Posts Tagged ‘barbera’
Varietal: Petite Sirah; Tempranillo; Syrah; Grenache; Malbec; Mourvedre; Nebeillo; Tannat; Souzao; Aglianico; Barbera; Zinfandel; Petite Verdot; Cabernet Franc; Charbano; Nero d’Avola; Sanviovese; Sagrantino
Region: California – USA
Cost: $10 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: This Big House Red lives up to that old Fruit Bomb moniker that you’ve come to expect. It starts with a nose full of blackberries and raspberries, with hints of leather and spices. The palate is clean, exhibiting flavors of cranberries, roses, and a touch of rhubarb. This finish lingers, with flavors of vanilla and a touch of dark cherries in the finish. Pairs well with all grilled meats, lasagna Bolognese, grilled vegetables, or even sashimi grade Ahi tuna.
My Review: The previous version of this wine was one of those that I was torn on. I liked what they were trying to do by creating a table wine with a little bit of everything that could then go with a little bit of everything, but I felt that the attempt created a wine that just fell flat. This vintage was different.
Varietal: Blended Red Wine (33% Syrah; 33% Barbera; 33%Petite Sirah)
Region: California – USA
Cost: $19.50
Deep purple in the glass with aromas and flavors of blueberry, black cherry, cedar, and mulberry with a tannic zip on the finish. Pairs well with Italian, Tex/Mex, spare ribs, burgers, steaks, pizza, meatloaf.
Recommendations: It was interesting for me to look over the tasting notes from this California wine and not see Cabernet Sauvignon thrown into the mix. Now before I get a bunch of hate mail/comments, I know that California makes more than just Cabernet, just feels like every time I get a blended wine from there, some Cab manages to find its way in, so it was nice to see one without.
When I poured the wine into the glass I almost feel in love right there. The deep purple color of the wine assured me that this would not be a light wine that would be overpowered by my meal. Not that I was worried a quick dinner of pizza would overpower most any red, but I was sure that it would hold up to even the thickest, juiciest, most seasoned steak I could come up with. I was right.
It took a while for the aromas to come out for me as the smell of alcohol was fairly prevalent at first, but after allowing the wine to open up I did start to get some of the black cherry on the nose. I can’t speak to the mulberry on the palate (as I don’t know what a mulberry tastes like to be honest), but the same cherry that I was getting on the nose came through in the mouth.
My favorite part of this wine was the nice tannic finish. I’ve always been a fan of a red that sort of kicks you at the end, and this wine did just that for me. That’s not to say that the tannins were over the top, but they were there and present and there’s no missing them. The wine was good with my pizza dinner, but I could have easily paired this with a steak or some pasta and it would have been just as good if not better.
Fortunately, for being a more bold wine, even after the food was gone the wine was still quite enjoyable. Granted I enjoy fuller wines even just to sip on without food. All in all it’s definitely a wine I would give another go to, especially this time of year as I’m spending a lot of time either grilling steaks and burgers or making quick dinners of pizza or pasta.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club for supplying the sample for this review.
For those looking for the wine you can order it directly from Home Grown Farms.
Varietal: Blended Red (Sangiovese, Syrah, Carignan, Barbera, Zinfandel, Mourvedre, Montepulciano, Petit Verdot, Tannat, Aglianico, Petite Sirah, Nero d’Avola, Grenache)
Region: California – USA
Cost: $7 – $10
Cherry, raspberry, blueberry, cassis, and chocolate flavors all blend together. Pair this wine with chicken, ground beef, pizza.
Recommendations: I’ll be the first to admit, my wife and I first paid attention to this wine because of the bottle. We thought, if nothing else, it would look good over our cabinets (see my previous post if you haven’t already). Having looked over the list of what was in the wine, we decided that the wine would go better with pizza, and so when we ordered a pizza one evening, we opened the bottle.
I wanted to like this wine, I really did. I’m a fan of most of the varietals that they used to blend it, and I’m a firm believer in table wines that aren’t impressive, but aren’t bad. Unfortunately, the Big House Red just left me shrugging. It wasn’t terrible in a pour the bottle out kind of way, but it just didn’t do anything to make me pay attention – good or bad. Read the rest of this entry »
So, it’s been a couple of weeks since I returned from my trip to California, and I realized that I haven’t talked about our second day in wine country, when we visited Sonoma. I’ve been busy. We drove out to Sonoma, passing over the Golden Gate Bridge (which we had originally planned to bike over at some point, but were suddenly very glad we hadn’t).
Our first stop was at Viansa Winery & Marketplace. The tasting room and grounds at Viansa are nothing short of spectacular, and I recommend stopping in there just for the view. We tried several of their wines, including their Senza Chardonnay, an unoaked Chardonnay that was light and crisp, the Reserve Chardonnay, featuring lots of butter on the nose, and a Pinot Noir that was velvety right up to the end where it showed a bit of bite.
We also tried a Zinfandel with that was jammy, with lots of cherry flavors but very little pepper and spice on the finish, much different than the Prindelo, which was very full-bodied and not at all jammy. The Sangiovese offered a spicy nose with fruit and tannins on the palate.
We finished up at Viansa with two Cabernet Francs. The 2004 Cab Franc was dark with with a fruity, jammy nose, and was the closest to a Virginia Cab Franc I had experienced on my trip. The 2005 Samuele Cabernet Franc was more robust, with a peppery nose and a dry, tannic finish.
Our next stop, right down the road, was Jacuzzi Family Vineyards. If you’re a fan of olive oil, I would recommend a stop to Jacuzzi for that alone. They have a great selection of flavored and unflavored olive oils that are worth the drive. But let’s be honest – that’s not the only reason I went there. Read the rest of this entry »
