Sinster Hand, Good Wine

Rhone is on my mind yet again. To change things up from my usual play of going straight for the Syrah heavy, Northern Rhone plays, I decided to go for a trip to the Grenache heavy south. To fulfill this urge, I decided to pull out a wine that has been in my cellar for a few months, the 2007 Owen Roe Sinister Hand. This wine in particular definitely fits the mold of a Southern Rhone wine, made of up predominantly Grenache (62%), Syrah (21%), Mourvedre (17%). I picked up the bottle at Bello Vino in Richmond, VA for $25.00.

Initial Impressions: This wine is definitely not what I was expecting from a Southern Rhone clone, showing a fair amount of transparency, a nice beautiful garnet color, and a Burgundian like consistency. It looks a little thinner and not much like what you would expect from a from a wine in this mold.

Nose: This is definitely a big boy nose. Showing a huge amount of plum, black fruit, and red fruit on the initial attack, it definitely makes its presence known. There is also an undeniable perfume component to the wine, showing a little spiciness and fruit that persists throughout the nose. It does smell a tad hot, showing the over 14% alcohol for such a delecate looking wine.

Taste: Much like the nose, the perfume aspect of the fruit and chocolate dominates this nose. It is incredibly well balanced, showing good structure and integration of all the components in a young wine. There are little tannins to speak of and it is not the most complex wine in the world, so I would really thing that this is meant for early drinking. The finish is moderately long and actually lifts due to the nice acid on the back end.

Overall: If you are looking to have the experience that most Southern Rhones or GSM Blends from elsewhere in the world, this is not it. It is a good wine overall, just not something I would get if you are used to the ballsier fair of these regions. 86 Points

First Quality Second Wine

Another pool night, another great wine. Tonight after a huge amount of Burgundy and Rhones, I decided to come back to Bordeaux via Washington. I picked up the DeLille Cellars D2, their second wine, using "declassified" grapes, or grapes not used in their higher end wines for a meritage. This wine is predominantly Cabernet and Merlot, with some Cab Franc and Petit Verdot added in. I believe that Wine Spectator gave this particular vintage an 89, a respectable but not a score that many people would gravitate to. I picked up this bottle from the Cheese Shop in Williamsburg, VA for $43.

Initial Impressions: Overall the color is quite nice, not mindblowing and overextracted black, but a nice pretty claret indicative of many Left Bank Bordeauxs I have had in the past. It is a very pretty dark garnet, with a nice lighter purple halo on the outside. Tipping the glass makes it thin out a little, and the color is not completely opaque. Overall, very nice.

Nose: Definitely pretty pungent and defintely showing a little youngness in the nose. There is a very grippy overlay to the nose, showing a good amount of potential hotness, which is a little scary. Along with this, there are loads of cherries, chocolate, vanilla, red fruit, and a little bit of blackberries. The heat on the nose is a little worrysome, but I will reserve judgement until I taste it.

Taste: Thankfully the heat from the nose does not play out here. There are loads of tannins in this wine, mainly sweet, but some very grippy on the back end. The structure of this wine is amazing and dense and will help it last for atleast 5 years, as it does need some time to settle down and even out. There are loads of strawberries, cherries, and other red fruits on the initial attack. Earth balances out the wine and helps it to differentiate itself from their counterparts from the south. Overall a very youthful wine, but still drinkable and showing immense potential.

Overall: If you are looking for a dense, layered meritage that you can cellar for a few years, this is it. It has a load of great flavors that are already present, a structure that really sets it apart, and an earthiness and quality that definitely makes this wine a great buy. 92 Points

Family and Vino

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to have a family get together with my parents, brother and sister in law, and my precious newborn niece, Rebecca Faith. To celebrate them being over and to pick something out that would go well with the steaks we were having, I pulled a nice little Meritage from Alder Ridge Winery. The 2002 Alder Ridge Red Meritage, is a Bordeaux blend with equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. It was an odd bottle when I bought it, and I was hard pressed to find any information about the winery or about the wine itself. I did see that it scored 88 Points from Wine Spectator upon release and I purchased it for $30 from Total Wine and More in Newport News, VA.

Initial Impressions: Overall the color is quite nice, showing a nice opaque garnet color. Tipping it does thin out the color a bit, showing decent concentration and no amount of over extraction. Overall, nice but not mind blowing.

Nose: Very old world on the nose, with a lot of earth red fruit, chocolate, manure, and blackberry predominating. This really does straddle the line between New and Old World, giving me the vibrancy of fruit from the New, but also giving a good amount of earthy goodness from the Old World. Overall a very pretty nose and definitely appealing.

Taste: Much like the nose, there is a load of fruit and earth. Red fruit predominates, along with chocolate, sour cherries, vanilla extract, manure, and earth. The overall structure is there, though the bottle age has definitely softened the tannins. The mouthfeel is acceptable, while not mindblowing, and the finish is moderately long at around 30 seconds and highlights the sour cherries.

Overall: This is a great example of what Washington can do. This wine straddles the Old and New World incredibly well, showing the vibrancy, earthiness, and balance we see from each. I would recommend this wine if you could find it, as it is drinking beautifully right now. 90+ Points