bronco Wine Company.  This one is from their Fat Cat Cellars brand.

It has a somewhat fun label, which kind of reminds me of Keyboard Cat.  Who knows? Maybe that’s what inspired the label.  I have a feeling that’s probably the case.

The oak on the nose of this wine overpowers the fruit.  I’d say it’s a touch out of balance, but if loads of oak is your thing then maybe you’ll dig it.  It offers a nutmeg spice aroma, along with cedar and cherry.  On the palate it actually has some quite lively fruit flavors, like cherry and plum.  But it also has rather heavy oak flavors, particularly on the finish.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-oak.  But it just doesn’t come across as balanced and well-integrated with this wine.  Still, for $10 I’ve tasted worse.

Wine: Fat Cat
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 83
Price: $10.00

Some others have had a slightly more favorable read on this wine than me.  It did get a gold medal at the 2011 SF Chronicle Wine Festival and Wine Enthusiast gave it an 85 and gave it a “Best Buy” classification.

Find Fat Cat Pinot Noir with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Carmenet wines are part of the Bronco Wine Company portfolio, one of the biggest producers of bargain-priced wines in the US.  The appellation noted on the bottle is California, meaning the grapes could have come from any part of the state, or multiple parts.  I don’t have a whole lot of story to tell about this wine other than that, so let’s get right to the tasting notes.

This wine has a soft nose, with plum, cola and oak aromas.  And when I say oak aromas, I don’t mean vanilla, coconut, nutmeg or other spicy nuances that oak can impart on a wine.  In this case, I mean it smells like a wet board.  An oak board, to be specific.

The oak is also what stands out on the palate.  I have an acronym I sometimes use in my tasting notes, TMO: Too much oak.  It’s not undrinkable, but it’s very heavily oaked.  There is also plenty of ripe fruit on the palate, offering cherry and plum flavors.  It’s very dry on the finish, where again the oak stands out.  There are some enjoyable flavors in the wine, but it’s just thrown out of balance by… you guessed it, too much oak.

Wine: Carmenet
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 80
Price:  $12.00

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.