Wine Time!!!

So I have been neglecting my wine collection for a while and I decided to jump back in this week with some great red wines. Not to say that I won't go back to beer and whiskey, it's just you can't stay in one place or you get stagnant. You know what I mean. I'll stick with Cabernet Sauvignon and Rhone valley for this week and I might do a Bordeaux while I'm in there.

I went to a wine tasting the other night stuck with my theme of Cabernet Sauvignon and tried the Liberty School. It was a bit fruity and had cherry and plum flavors and was light on the tannins. For around 10 dollars it was not bad. My second was Il Pioggione Rosso di Montalcino 08. A well balanced medium body wine with cherry and currant on the nose. With the flavor of black cherry and plum, this wine will be on my "I need to buy this wine!" list.
Next, was Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon 08. With the flavor of cherry, black currant and plum this medium body wine had a good flavor with nice easy tannins. I ran into some of my wine friends and we exchanged pleasantries and talked about the wines at the tasting. One friend suggested the Diadem Cabernet Sauvignon. He said that this one was a large bodied wine and that I would love it! I walked over and held up my glass and asked for the Diadem.

This wine is from the Spring Mountain area of Napa Valley which has produced some great wines. It is aged in new French oak barrels for 18 months gives this wine a bold, rich and elegant flavor with hints of plum and currant. A very full bodied and luscious wine the price is not for the timid at 50 dollars a bottle. But if you wish to serve this wine with chocolates and flowers to impress that special lady, well this is the wine for you.
I strolled around some more and talked to a few more folks and found myself running out of time at the tasting. So I went to the last station for which there were wines that I have not tried. I saw a Rhone Valley wine there so I decided to try that one. Jean Luc Colombo Cotes du Rhone red. I had been on a Rhone Valley kick lately so this was the last one I would try. This wine had a light cherry on the nose with flavors of plum and black currant. It had great structure with nice tannins on the end.

For around 10 dollars a bottle this is my best pick. You will not go wrong with this wine. You have a high price flavor with a conservative price. Look for it at your local wine dealer.


Now my Bordeaux pick is Chateau Ferrand 2005 Pomerol. This wine for the price is the best pick in Bordeaux. With flavors of plum and black cherry with a hint of currant creates a complex structure with an elegance on the tongue. A well balanced wine with just the right amount of tannins. It's 60 percent merlot 40 percent cabernet franc which gives it the right balance and flavors. Around 35 to 40 dollars a bottle this is a great wine for dinner parties. With the 2009 banner Bordeaux year I would get a couple of these bottles and let them sit for a couple of years and enjoy them then. 


Well that's it for this week. I'll be on the road again next week and will have some new beer and wine picks then. I'll focus on Virginia wines and let you know what I come up with. Until then, Cheers!