Last Night's Bottle - A sequel to last week's 90+ post

I forgot to mention that I picked up a second bottle of 90+ on last week's trip to the Alcohol Store.  Only this time it was the Pinot Noir instead of the Cab.  After sharing such a wonderfully inebriated view of the last bottle, I was hoping to channel a little more of that same magic.

Let's start with this.  The Cabernet was the better of the two buys.  Stop reading now if you care not to read my usual rambling about yet another bottle of red wine.  Should you choose to read on, you won't regret my use of fancy descriptive terms like earthy, fleshy & melange.  (Melange is pronounced with a heavy French accent while wearing a beret & smoking a long filtered cigarette. *Striped shirt optional).  Like a bohemian after 2 or 3 Red Bull. If you made sense of that, give yourself +2.

The Pinot was without a doubt consistently thinner than the cab but obviously a direct result of the variety of grape.  It has a certain earthinesss to it.  Coupled with scents of rose & cranberry.  All of which were nice & light.

The taste was fleshy & clean on the palate. Jammy with a subtle tartness.  Cranberry & apple mixed with plum.  It was a potpourri melange of fruit flavor.  Not overwhelming, but apparent.

With that, I share with you this.  The 90+ does a pretty good wine for the price.  It improves your use & pronunciation of French sounding words, it goes down easy on the palate assuming you find it for under $20/bottle.  The Cabernet beats the Pinot in 1 out of 2 taste tests, but in either instance I don't feel as if you will be overly disappointed.

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois. (I google translated that last part).

Cheers,
ES

Last Night's Bottle - 90+ Cellars 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

After a long day on campus trying to figure out how the heck managerial accounting is going to change my life, the need for a good bottle of wine afterward increases tenfold.  I often spend time roaming the aisles of the wine store like a homeless person wanders the streets of Manhattan. 

This week I stumbled upon the "staff pick of the week" display (which is a fancy way of saying overstock) only to find the entire cache of 90+ Cellars on sale for a few bucks off the regular price.  So yeah, it's safe to say I took the bait and ran with it.

Let me get this out of the way and say that this bottle was a homerun.  Or at the very least, a booming triple off the wall in deep right.

It was somewhat surprising to find a scent consistent with a warm spiciness, tart raspberry & oak.  Upon reading the bottle, they hit on black raspberry, red currant, tobacco & toasty oak.  That's pretty close.

The wine is full for a medium bodied red . Rich & dark with an almost smoky, deep reaching, fruit flavor.  In sum, it has a distinctly masculine feel.  Without question this would couple well with juicy red steak or a fine cigar in a leather chair. 

So perhaps I just needed a good drink after staring at numbers all day or maybe I've been drinking too much organic stuff lately. In either scenario, this was a nice chance of pace.  I wish I had bought more.

Until next time...

Cheers,
ES

http://www.ninetypluscellars.com/

Last Night's Bottle - Frey Vineyards Organic 2009 Zinfandel

Last night was a football night, actually THE football night and football nights are dedicated to beer.  But the night before, we stumbled upon a bottle of something new and more interestingly, something organic. 

Frey Vineyards produces a line of wholly organic & sustainable wines on their ranch in Menodocino Country, CA.  As I am constantly on the hunt for organics, I was hoping this was going to be "the one".  Hoping this would be the first bottle of organic wine that really blew my doors off.

I popped the bottle and noticed that maybe it's time for a new rabbit.  It's been almost 10 years and while she's seen a good life, it may be time to put her to rest.  She just doesn't hop like she used to.  Nevertheless, the bottle opened and so we drank.

The wine itself was full of plum and spice aromas and a rich crimson color. Flavors of black cherry & currant were unmistakable, but this wine was too hot, too harsh & tart for my taste.  I allowed it to breathe a bit and followed one sip with another and another until ultimately my mind was made up. This just wasn't what I had hoped for.

It's hard for me to bash on a vineyard that goes to such great length to produce quality organic wines with a commitment to sustainability.  But sadly, this just wasn't my cup of juice.  For all that's granola in the world and for those who seek it, be my guest.  But if you're reading this perhaps you were looking for some direction before buying a bottle.  I won't ever say that I told you so.

Until next time...

Cheers,
ES

http://www.freywine.com/index.html