We went into this month's meeting with some trepidation, I believe, and with good reason. Since the rule was that the wine must cost no more than $5, who knew what we would get? Would there be any good wines at all? Would we all end up with headaches? Would I have to break out the $60 Amarones just to make us feel better? Well, we began the tasting with our minds open and our stomachs full just in case, and here's what we ended up with!
THE WINNER: Archeo Nero d'Avola 2006 http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=340088 -- A new grape for us, and from Sicily, so it can't be all bad, right? This wine retails for under $5 at Trader Joes, and by all accounts it wasn't even half bad. A bit of cherry tobacco and leather on the nose, and also dark berries. Robin actually picked up apple. It did smell a bit hot, though, as cheaper wines tend to do. The tannins were surprisingly firm but not overbearing, and the taste was fruity and pleasant but not sweet. I read that it does not stand up well after being open for more than a few hours, so I'll try it again today and see.
2ND PLACE -- Ca' Donini Delle Venezie Chardonnay 2007 (no web page available) -- This was the second of two chardonnays we had at the meeting and they were very different. This one, from Italy, was light and fruity, unoaked, and floral on the nose. The taste was similar, a good wine for those who like their chardonnays crisper and more subtle on the palate.
3RD PLACE -- Crane Lake Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (no web page available) -- We also had two Cabs to compare, this one from California. The wine had a herbaceous smell, which I pick up in most Cabs, and the club liked the taste of this one, dry but also fruity, and I thought it a touch sweet compared to our other Cabernet.
You MUST check out this write-up on the Crane Lake, which I found at winecast.com: http://winecast.net/2006/10/08/crane-lake-petite-sirah-2003/ For starters, Crane Lake is made by the same company that makes Two-Buck Chuck!! Who knew??
THE REST:
Two Oceans Chardonnay 2006 -- http://www.wine.co.za/Directory/Wine.aspx?WINEID=17586 This South African wine was the other chardonnay we tried. This one was more oaky and I thought it pretty hot on the back end. Mom preferred this to the Italian chardonnay, saying she found it fruitier and that it had more weight. But we all agreed it was underwhelming.
Casa del Toro Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (no web page available) -- I refuse to give up on Chile! This cab was even more herbaceous than the Crane Lake; I thought it smelled just like walking through a forest in the rain while holding a green pepper. The taste was like a cross between wine and lettuce. The fruity red lovers did NOT like this one!
Berefoot Merlot nonvintage http://www.barefootwine.com/our-wines/overview/red/Merlot.html -- The description on the Barefoot website says, "It is a decadent fruit-filled combination of red cherry, boysenberry and plum with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate notes and mild tannins to round out the flavors." Not!! The club was so ambivalent about the wine that I couldn't even get a description from them. About ten minutes after we tried it Psyche ventured to say that the wine smelled and tasted like over-ripe melons, which is pretty darn weird for a red. I think the fact was that nobody hated it, which was good, except that by the time we picked our favorites, no one could remember what they liked about it. A major PASS.
Frontera Shiraz 2007 http://www.conchaytorousa.com/wines/frontera.html -- The club hated this wine, but I'm not sure I completely blame the Frontera. I put it in the refrigerator at the start of the meeting just to give it a slight chill and completely forgot about it, so by the time we tasted it it was way too cold. We tried to give it time to warm up, but this was at the end of the meeting, so I don't think we did it justice. One person did like it, though, and that was Eslin, who declared she liked it cold and killed off the bottle before we could let it get too warm. See? Everyone's palate is different!
There's one other "wine" we tried, and I saved it for last, as I believe it belongs in a category all it's own.
Andre Cold Duck (Check out the description on Wikipedia!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Duck) -- So Robin brought this wine as a joke, and boy, was it ever! The best thing about it was that it brought back fond memories for club members who drank it growing up, although now they can't remember what on earth they liked about it. The nose was pure Welch's grape jelly. The taste was like grape soda. I venture to say there was no wine in it at all. It was... an experience.
A lot of good came out of this meeting, not the least of which was that we had so much fun with the subject. True, the wines were mediocre. But the important part was that we knew they were mediocre and we knew why. Many of these wines were described at some point as being "an okay wine for those who don't know wine." Well, I think this meeting proved that we know wine!
