2007 Marina Cvetic Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

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This is actually the first Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Moby and I ever had and it was one of the wines that got us started at Vin Bin. This is actually the third time we’ve had this wine but the first time we didn’t have a website yet and the second time we had a bunch of guests over and simply forgot so now it’s time for a proper review. I decided it would be fun to see if Moby could recognize it since we’ve had it before as a blind wine but I’ll tell you what, blind wines are hard. She got Italy so I’ll say that’s pretty darn good for a first blind wine. Our relatives Superstorm and UncleGrape are the true blind wine masters…we both have lots of work to do. And by work I mean drink wine and have lots of fun.

This is a relatively expensive Montepulciano d’Abruzzo at $33 but I got it on sale for $25 x 4 bottles. You do get what you pay for often times though if you know what you’re buying and this holds true with this wine. Our friend Mitchell and I agree that this is the best Montepulciano we’ve ever had. We had simple leftover baked ziti and garlic bread with this bottle.

colonelgrape: 93. This is a rustic and robust bottle of wine. It’s something I’d recommend decanting as the first few sips of un-decanted wine were definitely a bit too strong. It settled down after about 15 minutes and it’s a beautiful ruby color. On the palate it’s very interesting with tastes of anise and leather to go along with classic dark fruit tastes. Compared to other Montepulciano’s I’ve had this is the cream of the crop. You can tell you’re drinking an Italian wine as Moby did in the blind wine challenge. This is another Italian red you could bring to a California wine drinker’s home/party and wow everyone with. Eat this with classic rustic/hearty Italian food and you’ll be in for a treat.

MobyGrape: 85. I failed miserably at my first real blind taste test (I’m not sure why we thought it was a good idea in the first place). Sniffing at it didn’t reveal anything special, I thought it was something maybe on the younger side but that was all I could put together. The first few sips of this had an incredibly strong astringent feeling, like when you’ve eaten too much Cap’n Crunch and the roof of your mouth is all torn up, it was like that feeling but not painful. Once this wine settled down though, it smoothed out nicely. Tasted fruitier, I picked up some anise flavor (it wasn’t overbearing), the astringent/tannin effects all but went away and it had a decent lingering finish to round it out.

2010 Renato Ratti Barbera d’Alba

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This 2010 Renato Ratti is actually one of the wines we had down in New Jersey but didn’t review. I found it at Wegman’s for $18 and I grabbed a bottle so we could try it again and Moby could actually taste it this time. Renato Ratti is one of UncleGrape’s favorite Barbera producer’s as we talked about in our last Barbera review so we were happy to try it again. We enjoyed this bottle with baked ziti, garlic bread, and our good friend BulbaGrape.

colonelgrape: 93. I really like this Barbera. It’s a serious, dark red color and on the nose you can tell it’s going to be acidic. On the palate it has flavors of ripe dark fruit, plum, some earthy spice and it’s all balanced with some serious acidity…it’s a firm wine but that’s how I like my Barbera’s, young and robust. I agree with Moby that if you’re looking to branch out into red wine and want something different than the usual cab/merlot (gross)/pinot noir get yourself a Barbera. BulbaGrape even liked it, well, said he could tolerate it….which is saying a lot because he’s not a wine guy. First step to oenophilia is tolerating it Bulba!

MobyGrape: 88. I could have sworn no one liked this wine the first time we had it. Thankfully the Colonel actually remembers these things however, because I would have been missing out if I never gave the Rat a second chance. It’s not glamorous, but it’s a solid wine that was just fine to drink before, during, and after a baked ziti dinner. It’s not overly anything, including expensive, so I’d bust it out for almost any kind of every day meal, or for someone who may kind of like wine but doesn’t know where to start branching out. We had a guest this evening who’s not heavy into wine and even he enjoyed a taste. I’m confident he would have had no problem telling us it tasted like garbage if he really didn’t like it.

2008 Trimbach Gewurztraminer

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Here we have our first Gewurztraminer on the website. This is a white grape (even though its kind of red/pink looking on the vine) that is primarily grown in Alsace, France. It is grown elsewhere but the best examples almost always come from Alsace. It’s known for it’s spicy sweetness, floral, and fruit aromas. The grape itself is very finicky which probably has to do with it’s limited success outside of Alsace. It can be made into a wide array of wines from the very dry to the very sweet, it all depends on when the grape is harvested. It can also be effected by noble rot similar to the whites from Sauternes. Often times Gewurztraminer is paired with spicy, fatty, and oily meals…Asian cuisine is the most common pairing.

Another common way to serve Gewurztraminer is as an aperitif. We like to serve it both ways but in this case we had it with Moby’s home made porketta.

colonelgrape: 89. This was a very good bottle and an example of a dryer Gewurztraminer. It still had that sweetness and spice depth to it but there was no upfront sweetness…this is the kind I’d prefer to have with my meal whereas the sweeter versions go better as an aperitif. Porketta was the perfect meal to go with it because there was fat and spice and the wine cut it perfectly. We were rationing out the wine because it was going so fast. At only $20 this is a great buy…if you’ve never tried a Gewurz you need to try one ASAP…you haven’t had anything like it yet.

MobyGrape – 93. The first time I tried this type of wine I had boogers blocking 93% of my nostrils’ capacity and had severely impaired senses of smell and taste, but I could swear I was tasting greatness. I was super excited to try it again and this did not disappoint. It wasn’t exactly what we had the first time but it reminds me very much of it. There’s a deep kind of sweetness to it, it’s not sicky candy sweet, it’s more of a spicy sweet. LIke when you’re wearing your fancy underwear under sweatpants. You know there’s more going on under there than meets the eye, you’re just daring your husband to go ahead and try. You feeling lucky, punk? Might be granny panties, then again, might not…But I digress. We had it the first time with gougere followed by assorted cheeses and crackers, but I feel like it could hold its own with lighter meat.

2007 Chateau Mont-Redon Chateauneuf du Pape

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Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name…and they’re always glad you came.

Chateauneuf du Pape brings us back to 80’s television. It’s safe to say that Chateauneuf is our favorite wine region here at Grapestorm. It’s pricey but when you buy from a reputable producer in a good vintage you are in for a treat. It has body, structure, character, and it’s incredibly fun to say. Moby and I will literally walk around the house just saying “CHATEAUNEUF DU PAPE” in our best hoity toity french voices for hours on end…we are that cool. It’s kind of a funky name so let me help you pronounce it properly: SHA-TOH-NUF DO PAHP.

Now that you know how to say it let’s talk about producers. Chateau Mont-Redon is not the best producer in CdP but their wines are of high quality at great value. A bottle of 2007 Chateau de Beaucastel, Vieux Telegraph, Vieux DonJon, or Rayas may cost you $100+ but this Mont-Redon was only $45 and worth every drop. Don’t get me wrong, the producers I just mentioned produce world class wines that are exceptional but they are tough to get your hands on at a reasonable price. One thing to be very careful of when buying a CdP is the cheap bottle from an unknown producer. These wines can be absolutely terrible and you’ve wasted $25. Why are they so bad? Because CdP is a blend of grapes (typically Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre…Cinsault, Counoise, Muscardin, Terret Noir, and Vaccarese are also allowed) and inferior producers use more of the inferior grapes to save money. I can’t recommend CdP enough but you need to do your research before going to the store. I have yet to have a good CdP that cost under $40. Our two favorite “value” producers are Chateau Mont-Redon and Bosquet des Papes.

Vintage is also very important when buying CdP. Wines can vary vintage to vintage in CdP more so than in other regions. Recent good vintages: 98, 00, 01, 05, 07, 10. Avoid any 02 or 08 you may find. 2007 was an especially interesting year in Chateauneuf du Pape…it was an extremely hot summer so the grapes were riper than normal producing a bigger, more alcoholic, more fruit forward wine. Many people taut it as one of the best vintages of all time while some people don’t like it because it was so different. The way I see it if you like California Cabernet you’ll like 2007 Chateauneuf. You’ll have to be the judge for yourself!

colonelgrape: 97. Wow. This wine is out of this world and for only $45. A beautiful ruby color with smells of ripe plums and earth. On the palate it was medium bodied with tastes of ripe black fruits and berries with acidity to balance everything out. The tannins weren’t out of control but it was definitely more ripe and boozy than a usual CdP but it worked well. The finish was long and delicious. We had this wine with roast beef and mashed potatoes and it was a great pairing. This will stand up to roasted meat and vegetables all night long. One of the best wines I’ve had in recent memory at this price point.

MobyGrape: 96. The first thing that came to mind when drinking this wine is that it was sort of hollow. Like there was an excellent smooth flavor up front, gave your mouth an awesome party, and then sort of poofed and left a superb, lingering flavor. And maybe it was all the wine or the poofing but all I could think of was David Copperfield. This wine is like David Copperfield. You get a magical show that will dazzle your tastebuds and then poof! The sip of wine is already gone but the flavor is still deliciously hanging around and somehow he pulled a duck out of a hat. Bravo! I’m told 2007 was a bit of a goofy year for Chateaneuf’s, and some people aren’t a fan. I think I should change my rating because you know what, maybe no one else should drink this, I don’t want anyone risking it. I’ll just take one for the team and drink all of them myself. Go ahead, send all of your 2007’s to me.

2010 Louis Latour Chameroy Beaujolais-Villages

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Here we have a great little Beaujolais from Louis Latour. We haven’t covered any of his wines yet on the blog but he’s a very well known negociant in Burgundy. This is a Beaujolais-Villages which means the grapes were selected from certain villages with higher quality than a regular Beaujolais. The result is a more full bodied and flavorful wine that will have more structure than a standard Beaujolais.

Being a Beaujolais-Villages this will stand up to a medium meal nicely and you can pick one of these bottles up for about $15. We had it with sausage, peppers, and onions.

colonelgrape: 92. This was the best bottle of Beaujolais I’ve ever had. That’s not saying a whole lot but I’ve had some bad ones in the past. It had a nice medium body with a deep garnet color. It tasted of red fruit with good acid and very mild tannins…fuller bodied than a regular Beaujolais. I would definitely recommend this bottle if you like Beaujolais…it’s a great wine to keep around for a night where you want wine but don’t want to break the bank.

MobyGrape: 90*. I gave this one an astersisk for the record books not because of any potential steroid shenanigans that could taint its record, but quite frankly I didn’t write this review soon enough and forgot the finer points of this wine other than it was really good. I worked late this night and came home like a ravenous thirsty beast. Thankfully, the Colonel had sausage, peppers, and onions waiting for me with an open bottle of this puppy. I guzzled a couple glasses of it, and when I finally came up for air I realized it was really tasty, but I wasn’t quite sure what I actually tasted. I even had the rest the next day with the intention of paying attention but sure enough I saw the glass and *chug*, it was gone. Oops, I did it again.