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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Fat Monk wines are produced by the Villa San-Juliette Winery in Paso Robles. You may recall a review we did of the Villa San-Juliette Zinfandel earlier this year, when we shared the background of this winery which is owned by the producers of American Idol. Fat Monk is their bargain brand, although the prices aren’t […]
Yesterday, we reviewed the Godwin Family Vineyards 2004 Merlot and we found it to be quite impressive. “The wine does a nice job of mimicking a Pomerol, but with a traditional California style all it’s own”, is what I said of that wine. You can read more on the 2004, but it’s time to review […]
Occasionally here at Cheapwineratings.com we receive wines that don’t necessarily meet our criteria, meaning they’re not exactly “cheap”. But if we believe these wines may still represent a value to our consumers who may be looking for something a little more special, we’ll certainly pass on our perspective. So when Godwin Family Vineyards sent us […]
Continuing the theme of not-so-cheap wines this week, AND continuing our exploration of pinot noir tonight we’re revisiting a brand we love, X Winery. I know, it doesn’t sound too impartial when I introduce them as a brand we love. But we love them because they seem to be pretty darn consistent at producing tasty […]
OK, so we’ve been posting some reviews for bargain-priced merlot lately but how can we really know how these are measuring up if we don’t taste some higher-end pinot noir? Well, I’m not going to taste any really high-end pinots, but I’ve gotten a couple that are over our typical $20 price limit. And rather […]
