2008 Guggenheim Malbec & 2008 Don Pascual Tannat

 Got the Guggenheim Malbec as a recommendation from one of my favorite local wine stores. Unfortunately, I was not too impressed. It is not a bad Malbec per se, but it is nothing extraordinary. For a fan of Malbecs, this one is mediocre at best :-/

Nose:  dark chocolate, earthy, hints of soil and minerals, prunny

Tongue: meaty, pretty light-bodied for a Malbec, sweet, juicy and berryful. Medium tannins, with an acidic, lean, and raw finish

Price: $9.99

Rating: 3/5

My Tannat virginity has been broken, and I liked it! No, I lied. I LOVED it.
Got this Tannat on a whim while browsing at Cardullo's in Harvard Square - they have a great selection of wines, not to mention other awesome European imports of chocolate, teas, and condiments. Very glad I decided to get this bottle. It is delicious heaven <3

Nose: top notes of chocolate and vanilla. Woody, nutty. Smells like dessert :)

Tongue: chocolaty at first, with a peppery finish. Ripe, rounded, and velvety tannins. Balanced, medium bodied, juicy. Taste like desert :)

Price: $12.99

Rating: 4.5/5

Downs and Ups: Tierracalar Macabeo 2009 & Conde de Baldemar Crianza 2005

Tierracalar Macabeo 2009

I ordered this wine from WineInsiders.com. It is some sort of Spanish white blend. NEVER order wines from there! only reason I bought from that site was because of a Groupon coupon they put out. Out of the 5 wines I received from them, I did not find one that I liked. Wait...actually I did not find one I was not repulsed by! I would not drink this if it was free.
Anyways, I think I am going to think twice or three times before getting wines online now. Besides, wine shopping in 3D is so much more enjoyable!

Nose: sweet and syrupy. Very one-dimentional

Tongue: dry, tart, bitter, and very watery. Grassy. Tastes like a mix of apricot kernel and toothpaste. Ugh. Pretty much undrinkable actually..

Price: $9.99

Rating: 1.75/5

Conde de Valdemar Crianza 2005

On a brighter note, my tastebuds were rescued when I had a glass of this Rioja. Had it with steak, and it was amazing! This is a delicious, complex, substantial wine. It warms up my insides (along with a slab of juicy steak) like no other! It's also drinkable enough by itself sitting beside the fireplace on a wintry night with whomever you so desire ;)

Nose: meaty, bold, and heady. Whiffs of forest and wet earth.

Tongue: smooth and full bodied with velvety tannins and a nice, rounded finish. Succulent in the mouth. slightly spicy, bold, ripe, complex and sophesticated.

Price: $20

Rating: 4.55/5

A small glass of heaven: Coturri Sandocino

I cannot stop goshing about this wine. It is just about THE best vino I have ever had! (I just got my second bottle, which is rarely done since I usually would rather try more new wines)
Recently, all the reds I have tasted were mediocre at best, so I was worried that my tastebuds might have gone awry. Hence I brought the Sandocino in for a calibration test. If even this one fails to impress me, then I am going to give up wine tasting, period.
Luckily, I did not have to give up wine. The Coturri Sandocino tasted better than ever after all those mediocre reds.

...I could chug the whole bottle right now.

...on a 2nd thought, chugging a whole bottle of the 14.5% alcohol content wine is probably a bad idea - it is not quite Friday yet.

*sigh* I guess I will have to practice some self control....

Nose: rich, deep, velvety, and layered aromas. Strong notes of dark chocolate, roasted hazelnuts, and coffee

Tongue: rich, bold, creamy, and full-bodied, with velvety tannins that wraps around your tongue (mmmm!). Very balanced, juicy. At first spicy, cinnamon-y, juicy, and fruit-foward, with an earthy coffee-flavored finish.

Price: $20! (or...priceless)

Rating: 4.9/5 (I am reserving my score of 5 until I have tasted the rainbow)



and what are you doing just sitting there?! Go get your Coturri Sandocino!

Olivier Leflaive Chablis Les Deux Rives 2007

I caught this Chablis in an online deal - only $14.95 and free shipping on four bottles! It was a god given opportunity to stock up on Chablis (I rarely see one under $20). The Chablis region of France has always given me trusty dry minerally whites, so I was not too worried about getting four bottles of a wine I have never tasted. Besides, it was given a whopping 90pts by Wine Spectator.

The Olivier Leflaive did not disappoint. It was clean, crisp, and refreshing. As a plus, it also has a cool high-tech rubber cork which seals the air in the bottle when used as a stopper (who said rubber corks were crap?) 

Perfect for sipping on a hot summer day. It would also go superb with something light, such as a caprese salad, sashimi, or creamy goat cheese. I am looking forward to slowly savoring my other three bottles of this Chablis :)

Nose: sweet amd refreshing, with delicate whiffs of honeysuckle, melon, honeydew

Tongue: notes of lemon and lime. Citrisy, with a nice acidity (might be slightly too acidic for some I think, but I tend to like more sour things), mouth-watering tartness, nice medium tannins, clean minerality. Spritzy, and dry. Best of all, it has none of the bitterness and heavy oakiness of California Chardonnays :D

Price: $14.95

Rating: 4.7/5 Love it!

Cheap wines: The Good, the OK, the Bad, and the VERY Ugly

The Good:

2009 Casata Monticello Dolcetto D'Asti

Bought this one in a 2 for $16 deal from Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury St. I did not expect too much since it was so cheap, but I was pleasantly surprised. This wine has amazing complexity and punch for such a price :)

Nose: slightly heady, deliciously spicy, with notes of vanilla, cinnamon, plums, warm spices, chocolate, nutmeg, and raisin

Tongue: sweet, velvety, slightly spicy, acidic, light tanins. A pleasant light to medium bodied wine with medium depth.

Price: $8.99 or $16 for two

Rating: 3.25/5


The OK:

2008 Brunellesco Soave

 Again from Bauer Wines, this time it was only 2 for $12! Gotta love them for the amazing deals :). It was my first Soave, which I have been meaning to try in the longest time, and it was a good first impression. The crazy cheap price was a big plus...

 It inspired a "vino goddess" doodle

 Nose: herbal, lemony, zesty. Notes of honey, ginger, and honeydew melons. Slightly sweet

Tongue: very light, spritzy, citrisy, and crisp. Off-dry. It got pretty watery and flat quickly after opening though.

Price: $6.99 or 2 for $12

Rating: 3/5


The Bad:

 2007 Piazzo Barbera

 This one was only $7.99 I think, from the liquor store at BJs. I was excited to find a cheap Barbera after the memories of the great Matilde Barbera wine from my last post. But this was nothing like it. The Piazzo Barbera puts Italian wines to shame. It was totally raw and lean and mean :(, only thing i liked was the smell

Nose: sweet, nutty, vanilla, cinnamon, plums. Warm

Tongue: acidic, slightly spicey, with light to medium tanins. Medium bodied. Notes of forest berries and warm spices. Fairly lean and raw

Price: 7.99

Rating: 2.25/5




*drumrolls*.......now The VERY Ugly:

  2008 La Mano Mencia Roble

I really can't get over the fact that Robert Parker gave this wine a wooping 90 points! Sadly, that is the reason I actually bought this wine. It was one of the worst, if not THE worst wines I have tasted. I even doubted my own delicately cultivated tastebuds for a minute! Are my tastes that different from Mr. Parker's? But after a search at other bloggers' views online, it so happens that a great majority disagrees with him just as much as I. Whew, a relief to know that my tongue is still sane...

Nose: rotting meat, rotten fruits

Tongue: heady, raw and young. Notes of dark berries. Uber-bitter and stringent. Little to no depth. Barely drinkable ugh

Price: $7.99 (wouldn't drink it even if it were free)

Rating: 0.5/5

Martilde OLTREPO PAVESE Barbera 2005 & Cycles Gladiator Central Coast Chardonnay 2005

I bought this wine at CentralBottle Wines after tasting it during one of their Thursday wine events. For a $13 bottle, this wine is extremely impressive. The beautiful label is another plus :) Antonella Tacci herself creates the artwork and produces the wines with her long-time companion and partner Raimono Lombardi. The winery Martilde is a combination of their beloved cats Martina and Matilde. This wine is a feast for the eyes, nose, and tongue!

Nose: sweet, succulent, juicy, and very creamy. Smells like yummy creme brulee and tiramesu. Juicy, with notes of cherry, warm spices, and delicious milk chocolate

Tongue: ultra smooth, robust - can hold down pretty much anything (except maybe raw steak), flavors of the forest and wet earth. Full bodied, bold, and spicy.

Price: $13

Rating: 4.5/5

I'd like to think that I'm a fairly open-minded person and would hate to call myself an ABC (no not American Born Chinese, but Anything But Chardonnay). I have never tasted a California Chardonnay that I liked, but I love Chablis (basically a French Chardonnay, which is mostly unoaked). So I thought that my dislike of Cali Chards might be because of their heavy oaking. This Gladiator Chardonnay boasts of a "subtle use of oak". Besides, the label is gorgeous. I thought I would give it a try. The result? Well, maybe I am an ABC after all...

Nose: toasty, light, with notes of kiwi, honeydew, and pear. Crisp

Tongue: shallow, short finish. I didn't detect any oakiness. Notes of honeysuckle. Stemmy, acidic, slightly aggressive

Price: $10

Rating: 2.8/5

Argento Malbec 2008 & Tolaini Valdisanti Toscana 2005

Had this wine during my Malbec phase last year. I got it from the University Wine Store in Cambridge as a recommendation from their very rude wine seller, and made a mental note to never go there again.  At $12 a pop, I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It was a average-tasting Malbec when I first opened, nothing special. However, the wine does not keep at all. The second day after opening it stunk of rotten meat. It goes without saying that it did not taste all that great either. Nope...not going to go to University Wine Store or consult their wine seller or buy Agento Malbec ever again...

Nose: heady fumes of rotten meat, raisins, berry

Tongue: slightly spicy, offensively acidic, raw, muddy, tastes almost like stomach acid. Medium finish.

Rating: 1.5/5

Price: $12

The 2005 Tolaini Valdisanti was as good as the Argento Malbec was bad. Kuddos to my friend Helen for getting it as a recommendation from a very nice and knowledgeable wine seller downtown.

The Valdisanti is a masterful blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Sangiovese, and 5% Cabernet Franc from the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany. A red Super Tuscan! I have been wanting to try the Super Tuscan wines everyone is raving about for a while, so I opened the bottle with giddy anticipation. The wine did not disappoint. It smelled like yummy desert and was succulent and full in the mouth (though a tad too tannic).  Goes great with bloody red meats on a cold wintry day. Going down in the books as one of my faves :)

Nose: very aromatic, with notes of vanilla, tiramisu, and cashews. Warm and nutty 

Tongue: rich, bold, and creamy. mouthful of tannins. Flavors of chocolate and coconut.

Rating: 4/5 (a tad on the pricey side)

Price: $23

New Blog

Since I have accumulated so many wine labels and notes, I'm going to organize it into a blog and record my journey in wino world from here :)