Buehler Vineyards Napa Valley 2009 Zinfandel- Chateau Montelena Napa Valley 2008 Chardonnay

Buelher Vineyards Napa Valley 2009 Zinfandel, $16.99-$19.99, 90 points, began at room temperature (68 degrees), with a deep purple to a dense core. The aroma was cedar and spice with black cherry and plum, all of which carried nicely over to the palate in a medium to full bodied wine experience. This is a sound Zinfandel, with a long finish of Black And White pepper, and at the lower price or the higher, still a great buy.
 
Chateau Montelena Napa Valley 2008 Chardonnay, $33.14-$38.99, 90 points, reminds me of the gender terms masculine and feminine; for the most part, I find California Chardonnays to be big and powerful (Masculine), but the gentle Chateau Montelena is apropos to its name, with a light transparency to a feminine natural aroma of still pome orchards, and delicate flavors of pear and tangerine with vanilla hints. Did I like this wine? You bet, and the contrast to their recent Zinfandel was appreciated.

Commentary Time:
Chateau Montelena Chardonnay is juxtaposed to the Buelher Zin, and though they are completely different wines, their prices don't equal (Subjective opinion) their value. QPR reaches across all varietals (Unless your a collector/Investor); I will buy another Buelher Zinfandel, but probably not another Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. Is that hard? Well, maybe, but for a "poor" guy like me, I made the Big sacrifice from my wallet to try a piece of history, which I did (I don't regret that), but that having been said, I have to live in the "real world".

Okay, this is what I paired these wines with, both were just fine. What is this? Greeks know, but for all others: Spinach Pita with Feta cheese.

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WhiteHall Lane 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Leap-Frog's Leap

White Hall Lane Napa Valley 2009 Sauvignon Blanc,

$16.99-$18.99, 92 points, has a typical lemon/lime color, but the aroma! With early morning sea-breezes that bring back memories of Rye-beach, this Sauvignon Blanc stands alone (So Far) in that respect. Ethan (my son) had that too but with hints of lemon/thyme, and Ben (anonymous) began the flavors with grape-tomato frizz. We all noted a very long finish: Ethan had gentle sweetness coming back, and I had hints of ginger and pear, but overall, we were impressed by the complexity and balance. Ethan scored it 93 points, and Ben 96 points. This was a blind tasting.





Frog's Leap Napa Valley 2009 Sauvignon Blanc,
$18.99-$21.99, 90 points, had a different aroma of pink grapefruit and old lemon grass. The color is light-golden/lime.
Flavors began with Ben who hinted at wet concrete and sage, while Ethan had a minty orange and tangerine. I had smooth mature White grapefruit, not as crisp as the St. Supery, but mellower and creamier.
Ethan scored the Frog's Leap 87 points, and Ben had it at 88 points.
QPR becomes an issue, but die-hard Frog's Leap fans, will no doubt, continue buying.

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St. Supery 2008 Sauvignon Blanc

St. Supery 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, $15.99-$19.99, 90 points, is a delightfully grapefruit dominated wine (Light Lemon-grass is typical). This wine has the light lemon/lime color of White grapefruit, the aroma of White grape fruit, and the over-powering flavor of. . . with hints of tangerine, the subtleties of a good Sauvignon Blanc, it is crisp and refreshing, and the finish is, you guessed it, White grapefruit, all the way into the next life.
I have heard it said that grapefruit flavors were, in the recent past, much sought-after, and as soon as I opened this St Supery, that is what I thought. So if you still like that not-so-old trend, $15.99 is a good buy, but the 2008 may not be around anymore; let me know the trends of 2009 and 2010.
Went well with corn-on-the-cob, roasted chicken, and Red-potato salad.
Just in case you (my enthusiastic wine lovers) don't read the comments, Bill Rosich's- ugawino.blog, did leave a "vertically" interesting comment.

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Chateau St. Jean 2007 Reserve Chardonnay

Chateau St. Jean 2007 Reserve Chardonnay, $19.99-$45.99, 88 points, is a light sun-gold color, and on the nose there is a bit of burnt-toast and lemon oil, but more importantly, Vanilla! Oaky vanilla overwhelming not only the aroma, but the flavor as well. Yes, the wine still tastes fine enough, especially if you like vanilla, the texture is wonderfully rich without being syrupy, and there is a fair finish of spiciness.   
This is not a quality to price ratio Chardonnay, and I'm oh-so-glad I didn't pay more than $19.99 for it.
The last two expensive wines I've tasted, reveal that the cost of a bottle of wine is NO guaranty of a "Good" wine. 
You may remember that I did not want to try any more Ridge and Decoy wines, but I went on to find that you can't judge all wines bad from an individual winery, because of "one" disappointing wine. However, a "Flagship" wine, like this Reserve, will leave me reserved when I go to buy another.

Index-of-reviewed-wines 

I paired this Chardonnay with: (Pizza below). Does the picture help or hinder the post; so often these sorts of photographs look less than tasty?

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Domaine Servin, 2008 Chablis Premiere Cuvee Les Pargues

At this time Chablis, of all the wines of France, is the one that captivates me the most.
Chablis is like drinking pure water from the Alps making its way through a Tour de France via miles of stone aqua-duct, to a rarefied finish in the fields and orchards of orange and lemon blossoms, where the night air transmutes the heavenly dew into bitter-sweet memories.


Okay, okay, enough of that!

Domaine Servin 2008 Chablis, $14.29-$19.99, 90 points, is all the above, and three of us emptied that beautiful "nectar" in less than an hour; at 12.5% alcohol, no one was in danger of falling down, but the sad (Good) thing was I had only the one bottle.


The word across the table was "citrus" on the nose, early, mid, and late palate, awash in stone. Refreshing, crisp, and totally drink-able, were the other adjectives. 


How can you go wrong with this? We paired this Chablis with barbecue chicken and potato salad with seeded rye.


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Mommy's Time Out Rosso Primitivo

This is very silly, but I will always buy a new Primitivo when I see it; I saw Mommy's Time out for $5.49 with a coupon. I did what Maslow's dog would do, and grabbed it. 


Mommy's Time Out Rosso 2009 Primitivo, $5.49-$9.99, 86 points, has a large water-rim (Young wine) and deep magenta welling into opaque. 
The aroma is reticent allspice and earth.
This is a medium-bodied wine wound in tight tannins, without which this wine would fail. There's just enough to carry it beyond mediocrity, except for what isn't there: foul flavors, over-whelming black cherry and plum, but their more subtle appearance, has a bit of bitterness on mid to late palate, and hints of grape-skin on the finish, somehow, like a pop-up in mid field, dropping between the three frenzied fielders, lands for a base-hit, so too, this wine.
Mommy's Time Out Primitivo comes from the Puglia (PU-eeya) region of Italy, but Rosso on the front label mean's what? This I haven't been able to discover; any sleuth worth his/her Mediterranean salt should be able to help.
Well, mommy should be able to take a siesta, have a glass of Primtivo (Paired nicely with "hot" salsa and lime-corn chips) and get back to work, 13.5% alcohol, without falling over.
A final note of pairing, I have my doubts that this will pair well with the usual Italian cuisine, but if it works for you, I'm all ears. A final note on Mommy's Time Out 2009 Primitivo is that it will surely benefit from More Time In The Bottle.

http://nhwineman.blogspot.com/2011/02/index-of-reviewed-wines.html


Now, if mommy were drinking Lust Zin, she just might not be able to read: Chris Muir's in-vino-veritas, all others should read at your own risk, and get ready to pay that $10-$100 for the CO2 cover charge; it's nice to be filthy rich;-)

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White Wines For Summer Refreshment, OR Not!

White Wines are so much fun.
Many are less expensive than Micro-Brews, and often much more refreshing.
I'm not going to be presenting "serious" wines here, just Crisp White Wines, refreshing, easy-drinking and fun, with food or not. If you shop at most large markets in NH, you'll likely find these inexpensive White Wines (Look for coupons). This month NHLStores are doing 15% off 12 bottles or more NW wines.

As an alternative to expensive Champagne (France), Prosecco (Italy) is a light bubbly White Wine that will please almost anyone. I've heard it said, the vino veracity of the statement is undetermined by me, that you can't get a "good" Champagne for under $40, but these two offerings of Prosecco are wonderfully delightful and under $20.00.

Caposaldo Prosecco, $13.99, 89 points, swells you glass with a frothy fresco, frivolous and fun, fine alone or with food. Having a hint of lemon/lime on the nose, and will-o-the-wisp creamy citrus flavors, this crystal hued dynamite in a glass is sure to please.

Santa Margherita Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, $17.99-$22.99, 90 points, is very much the same as the Caposaldo, but with a bit of nondescript tension, an edginess that subliminally says: there is more here than just a gulper sprits.


Rex Goliath Pinot Grigio (No vintage given), $6.00-$9.00, 88 points, especially at the $6.00 price point, is a great buy. Not a complex mind-bending wine, but delicious, crisp, and refreshing, goes with light food-fair; I had mine with not-so-light fried lobster and sautéed scallops.
The color is light metallic lime, with pome notes on the nose, and tangerine on a mild citrus finish.





Big House 2009 White Wine, $6.79-$7.99, 88 points, is another great buy. There's a number of varietals in this wine, but what I'm after here, is down-home inexpensive fun with food and wine.
The color is clear lemon/lime, the nose has a slight citrus aroma and just a hint of honeysuckle, and the flavor is marked by hints of pear-tangerine, and finishes with zesty citrus.


Ferrari Carano 2010 Flume Blanc, $13.99-$16.99, 88 points, has a bright lemon/lime color, a lemon-grass aroma (cold), with a slightly creamy texture, yet crisp with just a hint of sprits, zesty, but not frizzante.  While cold, there was very little oak to distinguish this Flume Blanc, though it did spend time in old French oak and stainless steel.
I liked this wine, though it is not the best QPR wine mentioned here, it has a character that is interestingly smooth, which, for some, is a betrayal of varietal character; I think it is ever-so-slight.

Now for the "OR Not" in the title; these White wines are not recommended, either for price, or flavor, or both.

Dry Creek Clarksburg Wilson's Ranch 2009 Chenin Blanc, $11.99-$13.99, 86 points, is not a bad wine, but with so many pleasing wines out there, including MAN-Vintners Chenin Blanc, Wilson's Ranch is not my recommendation.
Light straw color, followed by a grassy aroma, and flavors of fruity white grape, nutty late palate, and lemon-meringue pie on lips, with a hint of sour ginger on the finish.

Woodbridge 2009 Chardonnay, $5.99-$7.99, 83 points, has a straw yellow color, aroma has hints of lemon, the flavor has too much dry hay, and is just unpleasant to me.

Conundrum 2009 White wine (a blend of four varietals), $18.99-$22.99, 89 points, is in my "OR Not" group, because of the price; the wine is complex with layers of honey and aromas of honeysuckle, and having a golden color, this white would be fine at $15.00-$17.00, if you can find it for that price, or if you are like me, and just want to experiment.

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