What better way to celebrate a holiday than with family, friends and good wine? None better. So with our son home for the holiday and some friends over Thursday for dessert and the Patriots game, we opened a few bottles during the four day weekend. Some were very good and represent good value.
The wines:
We’ll go from left to right with a brief synopsis of each:
2012 Georges Dubeouf Beaujolais Nouveau – what you expect a beaujolais nouveau to be; light, fruity and very smooth. About $8 it is easy drinking and quite yummy. If you like Beaujolais Nouveau you’ll like this. Recommended.
2009 Montebuena Rioja – now we’re talking. Purple red to the rim. This is full bodied with smooth tannins, and has classic Rioja flavors. It’s still young, and opened up considerably in the glass. It’s not over the top big but very good, with good length. At about $10.50 a bottle locally in RI, this is a steal. Highly recommended and a great value, especially if you are partial to Rioja.
2004 Pepper Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon – now we’re really talking. This is big. Deep red going to amber at the edges like a more mature wine. Hasn’t lost anything though with firm clear fruit and tannins. Classic Cabernet profile and very long. This is an excellent Cabernet. We paid about $25 on sale in RI. Again, at this price another great value. We’ll be looking for more of this – Cheri loved it. Highly recommended.
2006 Red Glacier from Shelalara in Coventry RI – Shelalara is a garage winery in Coventry RI that makes some pretty good wines. This is one of their dessert wines, an ice wine made with grapes frozen after harvest. It’s thick and yummy, very port like. Excellent for after dinner or for general sipping. About $20 I believe – we bought ours last year.
2011 Apothic Red – this is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. If I didn’t know that I would have guessed Zin – to me it tastes like a straight Zin. It’s medium bodied with Zinny fruit flavors. Not a lot of complexity here. If you like Zin you’ll like this. I’m not the biggest Zin fan. Cheri liked it. It is easy drinking. At about $8 a bottle I’m spending the extra $2 and buying the Rioja.
2010 Domaine les Ondines Vacqueyras – this is classic southern Rhone. Another young wine, it needs time to open up fully. Full bodied it sports good fruit and spice. The rough edges come off after it sees some air and it develops a nice, earthy quality. We like it. It cost about $16 in RI. I bought half a case. A good value in southern Rhone, when a lot of Gigondas,Vacqueyras and Chateneuf is going for twice this. Recommended.
All in all a successful wine holiday. There are some here well worth the money, and all are available locally, if you happen to live in Rhode Island. I would expect the Beaujolais and the Apothic Red to be available just about everywhere. I’m still not buying the Apothic.
A votre sante!
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