Porta Reserva Cab Sauvignon

Chile strikes again! Picked up this Cab for $10 and it is a nice big hairy red that I'll pull out for my next steak dinner. The Japanese gave this wine a gold medal in one of their challenge - with good reason. Mrs. Vino says it is too heavy for a summer night and while I agree, I think she'll feel differently in October when the temp hits the low 40's and we set our first fire of the season in the fireplace. Look for this one! BTW - allow me to explain my limited write-ups lately. I've been knee deep in the college search process for my son and it is all consuming. I have however found that shopping colleges is just like shopping for wine. Most importantly, you need to select a wine (college) to go with your meal (student). The match is critical! Like wine colleges and universities come in all sorts of flavors and many are expensive! Some may be worth it, others I'm not so sure. Then there are some cheap schools - relatively speaking -that appear to offer quite a bit. Just like wine, this is where I'm focused.

Isabel Mondavi

Do you like cran-raspberry juice drink with a little alcohol zip? If yes, then you'll love this Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Rose from Isabel Mondavi. For me, it tastes like a wine that doesn't know whether it wants to be a red or a rose. Perhaps this is why I don't see many Cab Sav Roses. Like all roses it is drinkable for me - but really not good - so I won't look for it. Dedicated readers know what Mrs. Vino thought of this Rose!

Arete Selections

We're visiting colleges with our son in Virgnia and Mom and Dad need some inexpensive wine with dinner. The flights, hotel and car rental are already setting us back! In downtown Harrisonburg Virginia - home of James Madison University - we find Dave's Downtown Taverna and they have a $15 Cab Sav from a Virginia winery. WOW - think about the last time you got a restaurant bottle for $15. Unfortunately the wine is served a bit too warm, which is all too common for red wines in restaurants. (Whites are usually too cold) The wine recovers nicely and shows nice fruit, good spice from 24 months on oak, good backbone/tannis and cherry. I never got a comment from Mrs. Vino but she must have enjoyed it because she put it back with no problem. $15 in a restaurant for good bottle - now I'm back on track!! BTW - The atmosphere was great with many JMU students and great cheap eats.

Loose Goose - San Antonio - 2008

Aug 4 is Mrs. Vino's B-day and my brother and his wife invite us over for a barbeque. He had an informative loose-leaf binder of all the wines he had received from the WSJ wine club. (Here's my first digression - Q - How stupid is it that wine can be received via the mail in Mass - but only if it is sent from within Mass? A. Very stupid!) The binder contained a great write-up of each wine from the WSJ club and my brother gave me the option - is it my birthday? - to pick a wine to go with our grilled surf (tuna) and turf (filet) dinner. Cool! I thought a Pinot would do the best job riding the wave between these foods. The award winning vintner employs a gaggle of geese to keep pests off his precious grapes in the San Antonio valley of Chile - and thus the wine is organic. Very nice spice - likely from a bit of oak aging - and this gives the wine some heft and a bit of a silky texture to go with the outstanding grilled food. You'll find this wine being sold through many of the various wine clubs that are popping up. I hope you live in state that has reasonable shipping laws so that you might be able to order it.

Sakonnet Vidal Blanc

My first write-up of a Rhode Island wine – and while no ones wine merchant is likely to carry this wine – I thought I might use it to encourage you (and me) to seek out wineries close to home and give them a chance. (Every state in the NATION has a winery! Bill O'Reilly and Steven Colbert would be proud) This is the first time I’ve tasted a wine and connected to multiple distinct fruit flavors on both the front and back ends of each taste. Mrs. Vino tasted before me and said, “grapefruit”. I tasted and got apple juice, but as I continued to taste the acid kicked in and there was the grapefruit. This was a really interesting and unique wine and I’m glad I selected it amongst the many wines I tasted at this winery last month. Perfect for a summer night - or day for that matter. The November 2003 Food and Wine magazine said the wine has "an impressive amount of flavor and intensity." Indeed!