1995 Reserve de la Comtesse - Pauillac - Bordeaux - France

The 1995 Reserve de la Comtesse reminded me of everything I truly love about Bordeaux!

This lovely wine is the 2nd label of Pauillac’s Chateau Pichon Lalande, a revered 2nd growth where the main wine sells for about $100+.

This bottle was bought in Bordeaux on vacation as another way of sampling the solid ’95 vintage at a reasonable price. I believe this was about 20euro at the time where this now sells for approximately $40 in the US for the recent vintages.

As for the wine itself… Elegant and refined. Ruby red with clean notes of smoke and cedar to accompany the dark fruit. Blackberry and currant. Medium bodied. Very nice balance and a caressing medium long finish.

Certainly one of the better wines I’ve had in a while. A-…. Lovely…..

2003 Chateau do Mourre du Tendre - Côtes du Rhône - France

2003 Chateau do Mourre du Tendre is from France’s Côtes du Rhône region.
Brick red color. Earthy. Red fruit and floral notes. Maybe even cigar box or smoky notes… Regardless, somewhat complex in nature. It’s a little hard to describe but overall it has a really lovely aroma. Medium bodied. Very dry with a medium finish.

This is a good wine, especially for the money. A solid B which sells for $13 at Astor Wines.

I should also note that I just finished reading Kermit Lynch’s Adventures on the Wine Route and just felt the need to have a solid unassuming French red. I’m glad I did!

2006 Domaine de Montvac - Vacqueryras - Rhone - France

The 2006 Domaine de Montvac from Vacqueryras in France’s Rhone region is medium bodied with a light purple hue. Red fruit and spice on the nose. Possibly some light floral and licorice notes as well. Earthy too. Soft texture and a nice medium long finish.

Fresh.

Just a really good, solid drinking wine that paired well with the homemade mac & cheese we had for dinner.

What more could you really want! $17 from Astor Wines.

2005 Oreana Central Coast Pinot Noir - California

The Oreana Central Coast Pinot Noir was a vacation by from our trip this past summer to California and was tasted in their funky shared warehouse/wine producing/tasting room facility in Santa Barbara called Cellar 205.

There have two Pinot Noir bottlings, a Santa Barbara County one for $30 and a Central Coast for a more affordable $18.

Keep in mind that I think just about everything I’ve tasted at a winery’s tasting room is better than anywhere else and their Central Coast I would say falls into this category.

At the time, we thought it was actually better (or at least more approachable and food friendly) than their Santa Barbara. Tasting a few months later, I’d still say that probably holds up but there were a couple flaws here not noticed in the tasting room.

Overall, the Central Coast is cherry red in color and definitely has a lighter and less concentrated texture and weight than “bigger” California Pinots. Cherry nose with oak notes. Earthy with darker fruits contributing here. Medium weight which is nice but also just a little “sharp” or “hot” in the mouth.

That is the one aspect that takes away from what is otherwise a more “elegantly” styled California Pinot.

Still, a very nice wine and a B in my book. One that over delivers at its modest $18 price point.

2005 Querciabella Mongrana - Maremma, Tuscany

The 2005 Mongrana from Querciabella was a real find for me. I’ve been a big fan of their Chianti Classico since 2004 when I had my first bottle and it hasn’t disappointment in any vintage I’ve had.

Last week I was in a relatively non-descript wine-shop in Brooklyn and spotted the 2005 Mongrana for the first time for about $13 a bottle. I hadn’t seen it before but recognized the label as coming from Querciabella. I picked up a bottle and went home to do some research, discovering that this was the first vintage from Querciabella’s venture into the Maremma region of Tuscany which is know for being the home of some of the more famous Super-Tuscans such as Sassicia. True to the region, this is a blend of 50% Sangiovese, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot. Also true to these “Super-Tuscan” blends, it is labeled as a Toscana-IGT which is essentially table wine.

The wine itself is medium cherry in color with oak, dark fruit, blueberry, earthy but also with some subtle floral notes. Balanced with a nice soft texture, medium bodied, with a nice medium long finish. The dark fruit also lingers on the tongue.

This is nice work from a producer I traditionally like. As far as everyday drinking wines in this price range, this is excellent and has a fantastic price-per-quality ratio.

2006 Chateau du Cleray - Muscadet - Sevre st Maine - Loire Valley

This 2006 Muscadet is from the Sevre et Maine region of the Loire Valley. Pale yellow color with a very minerally/slate aroma along with light lemon. Melon shows up on the taste. It’s bone dry, crisp and clean with nice balance and a medium short finish.

This was $12 from our local liquor shop near Newkirk Avenue. It also sells for $10 at Sherry Lehman. At the time I was looking for something cheap and simple and this fit the bill. The added bonus is that also reminded me of my first experience with Muscadet in Paris where we had it at the local bistros with fresh seafood. A great memory and a nice wine to bring it all back.

Serve this chilled with shellfish, preferably in Paris.

Charles de Fère Brut Blanc de Blancs Réserve NV

The Charles de Fère Brut Blanc de Blancs Réserve NV was a nice find. A French sparkler for $13 that drank well above its economical $13 I bought it for at T.B. Ackerson in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

The interesting things about this wine is that its really a blend of white grapes around France rather than being from one white grape, for example Chardonnay, from a particular region.

In that sense, it might seem a bit more “manufactured” price like new work wine rather than a traditional old world one.

In this case the grapes are Chardonnay, Chenin Blan, Macabeu and Uni Blanc grapes from Charentes and the Rhone and Loire Valleys of France and it’s made in the traditional method.

The sparkler is straw yellow in color with medium sized bubbles with a light citrus aroma along with some peach and maybe another stone fruit which I can’t quite put my finger on. There is also a subtle nutty aroma and a yeast like character. It’s bright with an effervescent texture that lingers a bit.

I think this is a really good find and a great QPR (Quality Price Ratio) wine for the upcoming summer month. A solid B.

2006 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir - Santa Barbara County

According to the Au Bon Climat website, the 2006 Pinot Noir – Santa Barbara County is “… just easy to drink. There is nothing pretentious here, just well balanced, nicely textured, brightly fruity wine that seems to go with everything.” This is the winery’s entry level Pinot Noir that sells for a reasonable $20 or so and I wouldn’t argue too much with their statement. This is an average wine as they also attest but there are a couple of characteristic that make is a little less easy to drink in my opinion.

It’s cherry red in color with a very strong cherry cola taste, too much so in my opinion. That’s the first thing that stands out. It also has a bit of a tart edge to it and the combo between to two moves it from “easy to drink” and “goes with everything” to something that stands out and not always for the right reason.

I don’t want to be too harsh on the wine because it is drinkable but I would be more pleased with it if it kind of “faded into the background” as their website notes tend to suggest.

I think it’s a C- wine. It was purchased at T.B. Ackerson Wines in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn for $24.

2006 Ravines Dry Riesling (Finger Lakes)

Ravines tends to be one of my favorite Finger Lake Rieslings on a yearly basis. The 2006 edition is a lighter hay color than the 2005 with strong floral notes, a more slight hint of lemon/citrus and a heavy mineral character. On the taste, there is a definite green apple character which gives the wine a bit of tartness, something I don’t think I’ve seen with this wine before. The strong minerality which might be slate, also comes across here. Medium weight with nice balance and a nice, subtle acidity. This is a solid food wine and another good effort from Ravines.

This is a good wine but I have to say that the strong green apple is somewhat of a detractor for me. I’d grade this as a B- for that reason but I still have to say that this would be great and refreshing in the heat of summer. Bought for $15 at GCP Wine and Liquors in Horseheads, New York.

Vintage 2008

Although nothing can come close to this, here's to hoping that 2008 is also a good year for wine in regions with some longevity. I'm crossing my fingers for either Bordeaux or Tuscany!

My Wine Cellar

Here is a picture of “My New Cellar.” I like to call it new but in reality, I’ve been keeping my wine in the basement of our home since we moved in about two years ago. However, it’s been boxed up in cardboard and wood with no real easy access.

In addition to accessibility, I also had the issues of a gradual heat increase in the summertime and lower than ideal humidity in the winter.

The cornerstone of the cellar is a Vintage Keeper 500 which I purchased to hold the bulk of my wine collection and to store all the wines I plan on holding onto for long term aging. By comparison to other units like Eurocave and the like, this is on the budget side which fit… well, my budget.

The Vintage Keeper 500 will help with the temperature during the spring, summer and early fall where basement temperatures can get beyond 65 degrees and sometimes 70 degrees in the height of summer when its 90 and 100 outside.

There are two smaller “wine fridges” off to the left. One holds Pinot Noir and the other holds whites and rose wines. These “wine fridges” I’ve had for a few years and brought over from my previous apartment where they lived in the closet.

I also have a section of reclaimed wood wine boxes that I’ve stacked for decorative purposes but also use to put my everyday drinkers in. These are wines that I buy and try to consume shortly thereafter.

So now I have much easier access to all the wine in my collection and I have more control over the temperature. However, in the cooler weather, the ambient temperature is between 50 and 55 degrees so I don’t have to plug any of the units in until the temperature starts to approach 60.

The only unanswered issue I have to deal with is humidity. It gets dry in the wintertime and hovers around the 35% range when the ideal is 70%. It gets a little better in the summertime, approaching 50%. However, that is also short of the ideal.

Feel free to leave suggestions on how to improve the humidity if you have any tricks I might use. Other than that, I’m pretty pleased with my new set-up if I may say so myself!

Chateau d’Arcins 2005 – Haut Médoc – Bordeaux

I should mention first that the 2005 Chateau d’Arcins was used by myself and my friend Lisa as part of a podcast we’re putting together, taking lessons from Jancis Robinson’s How to Taste. This particular lesson was on decanting and we thought a 2005 Bordeaux would be perfect. One that could be drunk now but could use a few years of age. Hence this wine.

Pre-decanting: Ruby red in color with cherry, tar and dark fruit. Possibly even a slight floral note, but a muted one. Blackberry and oak are also noteable but again, soft notes. Texture is chewy but not overly tannic. But they are there. Tannins hold back the fruit some. Medium-long finish and just slightly off balance.

Post-decanting: WOW! This wine really changed in the decanter! It really opened us and had become very fruit forward and really lovely. Black cherry. The oak had turned into cedar. Some chocolate notes also emerged. It became slightly more complex in the decanter and had also developed a softer texture. The finish remained medium long but was much less tannic. Really nice.

This is a solid B wine after decanting and a good value at $15 on sale from Astor Wine in the East Village.

Look for the podcast soon!

2005 Louro Do Bolo – Valdeorras – Spain – Godello

This was bought at Astor in an effort to break out of my French wine rut and try something different. This is a Spanish white which I decided to try after my interest in these were peked after reading a New York Times article by Eric Asimov where he talked about white wines from the Rueda region of Spain. This is not from there. It’s from Valdeorras.

To be honest, I struck out here.

It’s golden hued with notes of caramel and banana and a certain “sweet” smell. Fuller bodied but it comes across as somewhat flat and flabby. Not complex. Medium finish that coats the mouth. This wine is not really all that great. The banana is unfortunately one of the predominate features here and the flabby texture doesn’t help.

$15 from Astor Wine.

2006 La Rouge de la Garreliere – Cabernet Franc – Loire

Ruby red. Very peppery aroma with strong raspberry fruit and a minerally and slate character. Soft texture and a long finish. Nice balance. Medium to full bodied and very nice.

$16 from Slope Cellars.

Domaine de Jaugaret '02, '03 and '04 - A Classic Styled Bordeaux

Today I figured out what a truly “classic styled” Bordeaux taste like. On the advice of Eric Asimov’s “Pour” blog, I headed to Rosenthal Wine Merchants on East 84th St. for a tasting of Domaine de Jaugaret from the St. Julien region of Bordeaux.

According to Rosenthal Wine Merchants…

“The petite estate of Domaine de Jaugaret has been in the Fillastre family since 1654. Jean-Fancois Fillastre is dedicated to preserving the traditions not only of Jaugaret but of the St. Julien appellation. Stepping into the cellars of Jaugaret brings one back to an era when the Bordelais were modest and the wines were grand. Here is an estate where one finds neither pretense nor hubris, just the essence of the appellation.”

“Domaine Jaugaret comprises a mere 1.3 hectares of vineyards, made almost exclusively of Cabernet Sauvignon (80%) with some Petit Verdot and Malbac to supplement this classic Medoc structure. The average age of the vines is over 50 years and some of the Malbec vineyards are in excess of 100 years old. This combination of grape varieties permits Jaugaret to find the ultimate expression of the terroir of St. Julien taking advantage of the deep gravel beds and the long growing season that mark St. Julien. The old vines of Jaugaret combined the unfertile, gravelly soils leads to naturally low yields again providing M. Fillasstre with a concentration virtually unequalled in the appellation. Here is a truly unique wine from a gentleman who follows the most classical traditions.”

“Vinification: After being hand-harvested and hand-pressed, the cuvaison is long, frequently lasting for three weeks or more. The wines are then racked into small barrels to complete the malolactic fermentation and are left to age in a small, damp underground cellar with minimal racking. In substantial vintages (e.g. 1996 or 2000) the wines are bottled (always unfiltered) after 30 months of aging. The wines of Jaugaret, relying so extensively on Cabernet, are built to last”

At Rosenthal, where I had to ring the front doorbell and then be lead downstairs to the tasting room. Slightly odd but also kinda cool too… In the tasting room with about 10 others, I was able to taste the 2002, 2003 and 2004 vintages. As they state, they are certainly built to last, being some of the most tannic wines I’ve ever tasted and very classic in structure… What does “classic” mean? While, now I think I know. Tannins are more upfront. Fruit more in the back. Slightly less ripe. Slightly less alcohol. Certainly not approachable when young and you have to use your imagination to figure what they might taste like ten to a dozen years from now at least. I can safly say that I had tasted nothing like these wines ever before.

2004 Domaine de Jaugaret: The 2004 was ruby red in color with red fruit. Cherry. Red currant. Possibly cranberry. And definitely smoke. Tannic and dry but it was also the brightest and most approachable of the three wines tasted. Long finish.

2003 Domaine de Jaugaret: The 2003 was also ruby red in color with light cedar, some cherry and other brighter red fruit. It was almost like a pinot noir in its aroma profile. Heavy on the smoke and tar. Very tannic and dry to the point that it sucks all moisture out of the mouth. Slightly acidic and just a touch out of balance.

2002 Domaine de Jaugaret: The 2002 is another ruby red wine with smoky aroma and stronger fruit than the 2003. Here its blackberry and cassis. Bright and smoother in texture than either the ’02 or ‘03. It has a very lush long finish. Not incredibly complex but well balanced and approachable now. Even so, it still needs aging.

As I said, it was an experience to taste these wine. Although I found all three to be a bit tough to drink now, even with food, it was still a great education to what Bourdeaux was probably like back in the day. And I mean the day… 100 years ago?

All three are approximately $75 a bottle from Rosenthal Wine Merchants.

2004 Monsanto – Chianti Classico Riserva. – Tuscany

This is the best Chianti I’ve had in a long long time. A very classically styled wine.

When first opened, the 2004 Monsanto exhibits a very earthy and woodsy character that takes over for the first few moments. Then it begins to reveal the fruit and its red fruit more than anything else. Cherry. Raspberry to a lesser extent. A little later on the “woodsy-ness” recedes to reveal a more cigar box character. Medium bodied with a long finish. The wine is also minerally with bright acidity and nice balance.

This is an excellent wine and an A- for me. It can be had for $18 at Astor Wines.

Chateau Lanessan 2005 – Haut Medoc – Bordeaux

Garnet colored with blackberry and red currant notes. Also some scents of light oak, tar and maybe some floral essence. Medium bodied with a medium length finish.

A pleasant wine but I feel there are some better examples of (relatively) inexpensive Bordeaux from the much heralded 2005 vintage to sample. Including the ’05 Gigault Cuvee Viva which I tasted recently.

Overall this is a C+ wine for me. Bought for $22 at Garnet Wine on the Upper East Side.

2005 Selbach-Oster Riesling Kabinett - Bernkasteler Badstube - Mosel-Saar –Ruwer (Guest Blogger: Lisa Bocchini)

Guest Blogger Lisa Bocchini joins us again for her take on the 2005 Selbach-Oster Riesling Kabinett - Bernkasteler Badstube from Germany’s Mosel-Saar –Ruwer region.

The wine comes in at 9.5% alchohol and can be found at Sherry Lehmann for $20.

Nice light straw color, medium body. Floral,slightly citrus and a hint of lychee aromas. Richer than many Kabinetts, slightly effervescent. Has some sweetness without being cloying, but enough acidity to balance out the sugar. Really nice finish, with a flavor that lingers in the mouth.

Editors Note: Wanting to know more about Bernkasteler Badstube and what the phrase actually meant, I did an internet search and came up with the following from the importer Billington Wines which is located in Virginia.

“The vineyard of the Bernkasteler Doctor represents the finest tradition of grape growing. For centuries great Rieslings have been produced from this vineyard. According to legend, the Doctor vineyard was given its name in 1360 by Archbishop Boemond II of Trier when, after his doctor had given up hope on his health, he regained his strength by drinking wine from this vineyard. Bernkasteler Badstube is Germany’s smallest Grosslage (a collection of individual vineyards with similar environmental attributes that produce wines of comparable character and quality.) The Badstube (about 59 ha) covers the best-known vineyards of the Bernkastel site of Bernkastel-Kues: Lay, Graben, Matheisbildchen, Bratenhoefchen and Doctor.”

2006 4 Vines “Naked” Chardonnay – Santa Barbara County – Calif.

An unoaked chardonnay that comes from the Central Coast of California.

It’s straw yellowed colored with nice floral and lemon citrus scents with a possible touch of apricot. A medium weight wine with a relatively high 13.0% alcohol. It just shows that alcohol on the tongue and that’s the only real negative with this wine. Also on the taste, the apricot really expresses itself in a nice, bright way.

4 Vines is a new venture in Paso Robles, California which produces a line of Zinfandels, a Syrah, a Barbera, and a Tempranillo along with a couple Rhone blends in addition to its Chardonnay. I had been curious about as their Syrah and Zinfandels have been written up but are a little harder to fine on the East Coast.

The Chardonnay I found for $14 from Chelsea Wine Vault. It’s a good solid wine which I really envision as a great white alternative for a summer bar-b-que. At least that’s how I plan to use this. Overall, I give it a B.

2005 Gigault Cuvee Viva - Cotes de Blaye - The first of the 2005 Bordeaux

Deep ruby red color with an aroma of cedar and dark fruit, namely blackberry. There are also slight hints of chocolate and licorice. The licorice really opens up later on woth some aeration. Medium weight with soft tannins and a nice long finish.

The unique thing about this wine is that the finish really does taste something like licorice.

Excellent and a solid B+ wine. An excellent value at $22 from Astor Wines.

I haven’t had many of the 2005 Bordeaux but this is certainly the best one I’ve had to date.

TN - 2004 d'Arenberg "The Footbolt" Shiraz - McLaren Vale - Australia

This is a BIG wine. Almost black in color. Heavy, ripe and dark fruit with wood that’s reminiscent of a cedar closet. Very earthy. Fruit is blackberry and cassis. Tannic and chewy. Slightly out of balance as it seems like there is just a little too much acidity. Long finish but one that is very dry.

This is a C+ wine that is 17% from Astor Wine and is also available at Chelsea Wine Vault for $18.

Tasting Note: 2005 Sea Smoke Southing – Pinot Noir – Santa Barbara County

The 2005 Sea Smoke Southing is inky dark or deep purple in color with complex aromas of dark earthy fruit. Black cherry and/or boysenberry? Whatever it is, it reminds me of those dark berries you’d pick in the brush on one of those hot summer days in upstate New York. Intermingles are also some nice leather notes. Again, a really complex aroma and a rich one. Full bodied and very lush, almost velvety mouthfeel. Creamy with an extra long finish and slight hint of cola on the aftertaste. Excellent balance and an amazing wine. A+

Bought through the winery but can currently be found on Winebid.com.

Wine Book Club: Vino Italiano by Joe Bastianich and David Lynch

At the beginning of January, fellow wine bloggers Dr. Debs and David McDuff proposed and are hosting a Wine Book Club with the inaugural tome being Vino Italiano by Joe Bastianich and David Lynch.

The book is a detailed to say the least and clocks in at over 500 pages. It starts off with a discourse on the culture of wine in Italy, gets into Italian wine laws, grapes and importing. Then we get to the meat of the book which details each of Italy’s 21 wine producing regions in 19 chapters and nearly 350 pages of text. The last section is a “data section” which defines the grapes, regions, and producers.

For each region there are basically three pieces. The first is a short anecdote about the wine region being covered and includes such scenes as boar hunting in Tuscany, horse butchers in the Veneto, soccer in Lazio or seeking out gelato in Sicily. The authors then break down the wines made in the region into sparkling, whites, reds and finally desserts wines, hitting on all even if the region produces only scant amounts of one. Finally, there is a “Fast Facts” section which basically reviews the pertinent data – reviewing the grapes most prominently used, acres under vine, styles, examples of wines and estimated costs.

Joe Bastianich and David Lynch are experts in the field of wine and it shows as the attention to detail is strong, leaving no region untouched and describing all wine styles, even the obscure ones, in such great detail that you can’t help but want to go out and try them.

It’s in the anecdotes though that really made me fall for this book though. For example, they describe the hillside fires of Festa di Sacro Cuore (Day of the Sacred Heart) which cast a “glow over the vineyards that cling to the steep mountain slopes” as “people sit in the cafés with places of bresaola (air-cured beef) and pitchers of wine, starring up at the blazes as if there were a movie playing.”

How can you not fall for imagery like that! Well, it did its trick and got me reading further to the details of the Trentino-Alto Adige region where they spent just as much time discussing the reds of the region as they did the whites they are more known for. They paint such a complete picture of the region that you almost feel like you have to sample the wines themselves to complete the scene.

From the entry, I felt like I had to familiarize myself with the schiava grape, the main red grape of the Alto Adige region and wine I wrote about for the last Wine Blogging Wednesday.

Bastianich and Lynch add another element to the book by including recipes from the region created by famous restaurateurs Lydia Bastianich (Joe’s Mom) and Mario Batali (Joe’s restaurant partner). Again, it’s easy to fall under the spell of these recipes which lead to me, or I should say my wife, trying our hands at the Braised Wild Boar and pairing it with a Brunello di Montalcino. Both were excellent.

All in all, I feel like this is THE book on Italian wine, at least that I’ve seen in my somewhat limited experience. The biggest takeaway for me is that I felt like I learned about Italy and its food, not just the wine. It does a great job of mashing it all together. My one complaint… 500+ pages is a lot to digest but then again, this isn’t just a wine book, it’s also a “have to have” reference.

Enjoy!

Jancis Robinson's How to Taste - Lesson 1

I’ve taken my first steps from Jancis Robinson’s How to Taste book and it had nothing to do with wine.

On page 15 of her book, she suggests that the next time you taste something, try tasting a mouthful first with your nose pinched and then again with it open.

The point she’s looking to prove is that the nose has just as much if not more to do with how we experience wine than when the wine actually interacts with the tongue and taste.

To test this out, I had my wife put various pieces of vegetables behind her back while I tasted them with my eye’s shut. The exercise was meant to illustrate that it’s really hard to pick out what you’re tasting if you don’t have the aromatic information to help out.

She proved her point. While I found it relatively easy to pick out the vegetables based off texture, broccoli for example has a very distinct texture but when plugging up the nose, you really don’t get its essence. The same held true with the peppers, carrots, and cucumbers. This exercise was also particularly interesting with cheeses who get much of their character from aroma but that gets muted with a plugged up nose.

The practice makes sense when we think about how little we taste when we have a cold. She just wants to make sure we understand that wine gets most of its character from its aroma.
Tune in next time when we tackle acidity and bitterness in a relatively unpleasant way!

Tasting Note: 2005 Greppicante – Bolgheri – Tuscany – Italy

Greppicante is a new wine venture in the Bolgheri region of Tuscany, Italy which is part owned by the Landini family of Fattoria Viticcio, makers of one of my favorite Chianti Classico wines.

Bolgheri is from the northern portion of Tuscany and the wine is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. This classic Bordeaux-type blend is more common in Bolgheri than it is in other regions of Tuscany.

The wine is rich ruby red in color with aromas of dark earthy fruits mixed in with leather and hints of oak. The fruits might be boysenberry or black currants but to be honest, I can’t really remember the last time I had boysenberries! There might also be a hint of tar. The bottom line is that there is a lot going on with this wine’s aromatics and others might be able to pick out different scents than me. The texture is tannic and slightly sharp but with a nice long finish. It could use a couple years bottle age but its enjoyable now and decanting definitely helps smooth it out. Excellent – A.

This wine was recently part of a weekend blowout sale at Zachys for $14 at which point I picked up a couple bottles. They are currently selling it for $22 which I still think is a decent value for a wine like this.