Aruma 2010

My new Go-To?  The available vintage of my GoTo Bogle Phantom is almost up.  Aruma is deep, rich, also wonderful...maybe not quite as rhapsodic but close enough for less $$.

Many Malbecs I have experienced have a rough edge that some aging softens.  This one does not.  This one is roll your eyes up in your head, curl your toes wonderful as is.

Deep color, deep aroma & dark cherry, rich flavors.  Wonderful partnership between Lafitte and Catena.  Great value.

I tried the new vintage, the latest bottled vintage of K-BZinfandel...what a disappointment.  Maybe age will deepen it but right now it doesn't begin to capture a fraction of the wonderful depth of the previous vintage.   It looks like I may be drinking a lot of the Aruma until summer whites take over again.

Zappa Zappa Zappa!

Is what I said when I went back to the wine shop when I picked up the last three bottles of this a year or 2 back! 

A red blend from the Languedoc made up of Syrah, Tempranillo and Grenache.

Color was very red.  The tannins, smoothed.  The fruit wasn't over the top but just enough for my mood.  It held up over the 4 days it took to finish the bottle.

Saladini Pilastri 2006

Pregio del Conte.  

This seems to be a red blended wine with no mention of varietal.

Nose: not really aromatic or aromatic enough for me to identify anything...blackberry-ish with a touch of eucalytus?

Color: heading into brick.

Taste: Smooth.  Very light fruit, just a touch of something just barely sweet? - or maybe that was what my capellini w basil marinara & lamb pushed it to be.  Medium finish.

Now that dinner is finished, the wine in my glass is not sweet at all.  Apparently I guessed well at my pairing tonight.  Yippee!

Good thing I liked it.  I have 1 bottle left in my cellar.  I am trying to work my way through the older bottles before they get past their prime.  So far I have been lucky.  There were some that were starting the down slide off the bell curve.  This is probably the last year for this 06.

Li Veli Primonero 2008

Primitivo & Negroamaro.   

Not my usual label type picture.  I pitched the bottle before I remembered to take a pic.  My bad.

It wasn't the wine taste I was looking for that night.  I couldn't remember how it tasted and I opened it without doing a quick internet search.  My bad again.

The wine wasn't bad.  It just wasn't what I was in the mood for that night or the nights it took to finish.

The nose was slightly medicinal.
Color: red heading to brick at the edges.
Taste: No obvious fruit erm...maybe a not sweet blackberry? Smooth. Long finish.  Earthiness - in a good way.  No taste of ass that night.

Chateau Les Tours Seguy 2007

Just when I thought the fresh barnyard was bad....I open up one which smells like an outhouse.  

I have a laminated wine wheel which lists categories which help neophytes identify what they are smelling.  It identifies Chemical smells of all sorts, including Hydrogen Sulfide & Kerosene.  It doesn't list sh*t.  It must be a universal given.

The smell did not go away with aeration though it was less so the next day.

That's it.  Beyond drinking through the obscure, garagiste wines already in my cellar I am not getting any more.  I could really use the smells of summer berries right about now: even more so when the snows start to fall.

90% Merlot, 10% Cab Sauvignon.

Other than the offending nose, the taste wasn't bad.  It was a plummy taste, on the lighter side.  Light finish.

Ondarre Reserva 2004 Rioja

I originally bought this to make sangria.   I needed a diversion from summer whites so went to some of the older reds I had in the cellar which I wanted to drink through.  I was not in the mood for sangria.  I am more of a purist than not.  I don't like adulterated coffees, beers or wines.  I am of the opinion that coffees which need flavoring are inferior coffees to begin with, likewise beers and wines.  In terms of cooking and drinking, I believe that the better the base ingredients, the better the end result, though some cooking is very forgiving of some questionable choices.


Anyway,  this one started out a little firmer than what I was expecting.  At first swirl, it was hot with alcohol.  The tannins were there but were smooth.  There was very little fruit.  It was a very good food wine.


I do not have a picture of the label...how did that happen? Was I enjoying the wine that much?  Maybe!

Hayes Ranch Cabernet Sauvingnon 2009

I couldn't take any more white wines.  I didn't even wait to chill this one.  The first glass was at 58 degree cellar temp.  It was barely okay reminding me of cheaper mass produced supermarket wines, if okay is defined as "okay for the price."  It was a smooth cab but a thin cab.  Few discernable tannins in that it did not give any hint of raspiness or mouth drying when sipped.

I did not notice the rich cherry taste which the label promised.  There was some blackberry.  Smoky oak?  Not in the cellar temp pour.  The following evening was different.


It took me 2 more days to finish this bottle.  The bottle was in the bar frig with a stopper in it.  It kept really well.  Chilled, it tasted very buttery and now I could pick up some ripe cherry.  I much prefer this chilled.  I will have to remember to do that if I get any future bottles of this.

Chateau la Guilbonnerie

It's red.  It's Bordeaux.  I couldn't take anymore whites at the time.  I knew this was on the rich, robust side but I needed something different from what I was drinking through this summer.  I did not even chill it.

It tasted like it should have been more expensive than it was.  It had plummy richness.  It hit the spot.  I have to remember to get some more. 


I don't usually acquire too many of any 1 kind anymore because there are too many wonderful new tastes and types of wines coming around the corner but there are just some that act as not so old favorites; the known entities.  This is one of them.