Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona 2008 Rosso di Montalcino, $22.09-$26.99, 91 points, is pomegranate in color with a broad transparent rim.
The aroma is a light sweet red cherry with hints of cinnamon and cedar.
A smooth medium body carries good acidity with mild tannin that plays to the fruity flavors of cranberry, red cherry, and a smoky plum.
The finish is a smart spicy one with an accentuating tartness.
This winery has impressed me before, but the quality and price of this 2008 Rosso is excellent.
I can picture three or four bottles of Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona 2008 Rosso di Montalcino on my large Thanksgiving day dinner table, my guest's eyes popping-out: "What kind of wine is this?" Me: "It's not Barefoot!" Of course it's not $5 either.
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Altesino Vendemmia 2009 Rosso di Montalcino,
$28.04-$32.99, 89 points, was bright ruby in color, but trended orange-red toward a broad clear rim.
The aroma was near sweet on hints of candy-cane and red cherry accented with a touch of earth and a hint of leather.
This near medium-bodied red wine was very dry and carried abundant acids and mild tannins.
The flavor, though rather one dimensional, was very good with red fruit.
This Rosso was typically food-friendly, and will be perfect for Thanksgiving dinner; Altesino's red wine, in this instance, probably won't dominate the meal and neither will it wow anyone (just my guess).
Finished okay on the trailing palate flavors, spice, and a spot-on 13.5% alcohol.
The QPR isn't what I'd expected, but a solid red-wine it was.
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1805 Columbia Valley Riesling, $11.89-$13.99, 92 points, is a remarkably adult white-wine with much subtlety to commend it, though not the price which was a blatant deal. This wine is the closest thing I've come to what I'd describe as a "cerebral" North American White Wine.
Superlatives aside, this wine showed in the glass as viscous, and arrayed classically with light gold and near imperceptible lime and gray tones.
The light, warm, and floral aroma was enchanting.
Off-dry, the 1805 Riesling's medium body carried good acidity with mild pome flavors which translated into the fair finish, and reminded me more of yellow fruit with hints of ginger but became more viscous as it warmed.
I can't say this enough, but this wine has complexity hidden within subtlety; there is a femininity about this wine, yet the masculine texture complemented.
Let me know what you think!
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Luna's Lunatic 2010 "Blood" Red Wine, $13.99-$16.99, 90 points, has a bright see-through ruby color with flashes of purple and orange.
The gentle aroma of fruit blossoms and strawberry was reticent (room temperature was too cool at 60 degrees).
This is a light-plus bodied red wine that has NO resemblance to anything I've tasted in a Red Wine, but is more like a lightly styled Zinfandel, though there's no Zinfandel in the 2010 Lunatic Red (68% Syrah, 23% Sangiovese, 6% Petite Sirah, and 3% Grenache varietals), though the 2009 is said to have 14% Zinfandel.
What I found was a lovely red wine of good acidity, fair tannins, bright red fruit with a long deliciously spiced finish.
Having a big dinner for friends and family for Halloween? Need an appropriate "blood" red wine for the table? Pair with pizza, burgers, or tacos; oh, this wine is delicious with chocolate peanut-butter and chocolate-mint, but keep the wine away from the kids.
Maybe you'll be watching Twilight? Well, if you're decorating the house and the yard with $220.00 of "spider-webs" and the like, you just might want to decorate you dinner table too. I assure you this wine isn't blood and doesn't taste like blood either.
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Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2009 Riesling Auslese: Dieser Riesling erinnert mich an warum Amerikaner so viele BMWs kaufen! Pricey but very good!
At $42.49-$49.99, 93 points, this is the most expensive Riesling I've had, but it is the best one too. I'm sure in the rarefied world of expensive Rieslings, this is just the tip of the iceberg; none of that petrol taste here.
What you do find is a buttery smooth texture of slightly sweet roundness with apricot and quince mellowed into a near medium bodied wine of perfect acidity.
The 7.5% alcohol was not detectable, and thus this bottle became history quickly!
The color is lightly golden, the aroma gentle marzipan, and finishes long on the palate flavors.
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Turnbull Old Bull Napa Valley 2009 Red Wine, $19.99-$24.99 (bought at McKinnon's in Salem), 89+ points, has a typical Bordeaux color trending ruby with a clear rim.
The aroma has black and blue fruit, some floral character and mocha.
With a medium plus body there is good acidity and fair tannin that carries plum, blueberry, blackberry, coffee, and chocolate flavors.
Finishes fair with some mild spice.
I like this wine, but after having juxtaposed so many quality Bordeaux wines next to it, this one is just a whisker shy of the Bordeaux intensity, mouth-feel, and overall staying power, but this is a very good wine to open and drink right-away; we loved it with pepperoni pizza.
Varietals are 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Syrah, 22% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc.
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Château La Vieille Cure Fronsac 2009 Bordeaux (my last Bordeaux in this series of reviews), is 74% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. At the cost of $29.74, which was 15% off of the NHLS retail price of $34.99, this is a very nice wine and I scored it with an appropriate 92 points; it is a complex dry red wine, with the color being a slightly cloudy black currant trending violet to the transparent rim. The aroma is red and black cherry, beautifully restrained floral tones, hints of licorice and coffee, sweet cooking spice and a whiff of heat (14.5% alcohol).
Having a full body carrying ample acidity and powerful tannin, this wine piggybacks the aroma onto the palate with the addition of dark plum flavors.
The finish is long on spice and a touch of heat.
If forward tannin, powerful and lasting, bother you, you'll want to cellar this wine for some years, but I found the fruit moderated it sufficiently, and that it was drinking beautifully now.
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