Penascal Estate, Tempranillo-Shiraz $6

Spain (Castilla y Leon)

I must apologize for not having postings over the past few weeks.  Life, work, travel and such has got in the way.  Non-the-less, I’m back!

It’s not often you think a six dollar bottle of wine is going to do anything for you but I’m never shy to give it try.  Worst case is I use it for a London broil marinated if I don’t like it.  Well this Tempranillo-Shiraz never made it to a marinated!  It was quite the surprise given its price point!

With aromas of cedar, leather and black pepper spice, I had an idea this wine wasn’t going to be boring.  Flavors of blackberry, plum and a hint of strawberries gave this a nice fruit forward taste.  On the finish I’d say it had medium tannins with a trace of black pepper.  The blend is 85% Tempranillo, 15% Shiraz.  It’s definitely an easy drinking wine to go with Italian or Spanish foods.  I found this wine at Sam’s club.

Neu Direction, Malbec 2005 ($11)

Mendoza, Argentina

To those of you following me, sorry it’s been a few weeks since my last posting. My “real” job took over but I haven’t forgotten you.

It’s no surprise that most of us are looking to find more “value wines” in today’s economy. Well it’s not hard to find a match between reasonably priced bottles and good wine. By reasonably priced lets just say under $20.

One of my recent findings was during a stroll through the wine aisle at Sam’s Club. I know, their prices “kill” the small wine shop but what can I say if something I decided to try turns out good. They especially deserve credit for many more reasons than price point on this Neu Direction Malbec.

On the nose (for those of you new to this that means smell or aromas) a hint of smokiness, must and maybe wet leaves was there. The flavors supported a light woody flavor, licorice and dark berries. I would characterize this wine as having a medium body with a slight spicy, chocolaty flavor on the finish. Once again, for those of you new here and in basic terms…”finish” is usually what you taste once the wine has left your mouth. – just keeping it “Simple Wine Talk”

This Malbec is a good everyday drinking red especially with grilled beef or pork. The great story behind the wine itself is that it’s a “Fair Trade” wine. In an excerpt taken from the link below:
The DIRECTION of the path is guided by Fair Trade, seeking to enrich the lives of vineyard workers, their families, and their communities. Fair Trade Certified™ directly supports a better life for farming families in the developing world through fair prices, community development and environmental stewardship.

For more information on this Fair Trade Wine see: Organic Wine

Goldschmidt Vineyards "Fidelity", 2006 ($9)

Crazy Creek Estate
Alexander Valley, CA

Once again I was walking the aisles at Sam’s Club looking for a wine I hadn’t tried, as I didn’t plan on buying wine during this visit. I saw this wine (Fidelity) and decided to read the label, which was informative enough to tell me that it was a red blend. If you’ve followed some of my other postings you’d know these are some of my favorite types of wines mostly because the blending a wine maker does is very intriguing to me. Anyway, for $9 I’d give it a try and now I should get back there to pick up more bottles.

The first aromas reminded me of a dusty, woody cellar (somewhere all of us wish we had to store our wines). Another smell and ripe blackberries were predominant. After a few tastes, a fruit forward dominance from the Merlot along with soft tannins balanced everything out from the other 2 varietals in this blend.  With 83% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc, it classifies itself as a Bordeaux blend.

Medium body with a slight oaky feel on the palate gave this a great mouth feel along with a smooth finish hinting of cocoa. This is a great bargain wine from a relatively unknown wine maker, Nick Goldschmidt.  I’ll be on the hunt for some of his other wines now.