Merlots Don't Float My Boat - Sebastiani Merlot 2005

Apparently, my roommate's uncle works for Sebastiani. I was curious, so I snagged a bottle of their merlot (their cheapest varietal) at Costco for $9. What a steal - I saw it the other day at Ralph's for $14! I love you, Costco. On with the review:

Merlot, 2005
Sebastiani, California. $9
Consumed: August 6, 2009
Nose: Very pleasant and prominent coconut! Sweet herbal-ish smell. Palette: Buttery aftertaste, quick finish. Delicious mellow tannins.

The flashy, distinctive label makes Sebastiani wines easy to find on the shelves amongst tons of other wines.

Chris said that he liked it - there was a good amount of depth to it, along with nice plum flavors. I personally thought it was better than an average merlot, but I'm not a huge fan of the varietal.

Final Verdict: Worth ~$9-11 in my opinion. Probably shouldn't get it if you have to pay more than that, otherwise, pretty good merlot.

Merlot Number Trois - Christian Moueix Merlot 2005

One major thing to note: Around this time, I noticed that I started writing less and less about the wine I review, probably because I've become so accustomed to the base flavors of the respective wine that I don't notice anything but what stands out - maybe this is why professional wine tasters always have such brief comments about their wine? Who knows.

Okay, I'll admit that I don't know anything about French, so the title is hilariously and poorly worded. After a period of drinking cheaper wine that didn't really blow me away, I grabbed this slightly pricier Merlot.

Merlot, 2005
Christian Moueix, Bordeaux, France. $14
Consumed: July 1, 2009.
Nose: Great fruit. Hint of something herbal (anise?), especially prominent on the swirl. Peppery. Palette: Rough mouthfeel. Dry. Quick finish. Very oaky and dry. Surprisingly simple. Definite improvement upon opening up for ~30 minutes.

I dig the simple label. Makes it look pretty cool and vintage-y.

Once again, I learn the hard way that price does not always correlate with how good a wine is. It wasn't bad, but it felt lacking for the price.

Final Verdict: Don't get it. Gorgeous aroma, but a bit too boring to be worth the $14. Chris said it best in two words: "very shallow".

Cheapo Merlot - Delicato Merlot 2007

Hey, the title rhymes! Harhar. Having had a good experience with the first merlot a few posts back, I decided to try to find a cheap one, in order to build a list of decent wine in the strapped-for-cash college student range (~$5-7). No, not dirt-poor college student range - there's jug wine/bag wine/two-buck-chucks for that purpose.

Merlot, 2007
Delicato, California. $6
Consumed: July 20, 2009
Nose: Raspberry (characteristic base aroma/flavor of Merlot). Alot of sweetness and sugariness. Chris got a big whiff of vanilla. Palette: Alot of bite initially, but transitions into a nice deep flavor (tannins, but pleasant). Surprisingly smooth! Slightly bitter aftertaste.

Not much to say, it's pretty characteristic of a Merlot, inside and out. I'm not particularly fond of the weak acidity here (which is probably why I personally like Cabs better). Very drinkable!

Final Verdict: Solid merlot, especially for $6. Smooth and drinkable. Get it! This is good enough for the price to make it into my upcoming list of cheap, decent wine.

Getting My Money's Worth - Grayson Cellars Merlot 2006

Hey everyone, it's been a long time since I last blogged... maybe like 2 weeks? I've been busy with school (making sure I make use of the tuition I pay!) and various other things. Just a word of warning, I have a TON of reviews that I've been holding back on. I'll be pumping those out as fast as I can. Let's get cracking:

First up, a Merlot from Grayson Cellars. This was the first Merlot that I tried since my introduction into the world of wine, so I was pretty excited. I picked up a decent priced one at Bevmo, in hopes of not hitting a low quality one.

Merlot, 2006
Grayson Cellars, California. $11
Consumed: July 11, 2009
Nose: Very fragrant black fruit, reminds me of black cherry or plum. I smell cloves - pretty prominent. Palette: Complex, rough mouthfeel, but very easy to drink - there's no bite! Little bits of acidity, kind of oak-y, superb balance. Dry at the end with a sharp ending. Very dynamic acidity; starts off with the fruit + strong acid > acid peaks and drops off > oakiness comes in briefly > quick finish.

For my first Merlot, I enjoyed this alot. The aroma is really nice, as is the dynamic acidity. Also, ugh - blurry second picture. At least the label picture came out clear! What a cool label too.

Final Verdict: Tasty merlot. Worth the full $11. Wonderful aroma, not too oaky, good acidity.

Solid like a Rock - Talus Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

I've been pretty busy with trying to get alot of various things done recently, so I haven't had time to blog. There's a backlog of notes to clear again, so lets get to work!

I saw this for sale (marked down from $10 to 2/$10), so I thought, why not? On the same day, I was going to hang out with some friends so I brought it along to share (photoshoot location courtesy of Dave/Arun's apartment~). I was expecting it to be bad, but I was in for a surprise.

Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007
Talus, California. $5
Consumed: July 9, 2009
Nose: Very sweet, yet plain aroma. Blackberry, a bit of plum. Palette: Very simple. Taste is of black fruit like the aroma, strong tannins, acidity balances out the tannins very well. Little to no aftertaste.

I was surprised. It had a good balance of the acids and tannins, which reduced the bite significantly; it'd be bad if the balance was a bit off, but it is quite decent. It was really easy to drink. Only downside was that it wasn't complex in the slightest, but hey, what can you expect for $5?

Final Verdict: Get it! Very solid Cab that is characteristic of the varietal. Good deal at $5. Like I mentioned, it's very solid. Not the greatest, but certainly no large weaknesses either. This is one of those wines that is worth more than what I paid. I'd be fine with buying this at it's original $10. This is a great wine to drink when you're not really in the mood to focus on the complex flavors, but still want to drink a decent wine!

More Red than Black - Mirassou Pinot Noir 2008

I picked this up because it was $8. Cheap, and it was a varietal I haven't tried before. When I went to check out, I realized ClubBev gave me a $2 discount on this wine - what a nice surprise. After this wine and another marked down wine I found, I realize that the "correct" value of the wine should be the discounted price. That's the moral of the story for today's review, folks.

Pinot Noir, 2008
Mirassou Winery, California. $6
Consumed: July 8, 2008
Nose: Extremely sweet. Raspberry. Palette: Slight fruit (raspberry from the aroma), goes into strong tannins, tannins fade slowly to a bitter-ish aftertaste. There's some acidity in the middle, but it is largely overshadowed by the tannins. No improvement after opening up ~40 min.

I'm not sure if it's very clear from the pictures, but the wine itself had a very gorgeous ruby color, much lighter than most colors of red wine. The aroma was very nice. Very simple aroma, but fruity and sweet, lighter fruit than other varietals of red wine - it made me think that this would be a very tasty wine. Sadly, I was wrong. The tannins were way too strong and there was something about the wine that made me started to make me feel slightly nauseous as I was halfway down the bottle... kinda how I feel when I chug large amounts of beer quickly.

Final Verdict: Don't get this one. There are better reds to be had for the same price. Liked the aroma, taste was subpar, too simple in aroma and taste. You pay for what you get. Darn you, $6 wine. I need to find a good Pinot Noir.

"A tight grape from Iran" - Clos Du Bois Shiraz 2005

New developments for Sweet Child of Wine! My friend Chris is going to be participating in the wine drinking/reviewing. What does that mean for this blog? He's splitting the cost of the wine with me because he'll be drinking when I do, which means we'll go through different wines at twice the previous rate! Awesome, more reviews!

So the title of this post has a short back-story to it. A little over a year ago, some friends and I were drinking a Yellowtail Shiraz. I decided to look up the origins of Shiraz after I had drunk a fair amount of it, and claimed it was "a tight grape from Iran". It's popped up every time I mention Shiraz now, and I've come to like the phrase a lot! :] Onto the Shiraz:

Shiraz, 2005
Clos Du Bois, California. $13
Consumed: June 24, 2009
Nose: Heavy blackberry. Hints of coconut. Palette: First impression - really fruity, of the same blackberry as in the aroma. Fruit disappears, the wine displays its tannins and sharp acidity. Strong black licorice comes in, then disappears with a quick finish. No lingering aftertaste. No bite, easy to drink.

These photos were taken with an iPhone 3GS. The macro looks really good!

$13 wine? Not my usual splurge, but I wanted to hope to grab a nice Shiraz, since my previous experience with this varietal was with Yellowtail, and you guys already know my opinion on that brand... The first thing that Chris pointed out as soon as I poured a glass was the vivid violet color of the wine. I like the shifting flavors, but it's not quite as dynamic as the Nobilo SB I recently reviewed, nor are the flavors as sharp. In Chris's words, not too exciting; I agree.

Final Verdict: Nice aroma with a decent taste, but not worth the price. I'd buy it again if it were under $10 (maybe $8-9 max), but for $13, I'll stay away from this wine.

I Can't Believe it's Not Butter! - Château Meric Red Bordeaux Blend 2006

Let's have a toast, this is the first Old World wine I'm reviewing! Woo hoo!

Alright, so I initially wanted to stay away from Old World wines until my palette developed more, but my curiosity got the best of me. I heard from a friend who knew a little bit about wine that the wine made from grapes of the Médoc region were pretty well known. I shrugged and went for it - I was quite pleased with this buy.

Red Bordeaux Blend, 2006
Château Meric, France (Subregion Médoc). $12
Consumed: June 22, 2009
Notes: On the nose, a vibrant and powerful sweetness of fruit - raspberries and blackberries - draws me in. As it hits the palette, I can get leather, and it's pretty acidic. Suddenly, an unexpected shift to an extremely smooth and buttery medium-length finish.

At first, I thought that I was just imagining the sweetness of the fruit in the aroma. Several minutes later, the wonderful aroma was prominent as ever. It's funny, it smells so sweet to me that I almost want to say that it reminds me of Hawaiian Punch! Maybe it's just me and I'm enjoying the aroma of this wine a bit too much. As much as I'd like to go on and on for pages and pages about the aroma, the buttery finish is an equally big attraction. Despite the initial tannins (the bitterness) and the acidity on the palette, the super smooth finish makes up for it and then some. It reminds me a bit of eating a baked potato with butter (weird, huh?).

Final Verdict: Aroma and the finish are amazing. It costs bit too much for a college student to be buying everyday. Also, I'd try this wine for my own first food pairing suggestion: this wine + steak and potatoes. The buttery finish would complement these foods extremely well. I'll bet you a bottle of wine that there's no way that pairing will fail! :]

Rolling Out the Red Carpet - Santa Rita Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The vacation's over and it's about time we get back to the good stuff. I've noticed that I haven't reviewed any red wines in the past posts on this blog, so we're going to change that today! Also, a big thanks to Chris for lending me legit wine glasses! Anyways, first up will be the Cab from Chile:

Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007
Santa Rita, Chile. $6
Consumed: June 9, 2009
Notes: On the nose, a very fruity smell like that of a dark fruit. There's also a light vanilla-like sweet smell present in the background. With the first sip, I notice a rough, almost thick mouthfeel, with the taste having the same black fruit that I smelled. Notes of leather. Finishes quickly, leaving a lingering flavor of blueberries and the skin of red grapes.

This is a very simple wine, no dynamic changes in flavor. It would have been wonderful if there were, but I can't hope to stumble upon cool wines all the time if I'm trying bottles randomly from the shelf, right? Despite the simplicity of the wine, I found this one to be very solid, especially for the low price of $6. I found that the fruitiness of this wine was really cool - as odd as it sounds, it reminds me of cola-flavored gummy candies. According to some quick research, Cabs are commonly described as having black fruit (blackberries, black cherries, etc.), with various other flavors that would come from processing. The vanilla hints are apparently from the wine sitting in oak barrels! I'm pleased that I was able to get subtle smells like that - no, scratch that, I'm really excited that my palette for wine is starting to develop.

Final Verdict: Very solid for the price. Pretty cheap, good flavors, a decent everyday wine.