Wine: Trader Joe’s Reserve Syrah 2006 Region:  Mendocino County, California I’ve recently become suspicious of wines labeled reserve or vintner’s selection because I haven’t found that I like them any more than ones without a fancy classification in their name.  So it was with trepidation that I tried this Trader Joe’s wine, even more so
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Wine: Rustenberg Stellenbosch John X Merriman 2006 Region: Stellenbosch, South Africa This full-bodied red is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verbot, cabernet franc, and malbec. If you think that’s a lot for any one wine to handle, you might be right — but John X Merriman gets pretty close to doing the job!
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Wine: Sterling Vintner’s Collection Zinfandel 2006 Region: Central Coast, CA My apologies for the lack of a picture. Oops. Guess I was too busy drinking! This is a dry wine, with notes of tobacco, soft orange, and chocolate.  I can’t complain about it but I can’t endorse it, either. I had hoped for more. Other
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Wine: Alice White Shiraz 2006 Region: Southeastern Australia Nose: Candied cherry and chocolates. Taste: Bright, ripe cherries and semisweet chocolate, which surprises me as a lot of the wines I’ve tried lately have had noses that vastly diverge from their tastes. This is a medium-bodied wine, mildly tannic, and overly pleasant. It’s easy to enjoy
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Expect my blog posts to continue being a bit sporadic until the new year — we are headed out of town to visit friends and family in LA in a week, so while I hope to keep up posts, I’m not hitting quite as many restaurants lately due to lack of time!  I do plan
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Wine: Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2006 Region: Italy Leather says hello as I take a whiff of this wine. There’s a dark, rich cherry smell as well.   It tastes strongly of leather and leaves me with an impression of a smoke-filled car. It’s very dry and somewhat sour, sucking away the moisture in my mouth and
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Wine: Il Valore Sangiovese 2008 Region:  Puglia, Italy I smell clove and nectarines. The nectarine is replaced by black raspberry as I drink it but neither fruit is the star.  Rather, they are encased by a clove shell that dominates the glass.  I think it’s a fabulous combination of spice and fruit, in just the
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This is my 50th Red Wine Review! That means I can take the day off, right? No, not that celebratory a cause? Aw, shucks. Without further adieu . . . Wine: Falcon Ridge Syrah 2006 Region: Central Coast, CA There is some sort of fruit trying to wave at my nose hairs in this wine.
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Wine: Turning Leaf Pinot Noir 2007 Region: Germany This pinot noir has a vibrant nose of Saint Anne’s cherry.  Until this glass, it had been a long time since I’d had a bright, light-bodied wine that didn’t make me pucker.  It’s very tasty, with plenty of mildly tart cherries to plop in your mouth.  Have
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Wine: 2007 Trentartre Rosso Region: Salento, Italy This wine, emblazoned with the #33 on the label, is a blend of 33.3% each of cabernet, merlot, and montepulciano. It smells of dark maple syrup and tastes like you’ve bit into a bushel of dates.  There is also a hint of tobacco.  It’s a bit bracing but
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