Oakland
$4.99
12.5%
DOP: 02/27/2013
This wine is pretty good, especially for the price.
Lighter cherries come to mind, a bit acidic, which is good, and some light tannins as well.
I could see this going well with Pizza, red sauced Pasta, etc, and may even withstand something a bit heartier.
There’s a Bronco description here about the wines overall characteristics.
Sorry about the large photo 🙂
$5.99
Oakland
13.9%
There are mixed reviews of this wine here so I won’t belabor it, but I’ll add a little bit.
There are notes of lavender on the nose. Mostly cherry flavors on the palate that you get from Pinot.
It’s an easy drinking California Pinot. It lacks any spice, but is pretty well balanced, smooth, if not a bit big on alcohol. Overall it’s certainly good.
I purchased it after a man in the Oakland store told me he saw this at one of Alice Waters’s restaurants. Most likely because this vineyard practices organic farming and sustainability. Figured, why not?
Just had it with Indian food.
If you’re a Cali Pinot fan you’ll be happy with this. Hope there’s some left. There was yesterday (11/7).
$11
Oakland
14%
Once again, another import from “Wine Wave” out of Long Island, NY.
It’s a very straightforward wine with pretty obvious cherry flavors, that’s fruity, slightly spicy, rounded, and leaves a long dry finish. More smooth than crisp, that’s for sure, with no real acidity.
This wine is in no way offensive. If I purchased it at Safeway for $11 I’d think nothing of it, and probably even buy it again in a pinch,especially if I was bringing it to a party where people like the bigger Cali style. It seems to sell anywhere between $17-$22 in a variety of places, so there’s a discount.
All that said, I wouldn’t spend another $11 at GO for it because I feel I can get better wines in that range elsewhere. Yet, I’ve definitely spent more and gotten less in my life.
$5.99
Oakland
13%
Another good find for me since I tend to really like Italian wines.
Medium to full-bodied with darker berry fruits up front, good balance and some acidity,while finishing slightly dry. Really doesn’t have much in the tannin department, which I guess is expected for a Barbera, so I”m told.
This is another good house wine to have around, for sure. Not going to blow anyone away, but can be opened to drink on its own, or had with food. I could see this wine pairing nicely with any tomato based pasta, or other acidic foods, like the salsa I’m currently eating, or the pizza I will be having in an hour.
When I opened it last night it seemed a bit fruitier than it is after an evening in the fridge, but it’s coming around again
Here’s a link to the Wine Wave review/site that imported this wine. As an aside, I’m noticing a lot of these Italian and Spanish wines at GO Oakland are Wine Wave imports.
I happened to purchase a few bottles of a Kermit Lynch Barbera this week during a sale they were having at $7.99, and this wine is better, for what that’s worth.
Oakland
13%
$2.99
You don’t often find wines likes this at GO, so I took a swing.
From the first sip, even if you didn’t know what you were drinking, you’d know this wine spent some time in a bottle.
It has that aged cherry smell, almost pungent like grenadine syrup. First sip you sense the age, but then immediately the wine comes into balance with solid fruit and acidity, and then finishes with nice tannins.
It’s definitely not a wine for everyone, since there’s certainly a little funk, but for the price, it’s worth it.
Did some web-searching and noticed this wine in the $10 range. K&L was selling it as recently as September. I’m guessing they couldn’t sell it, then GO got it.
I could see some people really liking, or really hating this wine. If you like something non-Cali, a bit dated, and somewhat out of the GO ordinary, worth trying.
I’ll probably grab 2 more tomorrow.
13.5%
Oakland
Forgot what I paid, but probably wasn’t more than $5
This is a straight up Rhone Red, GSM blend.
Medium body, nice forward fruit, starts to get dry on the mid-late palate, and has some spice as well. Lingering finish.
Very straightforward, and carrying well to the second day.
Definitely worth buying a couple. Nothing offensive at all.
Sorry I can’t remember price.
2000 Chateau de Francs, Bordeaux-Cotes de Francs – $8 at Walla Walla GO
This is my fourth or fifth bottle of the 2000 Chateau de Francs since it appeared in Walla Walla in May, and I decided (at BargainWhine’s prompting) to review it for the new “guest contributions” blog.
What is it? 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 12.5% alcohol. I.e., a Bordeaux blend in the Right Bank style, which means Merlot is the main varietal. More specifically, this wine started life as posh grapes grown on a medieval estate in Bordeaux’s smallest, and one of its youngest (1967), appellations, Cotes de Francs. The region, the chateau, and its wines can be read about at the website of the chateau’s co-owner, Dominique Hebrard. Until 1999 Hebrard owned the St.-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe estate, Cheval Blanc, and is a large-scale high-end Bordeaux negociant; he bought the chateau in the 1980s with Hubert de Bouard, owner of Chateau L’Angelus, also St.-Emilion Grand Cru Classe. So absolutely nothing shabby about where these grapes came from and who produced the wine. Also, 2000 was one of the great years in Bordeaux generally, and this particular one boasts a Gold Medal at the 2002 Paris Concours General Agricole. They make two red wines from the property, a lower-quantity production called “Les Cerisiers” (The Cherry Trees), and this one, a higher-quantity production (120,000-140,000 bottles, according to the current website). So this is definitely designed as a “value” Bordeaux—but one that still stands proud and offers plenty of details to enjoy in its label and bottling (e.g. the cork is also stamped on the top with the vintage year). It came into the US market via Marie Brizard, the huge French liquor conglomerate. One can only speculate as to its odyssey in the states for the last ten years, its storage conditions, etc.
How is it? Let me say right off the bat that I like this wine. But it may not be for everyone or amenable to everyone’s tastes and palate. It may also be showing signs of age, perhaps even serious signs of age or storage at higher than optimal temperatures (at least that’s the assessment of its most recent annotator on cellartracker; without disputing his judgment whatsoever, I would just say that his tasting notes indicate a strong preference for more fruit-forward New World wines; which just goes to my main point here that this bottle is probably not for everyone). It is definitely subtle and dry. But it is, in my opinion, still quite balanced, without the slightest traces of funk on the nose or bitterness in the mid-palate and finish. Hints of what fine fruits were probably once there come out strongest when you uncork the bottle on the second day (I usually store it without refrigeration, in my cellar room). The color is light garnet, so it has definitely lightened from the “deep ruby-crimson” used to describe it on the label. On the palate a red bell pepper taste predominates, with an almost tomato quality when swished for awhile; its texture is mellow, smooth, silky (indicative of its age), with tannins that still give a bit of pucker when held in the mouth for a good amount of time. Again, the balance of acid and tannins is apparent on the long finish (and again, we’re not talking a fruit-forward finish). As I said, I like it, and this is almost in spite of myself. Each time I’ve opened a bottle I’ve sort of expected to find it ultimately unpleasing, but each time it has surprised me. Given this, I’m on the lookout for a more recent vintage to try, with the expectation that—as Talia Baiocchi’s notes on it also suggest, “reliability and tremendous value”–it is indeed a great value for the price.
Is it a deal? Both Les Cerisiers and this one retail in newer vintages for around the same price, $15-18, with the former a bit higher. (I checked wine searcher and vintages from 2002-2008 can be had in that range.) But the 2000 is not readily available anymore, and no wonder, since it was not really designed for cellaring potential and this one has no doubt arrived on GO shelves as a result of somebody—Brizard?—clearing out inventory. That said, $8 is still not a bad price for it; although, if it were $7 or $6 I’d jump more quickly on a few more bottles….to enjoy by myself in secret.
I’d give it a Thumbs Up if it were a more approachable crowd-pleaser; but since it is more of a specialized taste, I give it a hearty Drinkable.
The magical world of wines from Grocery Outlet: Guest Contributions 