Fetzer Shiraz 2009

Ages ago I heard somewhere that this wine was good. I can't remember where, and I have been meaning to try it ever since. It's not a 'great' wine, but a potential bargain.

I find it very difficult to enjoy red wine in this hot weather (it's 25C in my house at the moment), so it's not in optimal conditions that I try this. But try it I did.

It's OK. Very strong nose of red berries, plus hot alcohol (although that might have something to so with the heat). Interesting chocolate notes too. All in all not bad for the money.

For those that are interested, Fetzer is an organic winery (the largest in California), they power their operation with 100% green energy and they employ a number of other 'green' practices.

Fetzer

Shiraz 2009

California, USA

£5.69 (with 25% off)

Waitrose Wine Direct

2.5/5

Francis Ford Coppola 'Director's Cut' Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

I bought this wine because it was named the 'best value' wine in a recent California Cabernet Sauvignon tasting in Decanter magazine. It was £20 in Oddbins.

I didn't really like it, but I'm not sure it's Francis' fault. We had it after a bottle of Chateau Palmer Alter Ego, and we thought it would be good for comparison. It was good for comparison - as it was completely different. I won't hold it to the same standards as Palmer (maybe I should?), but it was a bit strange. It was very spicy oaked, vanilla. The main characteristics reminded me of a southern Rhone wine actually. I like California Cabernet the most next to Bordeaux, but this was something else.

It opened up, and revealed it's own depth and structure. Quality wine, but not really what I expected.

And another thing - these North Americans with their celebrity wineries... I've tried a couple of the Canadian ones (Mike Weir Pinot Gris - thought it was really good, and being Canadian I'd buy anything with Wayne Gretzky's name on it), but do these guys really like wine this much? Is it something their PR managers tell them to do? Is it a box to tick in their career?

Francis Ford Coppola Winery

Director's Cut Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Alexander Valley, California

Oddbins

£19.99

3/5

Bonterra Merlot 2007

I can't honestly remember the last time I bought a single-varietal Merlot. I don't even have a tag for it. I guess I avoid it because in general it tends to produce soft, easy drinking reds, which isn't really my preference.

I've liked every wine I've tried in the Bonterra range at Waitrose, so I thought I'd try this. I'm glad I did - I really like it. Initially it seemed like an oaky fruit-bomb, but there is more to it than that. It is oaky - at first I was getting notes of sawdust, but after a few sips it becomes more of a creamy characteristic. Great depth of fruit flavour as well, and a finish that lingers. It's a fruit-forward wine for sure, and I'm not sure Hugh Johnson would approve, but I like it.

Hats off to Bonterra. California wines have a reputation for being either plonkish or prohibitively expensive in the UK. This range is neither, especially when on offer at Waitrose, which is frequently.

Bonterra

Merlot 2007

Mendocino County, California

Waitrose

£7.32 (£10.99)

3.5/5

Stag's Leap Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

This is the second bottle a friend of mine brought back to the UK from a recent trip he took to the USA. It's a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from the Stag's Leap district in the Napa Valley, which was apparently the first appellation ever designated as an AVA.

Stag's Leap Winery is not to be confused with Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, whose wine topped the list of entrants in the red category at the famous Judgement of Paris tasting in 1976.

We all felt this wine was fabulous. Above all, it was balanced. It wasn't big or overblown, but instead restrained. Fruity but also slightly creamy, with a long, long finish. Very Bordeaux-like I thought, as opposed to say an Australian or Chilean Cabernet. Really good stuff. Not cheap, but you're not going to find Cabernet Sauvignon like this for much less.

Stag's Leap Winery

Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Stag's Leap District AVA, Napa Valley, California

~$50 USD

4.5/5

Bonterra Zinfandel 2007

I'd been wanting to try this wine for awhile. I'm a big fan of Bonterra's Chardonnay, and their rosé isn't bad either.

True to form, this wine is good. I didn't think Zinfandel was one of my favourite varieties, but when a wine is well made from good fruit and by a good producer, variety doesn't matter. This is the case here.

The wine is a bit lush and 'sweet', and also has high alcohol, but a lot of people really like this style, myself included. It's a tad pricey at £10.99, but well worth it when it's on offer (as was the case here). It's impressive and makes a statement. It's not massively complex or long, but that's fine. I think Bonterra's wines are good, but maybe a couple of pounds overpriced. That seems to be a problem with a lot of California wine however, and I don't hold it against the producer.

Bonterra

Zindfandel 2007

Mendocino County, California

Waitrose Wine Direct

£8.35 (£10.44)

3.5/5

Chalone Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008

I think this is actually my first California Pinot Noir. It's on an introductory offer at Waitrose (until Dec. 1st), and seemed like an interesting wine to try.

It doesn't taste anything like I expected. I was expecting a New World style Pinot, like something you'd get from Australia or Chile. But what I tasted didn't even taste like Pinot Noir. It tastes more like a fruity, jammy, south-of-France red, only sweeter.

It's not bad though - it has some good fruit and concentration and a bit of a gravelly finish, but it's just not what I expected. Perhaps I shouldn't have had any expectations. Pinot Noir is a particular grape though, and is usually in a class of its own (not necessarily quality-wise, but character-wise). To not really see this character expressed is strange. Like I said the wine is pleasant though, but may be suited more to fans of sweet, fruity reds than classic Pinot Noir.

Chalone Vineyard

Pinot Noir 2008

Monterey County, California, USA

Waitrose Wine Direct

£7.82 (£10.44)

3/5

Saintsbury Caneros Unfiltered Chardonnay 2007

Like Tim in his recent review of a Chardonnay, I enjoy this grape when it is aged in oak. Also like that wine, this version from the Saintsbury winery in California is aged and fermented in oak, completes malolactic and is aged on the lees. This wine also comes from the Caneros region of Napa in California, an area that has developed a good reputation for Chardonnay.

I REALLY liked this wine. There is a heck of a lot to say about this but I will keep it brief. It's bursting with flavours, is buttery, silky and mellow, with a digestive biscuit finish. There are hints of pear and a looooong finish. There is real depth here and the flavours are well integrated to give a deeply satisfying wine. I would look for this again that’s for sure.

It’s not cheap though – retailing online at somewhere between £15-20. But I wager that this one is worth it...

Saintsbury
Chardonnay 2007 unfiltered
Caneros, Napa Valley, California
Online merchants
£15-20
4/5

Renwood Zinfandel Grandpère 2004

A friend of mine who was visiting from Canada brought me this wine. He used to live in California, and this was one of his personal favourites. I'm grateful to him for bringing this as it was from his own personal stash.

I don't often drink Zinfandel. My initial experience with it at a Wine Society tasting was memorable for all the wrong reasons. My main beef with it was it seemed to have a tomato-like flavour and aroma that I found really off-putting. I've avoided it ever since, which isn't really all that difficult since it's not the most common grape variety seen in the UK.

This wine by Renwood Winery, located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, couldn't be more different. It's apparently made from possibly the oldest Zinfandel vineyard in America, the 20 acre Grandpère vineyard, dating back 130 years.

Wine writers love to heap scorn on this style of wine. To borrow some clichés: Big, bold, high in alcohol, bigger-is-better-in-America, etc, etc they all apply here. That doesn't mean the wine isn't enjoyable though. It has a wonderful nose, full of fruit and almost floral perfume. I had to double check that women's perfume hadn't somehow rubbed off on the glass. It has a thick, syrupy texture and hugely concentrated cherry fruit flavour. Very good indeed, and none of that tomato stuff going on.

By the second glass, the alcohol (15.5%) can seem a bit drying, and you start to notice some vanilla oakiness. Whether or not this is a fault is really down to personal preference though.

Americans love their Zinfandel. If they all taste like this, I can certainly see why.

Renwood Winery
Grandpère Zinfandel 2004
Amador County, California, USA

~$40 (USD)
4.5/5

Ravenswood Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel 2006

On a recent research trip to offshore California I took the opportunity to sample the wines of the mainland. A wine producer that seemed to consistently deliver top quality wines at a decent price was Ravenswood. They are based in Sonoma County but I was surprised to see that they apparently have some production going on in the little known Central Valley AVA of Lodi (not exactly a hot bed of wine geek interest). Lodi is home to some old vine Zinfandel, hence this bottling.

The Ravenswood moto is 'no wimpy wines' and boy thats true. This is a beast of a wine. The colour is an intense purple red but is just a prelude to the coming sensory onslaught. Blackberries and pepper positively explode from the wine, both in the nose and taste. A mouthful gives you three stages of intense flavour: 1) jammy fruit, 2) soooo much pepper and 3) burnt toffee in an exceedingly long finish. Subtle this aint. It almost tastes of the scorching hot Central Valley. This is a wine to enjoy with bbq meat and a strong disposition. I loved it but I have a feeling that for some people this wine would be a little too much. If you like big flavoursome wines then this is for you though. Could be a bit like Marmite though...

Ravenswood
Old vine Zinfandel 2006
Lodi, Central Valley, California
Sainsbury’s
£8.50
3.5/5

Bonterra Vineyards Rosé 2007

I really appreciate Bonterra's Chardonnay, so naturally I wanted to try their rosé. It's a bit pricey at £9.99, so I waited patiently until it was on offer at Waitrose for two-thirds the price.

Like a lot of new world rosés surfacing these days, this tends toward a more medium-bodied style. I'm not really sure why this is. It was pleasant enough - a good rosé to me drinks like a white wine but with notes of red berry fruit, which this resembles. However, I think anything would have tasted good immediately following this, which was the case here.

The label didn't mention anything about the grape varieties involved, so I had to resort to the Waitrose website. It's apparently mostly Sangiovese, along with some Zinfandel and Grenache.

A bit expensive at regular price, but a good deal at the current offer price.

Bonterra

Rosé 2007

Mendocino, California

Waitrose

£6.66 (£9.99)

3/5

Bonterra Vineyards Chardonnay 2006

I was on a mission today. I was instructed to find a "buttery" Chardonnay for under £6. The default choice was going to be Oyster Bay Chardonnay because it is on offer at Waitrose, but I wasn't convinced of its butteriness. The reason I say that is because I suspect a lot of that buttery character has to do with oak ageing, and there was nothing on the label of the Oyster Bay wine about oak ageing, although looking at the Oyster Bay website it looks like they do satisfy this requirement.  (Edit:  I've since learned that the butteriness is likely to do with malolactic fermentation and not so much to do with the oak). 

After 20 minutes of staring at the shelves at Waitrose, I decided to have a quick look at the "fine wine" section just in case anything good was on offer. Luckily, this very good California wine was on offer for 1/3 off (£6.66 from £9.99).

Since the label mentioned it was aged in a combination of American and French oak, I felt it would have the character I was looking for. Sure enough, it did. While reading the tasting notes on the label, I dismissed the mention of "bright flavours of cinnamon-apple" as being poncey marketing-speak. I pretty much forgot about this immediately, and then a few minutes later after a swallow of wine, I thought to myself: "this tastes like cinna......". Oh.

Bonterra winery is in Mendocino County in northern California, and I can't resist reproducing this little snippet from Wikipedia:

"The county is noted for its distinctive Pacific Ocean coastline, Redwood forests, wine production, microbrews, and liberal views on marijuana."

Back to the wine, I like it very much. I'm not normally a big Chardonnay fan, but this has the right combination of subtlety and secondary flavours that make it a winner for me.

Oh, and it's organic. I left this as an afterthought on purpose - normally I don't care about such things, but I've had a couple of organic wines recently and have been impressed with them. Perhaps there is something to it, perhaps not, but it's something I've begun to take note of.

Bonterra
Chardonnay 2006
Mendocino County, California
Waitrose
£6.66 (£9.99)
4/5

Gallo Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Although E & J Gallo may be known for hideous jug wines and cheap, bland varietals, they also produce higher-end wine, of which this fine Cabernet is an example.  Gallo started developing vineyards in California's Sonoma County in the 1980's, and it is here that some of their finest wines are made.

This Cabernet, is, I think, more of a mid-level wine, but it is good nonetheless.  It has a strong Cabernet nose, with a whiff of that green-pepper character.  On the palate it is a bit serious, and I easily could have mistaken it for a Bordeaux.  Really nice.  Not too much oak character either.  It was in good shape and easily could have done with a few more years of bottle age.

I'm wondering if this is one of those "made-for-supermarket" wines.  I couldn't find it on the main Gallo website (the closest I could find was something called "Sonoma Reserve"), or the UK site (nothing at all).  I find this slightly annoying, as it would be nice to know a bit more about the wine, as the back label doesn't tell you much either.

Gallo Family Vineyards

Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Sonoma County, California, USA

Sainsbury's

£9.99 (£14.99)

3.5/5

Ironstone Vineyards Cabernet Franc 2002

This wine was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise. It was given to me by my cousin who picked it up in the USA on a connecting flight from Hawaii to London. I had told her that decent California wines are hard to come by here (at least ones that aren't plonk or too expensive), so she thoughtfully picked up this Cabernet Franc.

I was expecting it to resemble other Cabernet Franc wines I've tried, from the Loire Valley or Canada, meaning a fresh, light-bodied wine that might go down slightly chilled in the summer. It was nothing like that however. First of all it's a 2002, and the wine had handled the bottle age extremely well, turning a dark brick-red colour with a smooth, mellow flavour. Second, it is a medium bodied wine with loads of delicious cherry-fruit flavours.

To my delight, Waitrose happens to stock this wine (and the same vintage too!), and its also very affordable, at around £5. I had better get down to my local store and stock up.

Ironstone Vineyards
Cabernet Franc 2002
California, USA
Waitrose
~£5
3.5/5

Quady Elysium Black Muscat

This is a dark, very sweet dessert wine made from the dark-skinned black Muscat grape. It is an intense wine, and went well with the Christmas pudding. This post will not do it justice, however, as I forgot to put it in the fridge before dinner, and had to do with a few minutes in the freezer. It wasn't chilled enough, and hence had a bit of an alcoholic heat to it, which overpowered any subtleties it might have had. Either way, it's worth a mention and I'll look out for this variety again.

This looks like an interesting winery actually. It's located in California, and they do a variety of sweet and fortified wines, including a sherry-style wine. Interesting...

Quady Winery
Elysium Black Muscat
Central Valley, California, USA
Majestic
~£8 (375 ml)
3/5