2006 Woodbridge Select Vineyard Series Red Dirt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon

2006 Woodbridge Select Vineyard Series Red Dirt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon

Surprisingly good wine. I have always been a fan of Mondavi wines, but never had extremely high expectations based on their mass production. This wine is a great wine for parties, dinner, or just to make the evening a little better. Very fruity nose, unlike most oaky California wines. Taste develops nicely over the course of a meal, with flavors of blackberry, cherry, chocolate, and hints of vanilla. Finishes clean thanks to well balanced tannins. Will buy again.

Tasting Tags: blackberry cherry oak vanilla

2007 Jindalee Estate Shiraz

2007 Jindalee Estate Shiraz

This wine is quite similar to their 2006 vintage (only a tad sweeter...quite enjoyable); and is still one of my favorite everyday wines. Ripe fruits on the nose; blueberry, and almost some banana (for lack of a better classification). Starts off clean with a great mouth feel. Taste is strong in the front palate, with mellowing notes in the mid palate. Perfect finish from great tannins. Excellent wine.

Tasting Tags: banana blueberry

2003 Abrazo del Toro Reserva

2003 Abrazo del Toro Reserva

At $6.99, bought at Trader Joes, definitely worth a try. I want to buy another bottle to decant before doing a full review...I feel this wine may have more to offer. The nose was weak, and the taste was not as fulfilling as I had hoped on onset. But, after about 30 minutes I realized my first assessment had been quite wrong. This wine has potential. It is well balanced, with great mouth feel. I will leave my rating at 85 until I can do a proper tasting of this wine with a 1-2 hour decant.

2007 Rabbit Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Rabbit Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon

This must be a quite ambitious vineyard. This is a 14.9% alcohol Cab. that does not produce. The label claims that this wine is ready to drink, but I must strongly disagree. The only thing this wine is ready for is cleaning out your drain pipes. I usually don't write bashing reviews, but this wine is horrible. The only thing that keeps this wine out of the 60s is the "wow effect" produced by the ability to hide the alcohol content. No complexity. No nose. No count. Avoid this wine.

2005 Indaba Chardonnay

2005 Indaba Chardonnay

This is a great wine for the price. The nose of this wine is excellent, with scents of pear, vanilla, and pineapple. While the oak is certainly prominent, it is balanced with a decent complexity of flavors. In my opinion, this rivals California chardonnays that are much more expensive. This wine will probably hold and develop for another couple of years, uncharacteristic of other chards. Will buy this wine again.

Tasting Tags: apple green oak pear pineapple

2005 TwoTone Farm Cabernet Sauvignon

2005 TwoTone Farm Cabernet Sauvignon

This was a hard wine to classify for me. It wasn't very strong in aromatics or flavor...yet I can not bring myself to define this as a poor quality wine. It is pleasantly oaked, and has great tannins and balance. There are no overwhelming flavors which, in itself, makes this wine unique. Just a pleasant everyday cab.

2004 KWV Merlot

2004 KWV Merlot

Simply a good merlot. Extremely cheap for the quality. Very sweet aromatics, almost like a port wine. Strong oak, but not over powering. Well balanced, not overly sweet taste as in most cheaper merlots. Flavors of black currant, and blackberry/raspberry. Lemongrass flavors in the back palate. Good finish. Will buy again, especially if I find it in the overstock bin as last time!

Tasting Tags: blackberry lemongrass oak raspberry

2006 Chateau Vieille Tour La Roche Bordeaux

2006 Chateau Vieille Tour La Roche Bordeaux

Not impressed at all. Bordeaux's are supposed to be phenomenal wines...this fails to represent its heritage. This wine is tremendously over oaked. Even after decanting it fails to provide the expected depth. Onset is quite bitter with hints of lemon. There are some tobacco hints in the mid and back palate (not undesirable). The only thing that saves this wine (if you even can call it a save) is the acidic balance, which leaves a nice mouth feel. Perhaps aging will better this wine; but I don't expect so.

Tasting Tags: black blackberry currant lemon more oak tobacco

2007 Meridian Chardonnay

2007 Meridian Chardonnay

As previously said, very floral on the nose. Overall a decently balanced wine; pear and vanilla notes with lots of citrus on the backend. However, as most California chards, it is quite oaky (but not overpowering). Great acidity and finish saves this wine from a lower score. One of the better wines for the price. Rating: 86+/87

Tasting Tags: butter oak pear vanilla

2006 Excelsior Cabernet Sauvignon

2006 Excelsior Cabernet Sauvignon

You should appreciate this review because I just sloshed it all over me while writing :) The aromatics of this wine are weak, but start with oak essences and blend to a light blueberry. The flavor is ridden with black currant and unripened black cherry. The oak was deceiving from the onset; it is strong, but not overpowering. Acidity is a tad out of balance, so the mouth-feel is not quite on point. Better than bottom-shelf, no where close to high dollar. I might buy again, but only if its on sale. If they had put a cork in the bottle instead of the screw cap, this could possibly be aged for a year and become an interesting wine.

Tasting Tags: black blueberry cherry currant oak