NEW BLOG

Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I blogged about wines - but I have some more posts coming.

In the meantime, I am starting a new blog at http://dedebted.blogspot.com/

I hope you will join me and my lovely wife as we share our journey to debt freedom!

Wine Review: Cupcake 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

04/11/10 Cupcake Cabernet Cupcake Vineyards Central Coast CA Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 13.5 dark cherry not particularly strong. Blackberry and pepper. cherry and and blackberry – some cassis, but not overly tart. Delicious silky tannins and a moderate finish... but really, it plays it safe and doesn't deliver. 3

Wine Review: the Little Penguin 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon

OKAY Folks! It has been far too long. I am back, but treading cautiously. I'm slipping back into the blogosphere with an old review I had on deck. Keep reading, wine people! 

Cabernet Sauvignon is a tasty grape. The Little Penguin is a mass market gem. And ringing in at a whopping $5.99, this 2008 brings it... but the follow through... well what are we really hoping for at six bones? [Note, in 2012 - since I initially began this review, I've been told that the price has increased... So expect to pay $6.49...  Watch that wine budget! Wow.]

The color is deep and clear and a whiff gives off a bit of a kool-aid fake grape sort of nose. Nonetheless, the flavor is okay.

Yeah. I said it's "okay." Look - I usually have a lot more to say, but here... nope.

Conclusion:

Despite being nonoffensive to the nose or the palate, this super budget choice has little to offer. It's fine for the second or third bottle but don't break it out to start the party.

3 of 5 glasses.

Wine Review: Michael David 2007 Petite Petit

05/08/10 Petite Petit Michael David 16.99 Lodi Petite Sirah (85), Petit Verdot (15) 2007 14.5 Deep plum purple cherry, wood/oak but not oakey, smoky, blueberry good mouthfeel, unctuous, black pepper, black cherry, good balance. a bit chewy. vanilla. herby. Overpriced. Just came into the sub-20 range - has been selling around 22, now at 17.... still too much IMO

Note I've tried this you've since, and while I enjoyed, I stick to the story above.

Wine Review: Jacob's Creek 2007 Shiraz

Jacob's Creek is one of the largest exporters of wine in Australia. Since 1847, this well known brand has tended its vines in the Barossa Valley region of south Australia.

Of course, we're concerned about only a handful of things here. Is it easy to find? Is it cheap? Is it good?

Well it's definitely easy to find. I picked up this bottle of Jacob's Creek 2007 Shiraz at my local Wal-Mart. I've seen the brand in pharmacies, wine stores, and grocery stores. You should have no trouble picking it up. And to answer the second question - yes it is cheap. At $7.99, this bottle won't murder your wallet.

This wine entertains the nose with a distinct licorice/anise quality. Plum, cherry and blackberry fruit waft forth along with a whiff of oak.

The taste is a cherry fest, but lacking the fruit overkill of many wines. The structure of this wine doesn't fall apart in the mouth like yesterday's Alice White. It isn't building a house on the palate - not that kind of strength - but it might be building a tool shed up there. Other than the cherry, it constructs its little shed with a nice peppery oak nicely balanced with delicate acid.

3 of 5 glasses

Wine Review: Alice White 2008 Shiraz

Part four of our trip down under takes a bit of a tumble down the rabbit hole. Sure, Alice White is a successful winery. Sure they mass-produce quality grapes in the sun-rich region of South Eastern Australia. Sure they manage to sell buku-bottles in the United States every year at super budget prices.

But it doesn't mean I have to like it.

It doesn't suck. Don't get me wrong. But this $6.99 Shiraz, vinted in 2008, just doesn't get my juices flowing. And, perhaps ironically, this wine does deliver a high flow of juiciness.

In the nose, this shiraz presents a fair amount of fruit. Cherry, plum and strawberry happily co-exist with a mild dose of black pepper.

The sip brings on a fruit-forward, cherry-strawberry duo. It's also very smooth and effortless. Merlot drinkers might approve of this wine. Tannins are light, so drink this wine young! But it isn't all juice and spice and all that's nice. The mid palate just falls apart, which bores me endlessly. Nothing happens there at all. Moments later, the finish returns a moderately obnoxious tangy, tinny, suck on a penny kind of taste. This wine was about to get a solid 3 of 5 glasses until that stupid finish.

Here is a list of some things named Alice that I prefer to Alice White...

• Alice (that girl in Wonderland)
• Alice Cooper (welcome to my nightmare)
• A.L.I.C.E. (the Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity)
• Alice's Restaurant (you can get anything you want...)
• Alice Walker (Pulitizer Prize winning author of The Color Purple)
• Alice (the town in south Texas)

I won't be taking a trip back down Alice White's rabbit hole any time soon. Sometimes bottles labeled "drink me" should be left alone.

2.5 of 5 glasses

Wine Review: Lucky Duck 2008 Shiraz

"Try Lucky Duck."

"What?"

"It's a wine... you can get it at Wal-Mart."

"Oh... okay."

Yup. That's pretty much how a recent conversation went down with a good friend of mine. She was extolling the virtues of this relative newcomer to the big-box brands. I had neither heard, nor seen of this wine until I picked some up last week. I'm glad I did. Thanks friend!

Lucky Duck is not going to crush your wallet. This bottle rings in as the cheapskate of the this week's Aussie's at $4.49 a bottle.

This 2008 Shiraz is a dark purple color. The nose is very focused, very one dimensional. It's loaded with fruit. Blackberries and blueberries make it out of the mix. Other than that, it's really fairly closed.

The sip...... fruity fruit fruit fruit... and did I mention fruit? Look it just isn't a complex wine. But you know what, it has nice tannins. It has good structure. It's not too big, but it entertains the palate. It's light and crisp - good balance of acid. And it's not really too sweet.

There is nothing spectacularly impressive other than the fact that Lucky Duck has created a super low cost, very decent wine. I might pick up a case for summer drinking - you know just sitting out on the patio with a few friends... you don't want to spend much, but you don't want to offend their tastebuds.

Watch out Yellow Tail!

3.5 of 5 glasses