Here are three new wines for consideration. Two California cabs (lower priced) and a Rosso di Montalcino from Tuscany. While I hate to play the spoiler this particular Rosso fell far short of normal expectations. The cabs were good though, and represent value at their respective price points. The wines:
Wine: 2007 Casanuova Rosso di Montalcino Winery Location: Tuscany
Tasted By: Neil and Cheri Date: March 2013
Tasting Notes: Very, very disappointing. Rosso di Montalcino is usually one of my go to reds, and I find them to be some of the easiest drinking reds on the planet. This is not. It’s ruby red with a tinge of amber. A red fruit and rasberry nose leads to a tart, fruity palate that almost has a fizzy quality to it. It’s lighter in body than most Rosso. To really sum it up I paid $10 for it (very cheap for Rosso) and do not consider it being worth the price. This is not very good at all.
Price Point – $10 on sale. $22 original retail.
Would We Buy It? – Absolutely not. Do not consider it a good value at $10, and would have been pretty miffed if I had paid $22. Let this one go if you ever see it.
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Wine: 2010 CK Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Winery Location: California
Tasted By: Neil and Cheri Date: April 2013
Tasting Notes: Now here is a pleasant surprise. I haven’t had a bottle of CK Mondavi in years, and remember it as a rather mediocre wine not worth a dime more than it’s modest price point. This is worth considerably more than its modest price point. It’s deep garnet in color with nice fruit on the nose. Cherry and berries come across. Medium bodied, it has some length and you can definitely taste the light oak, but it is pleasant. Very good for the money, this is a potential everyday case buy.
Price Point – $4.50 locally.
Would We Buy It? – Absolutely. I’ll probably pick up a case to mix in with our everyday wines. I was not expecting this to be nearly as good as it was. It drinks more like a $10-$12 wine.
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Wine: 2010 Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon Winery Location: Paso Robles
Tasted By: Neil and Cheri Date: April 2013
Tasting Notes: This is really a little fruit bomb. If you like juicy, jammy wines you will probably like this, I know I did. Brilliant purple/red in the glass this has a vibrant nose of red and black fruit. Gobs of fruit on the palate, with good length. There’s some tannin running around there too, so this will last a while and might gain a little complexity with some bottle age. That will be hard to wait for though, this is really tasty. Nicely done.
Price Point – $11 locally.
Would We Buy It? – Yes, I will definitely buy more of this. It’s a tasty fruit bomb with great fruit. A very good value for the money.
There you have it, two hits and one miss. The hits were pretty good for the money however, so overall I would consider this a pretty successful round of wine consumption. Both of the cabs are going to make the value list, which I’m compiling but haven’t managed to get online yet. Coming soon though.
A votre sante!
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