2006 Abbot's Table

2006 Abbot's Table

Yeah, this stuff is pretty much awesome- IF you like the fruit bombs. I do, so I loved it. God, it's hard to describe this wine as anything but just fruity. It goes on and on, and it's so pure it's just delicious. I say strawberries and raspberries on the nose, but the person I drank it with swore that it was primarily Hi-C cherries. We both agreed that the oak level was acceptable. On the palate it's just an explosion of fruit- a cocktail almost. This is definitely drink-now wine. I'm buying at least one more.

2005 Atteca Old Vines Grenache

2005 Atteca Old Vines Grenache

Ripe fruit- raspberries, I think- on the nose, with a little bit of an old-world vegetal aspect- not dirty or stinky, but a little bit of green. It started out with a bit too much alcohol on the nose, but I decanted for about forty-five minutes and that receded. There's also a little bit of a smoked wood on the nose, and maybe a little bit of bacon fat. I remember having had this once before and thinking that it was much stinkier; maybe that bottle had been sitting open longer.
The mouth feel is what really sells this wine for me. The tannins are supple, it grips the mouth, and the finish is long and enjoyable. Lots of fruit here, but again that vegetal aspect that I'm having trouble describing. Anyway, for $14 I consider this wine to be a great buy.

2004 Marquis Philips Roogle Red

2004 Marquis Philips Roogle Red

Not the fruit bomb I expected from a Marquis Phillips Shiraz-Cab, which was (paradoxically) both a pleasant surprise and a disappointment. I had opened it proclaiming to someone that it was going to be a big, juicy, jammy, in-your-face bomb, and was left in the lurch. However! It turned out to be a delicious little wine, especially at the $9 price point I bought it at. There is a good bit of fruit in it, it's certainly a strawberry-raspberry-cherry driven wine, but there are tasty vegetal aspects that kept me interested. Good buy at the price I got it at; it drinks like a $15-18 bottle.

NV Jonesy Old Tawny Port

NV Jonesy Old Tawny Port

This stuff is just the bomb. Such a solid, solid bottle- (750 ml!)- of tawny port for $10 (in WA) is just absurd. Delicious caramel, butterscotch, whatever- it tastes like what tawny port SHOULD taste like, but at at LEAST half the price of its competitors. Buy it, drink it, love it.

2006 Garnacha de Fuego Old Vines

2006 Garnacha de Fuego Old Vines

Yummy red berries on the nose that had me super excited for this wine. Unfortunately they didn't carry through to the finish. The attack was fairly nice & fruity (a little hot as the name might suggest) but towards the finish I got a bit overwhelmed by the peppery spices & bitter tannins. Even so, for the price I'm not dissatisfied.

2004 hamilton russell chardonnay

2004 hamilton russell chardonnay

Nice, subtle butter that didn't get in the way of the fruit. The oak is also in the background, where it belongs. Lovely finish. Really a delicious wine. A fantastic value alternative to white Burgundy.

Tasting Tags: butter value