COLOR: 5/5 - Solid maroon color, having the appearance of a lighter bodied wine.
NOSE: 11/15 - Nose had some good punch right out of the bottle, but this blew off within an hour. What was initially pruney & cola-ish has turned around and taken on more watermelon and apple aromas with blackberry and vanilla.
FLAVOR: 8/10 - Good expansion across the palate, but there are some issues with balance. Flavors of blackberry, cocoa, and vanilla aren't supported by the thin mouthfeel.
FINISH: 6/10 - Finish starts sharply, sourly, and twists around some berry fruits, melon, and, occasionally, butter.
POTENTIAL: 3/5 - Has the feel of a wine that will be better in 6 months and drink for a few years. A little taming of the tannins will go a long way toward bringing balance to this wine.
OVERALL: 3/5 - A decent, moderately interesting wine. Really changed a lot in a few hours of being open, paired well with the veggie lasagna it accompanied at dinner and drinks adequately alone as well. 86 Points.
I liked this wine and expected this to come out more like an 88 point wine, but the schizophrenic nose and weak finish hurt the scoring. Not at all disappointed to have 5 more bottles in the cellar. Great wine for tomato-based foods.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
N.V. Pinot Evil (or "How to make 10,000 cases of wine from 5,000 cases of juice)
COLOR: 5/5 - Translucent strawberry color.
NOSE: 6/15 - Initially there was virtually nothing except for a whiff of alcohol. After being open for a few hours there's still very little on the nose. What nose there is is yeasty and tinny.
FLAVOR: 4/10 - Thin, thin, thin. Very little flavor, astringent, with underlying strawberry and fig. Makes you want to chug the glass with the hope of passing enough wine over your palate to taste SOMETHING.
FINISH: 5/10 - Short, unimpressive finish of watered down strawberry and raspberry. POTENTIAL: 1/5 - No fruit, weak structure. Not past it's prime in terms of aging, I just don't think there *is* a prime for this wine.
OVERALL: 1/5 - Worst Pinot Noir I can recall. Other than the color, there was nothing remotely Pinot Noirish about this. It drinks like watered down unsweetened strawberry kool-aid with a healthy dose of Absolut Kurant.
This is wasted money AT ANY PRICE. This bottle was a gift and I still feel like I overpayed. It really reminds me of Jello shots from my college days were a 'clever' roommate used Absolut Kurant vodka with watermelon Jello. It was terrible (but got you a buzz).
As a FYI, I make every effort to write my reviews & score a wine without looking at other reviews. Rating a good wine is much easier than rating a bad wine. Trying to objectively score a weak offering like this definitely makes you look in parts of the rating spectrum you don't normally venture into, so it becomes an exercise in trying to re-set the mental expectation for what a zero would be and determine where the current sample rates.
After all of that, my 72 point rating for this wine came out dead-on the CellarTracker average (range of scores was 52 to 85 points). It was a wine that didn't have a whole lot actively bad about it, but had little (if anything) good going for it.
NOSE: 6/15 - Initially there was virtually nothing except for a whiff of alcohol. After being open for a few hours there's still very little on the nose. What nose there is is yeasty and tinny.
FLAVOR: 4/10 - Thin, thin, thin. Very little flavor, astringent, with underlying strawberry and fig. Makes you want to chug the glass with the hope of passing enough wine over your palate to taste SOMETHING.
FINISH: 5/10 - Short, unimpressive finish of watered down strawberry and raspberry. POTENTIAL: 1/5 - No fruit, weak structure. Not past it's prime in terms of aging, I just don't think there *is* a prime for this wine.
OVERALL: 1/5 - Worst Pinot Noir I can recall. Other than the color, there was nothing remotely Pinot Noirish about this. It drinks like watered down unsweetened strawberry kool-aid with a healthy dose of Absolut Kurant.
This is wasted money AT ANY PRICE. This bottle was a gift and I still feel like I overpayed. It really reminds me of Jello shots from my college days were a 'clever' roommate used Absolut Kurant vodka with watermelon Jello. It was terrible (but got you a buzz).
As a FYI, I make every effort to write my reviews & score a wine without looking at other reviews. Rating a good wine is much easier than rating a bad wine. Trying to objectively score a weak offering like this definitely makes you look in parts of the rating spectrum you don't normally venture into, so it becomes an exercise in trying to re-set the mental expectation for what a zero would be and determine where the current sample rates.
After all of that, my 72 point rating for this wine came out dead-on the CellarTracker average (range of scores was 52 to 85 points). It was a wine that didn't have a whole lot actively bad about it, but had little (if anything) good going for it.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
2006 Standing Stone Vidal Ice
Wow. Where did 2007 go? First blog of 2008, hopefully I'll be a little bit better about posting new info & get some different types of posts up (not JUST reviews). But for now, just reviews. :)
Drinking on the second night, from the fridge, using a Fume Blanc glass.
COLOR: 5/5 - Thick, glossy, amber. Little doubt what's in the glass.
NOSE: 12/15 - Candy apple, apricot, pineapple, and honeydew melon come through on a heavy nose.
FLAVOR: 8/10 - Mouthfeel is ridiculous; luxurious, decadent nectar of pineapple, green apple, and peach with nice acidity. Residual sugar may have been left a bit too high. For the intial taste, the sweet was a bit overpowering.
FINISH: 8/10 - Remarkably, no cloying qualities. Acidity is almost excessive without actually getting there, keeping this ice-style wine balanced. Flavors of peach, apricot, and pineapple linger very gingerly on the palate for a long finish.
POTENTIAL: 3/5 - Always tough to say with a relative unknown (and a 'dessert' wine at that), but judging from how this improved over night, I'd wager this will actually get better in the coming years.
OVERALL: 4/5 - This picked up quite a few 'gut rating' points over night. Initially there were some sour notes that really didn't jibe well with the other elements, but much of the unpleasantness (acidic, metallic) qualities have disappeared overnight. 90+ points (this is growing on me...)
At this point in time, any wine like this gets held up to the standard of a 2001 Vin de Constance (South African Muscat dessert wine) that is truly a wine to experience. It's everything the Vidal Ice is, but more better smoother. The Vidal Ice is simple and straightforward by comparison.
I likely would have dropped 86 points on this last night based on overall lack of balance and muted flavors. It really pulled a 180 in the fridge overnight.
Drinking on the second night, from the fridge, using a Fume Blanc glass.
COLOR: 5/5 - Thick, glossy, amber. Little doubt what's in the glass.
NOSE: 12/15 - Candy apple, apricot, pineapple, and honeydew melon come through on a heavy nose.
FLAVOR: 8/10 - Mouthfeel is ridiculous; luxurious, decadent nectar of pineapple, green apple, and peach with nice acidity. Residual sugar may have been left a bit too high. For the intial taste, the sweet was a bit overpowering.
FINISH: 8/10 - Remarkably, no cloying qualities. Acidity is almost excessive without actually getting there, keeping this ice-style wine balanced. Flavors of peach, apricot, and pineapple linger very gingerly on the palate for a long finish.
POTENTIAL: 3/5 - Always tough to say with a relative unknown (and a 'dessert' wine at that), but judging from how this improved over night, I'd wager this will actually get better in the coming years.
OVERALL: 4/5 - This picked up quite a few 'gut rating' points over night. Initially there were some sour notes that really didn't jibe well with the other elements, but much of the unpleasantness (acidic, metallic) qualities have disappeared overnight. 90+ points (this is growing on me...)
At this point in time, any wine like this gets held up to the standard of a 2001 Vin de Constance (South African Muscat dessert wine) that is truly a wine to experience. It's everything the Vidal Ice is, but more better smoother. The Vidal Ice is simple and straightforward by comparison.
I likely would have dropped 86 points on this last night based on overall lack of balance and muted flavors. It really pulled a 180 in the fridge overnight.
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