skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Price: about $25
Recommended by: the wonderful folks at Chateau Ste Michelle winery, Woodinville, WA (go visit!)
Comments: What an evening! We polished off a bottle of white Italian Vermentino (Rocca di Montemassi) while making a fabulous batch of mushroom risotto. The wine was exceptional, but we can't blog about it because we finished it so damn quickly! With the actual risotto (did we mention it was amazing?!?) we drank this Merlot, which is quite dear to us. Back in September 2007, we visited the winery and purchased this bottle for a special occasion. Rob has been hard at work for the past few weeks, finishing up his first book, and while it's not quite done yet we're celebrating the near end of many years of hard work. This wine was an appropriate celebratory libation. Wine Spectator gave it 90 points back in the day, and it's only gotten better with time. Rich, earthy flavors dominated by plum, vanilla, and mocha, with hints of chocolate. YUM! We wish we had another bottle!
Rating: 8/10
Price: ~$15.00
Recommended by: This was a gift, but we've had this on our wish list for a while. We think it was recommended by Sunset Magazine.
Comments: Yum. It was yum from the first sniff. Very flowery on the nose and the palate. We also smelled Fruit Loops (honest!) and tasted plum, cherry, and oak. The flavor lasted a long time, and the finish was very smooth. Lots of flavors going on in this wine. It's rather different from the California (in-yer-face-with-fruit) Cabs, but this was excellent. We're becoming huge fans of Washington State wines.
Ratings: 7.75/10
Price: $15.00 @ Luke's Liquors (Rockland, MA)
Recommended by: we love CSM wines!
Comments: After visiting their winery last fall and enjoying just about every Chateau Ste Michelle wine we've tried, we were excited to find one that we have not tried. This red blend has 9, yes 9, varietals -- Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Sangiovese, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Souzão, and Touriga -- and was tasty to the last drop. It got better as we drank it (not with food but just as a "hard-day-at-work-and-now-chilling-out" wine). It has flavors of cherry, chocolate, and spicy pepper with hints of raspberry and vanilla and a smooth, long finish. It still is not as tasty as our favorite domestic red blend (Artesa Elements), but we'd definitely get this one again.
Rating: 7.5/10
Price: $9.99 @ Luke's Liquors
Recommended by: We wanted to compare this with Chateau Ste. Michelle's Gewurz.
Comments: We have to brag. We made an EXCELLENT meal tonight. We cooked some Moroccan-spiced swordfish (with yogurt-mint sauce), couscous, and Brussels sprouts. And this wine was a perfect complement to the meal. It's an almost-organic Gewurz (organic grapes but a non-organic process), with a nice orange/grapefruit and spicy taste. The finish is long, a bit steely, and very smooth. We liked it better with the food, but it is also enjoyable on its own. Rob noted that this wine might be slightly "creamier" than and not as spicy as the Chateau Ste. Michelle Gewurz, but it is just about as good (CSM now owns Snoqualmie Vineyard). We can understand how Wine Enthusiast gave it a respectable 88 and "Best Buy" designation. We will be buying this wine again soon! Did we tell you about the amazing meal? :)
Rating: 7.75/10
We apologize for our extended absence from Bloggerland, but we've been traveling for the past three weeks. However, on our travels, we were lucky enough to find time to visit the wonderful winery Chateau Ste. Michelle (in Woodinville, WA), a longtime favorite wine producer of ours. The visit did NOT disappoint! We started by doing the standard tour, which was fine. Then we got to taste some of their basic wines, which was also fine. But when we started asking specific questions about their higher-end Merlots, things got really fun. Rather than simpl
y talk to us about the different wines, our wonderful tour guide (and new best friend) Joan ran off for a moment, only to return with her hands full of glasses of the various Merlots that CSM makes. And they were goooood. There are some older vintages at the winery that you just can't get anywhere else. And lovely, lovely Joan made sure we got to try them. We walked out with a 1999 Cold Creek Merlot and a 2004 Canoe Ridge Merlot (and a bottle of their Whidbey's Port Chocolate Sauce . . . mmmmmm).
Sadly there were no remaining bottles of Whidbey's Loganberry Liquor to be found, which is Karie's mother's favorite beverage ever (she used to live on Whidbey Island), although the nice employees at CSM looked long and hard for it. To all the folks there, and particularly to Joan, thanks for a wonderful visit!
Price: $10.99 @ Luke's Liquors
Recommended by: We've loved everything we've tasted from this winery.
Comments: We just got back from a wonderful week-long vacation in Colorado, and after a long, tiring day of traveling we enjoyed some sushi and this great find from our friends at Chateau Ste. Michelle. We are fans of dry Rieslings (especially Kabinetts), and this one is wonderful. We tasted lime and peach -- a crisp and refreshing summer wine. We found it very similar to CSM's Gewurztraminer, which is probably our favorite domestic Gewurz. The two wines differ in that the Gewurz has a bit more spice to it, and the dry riesling has a bit more citrus taste. However, they both rock!
Rating: 7.75/10
Price: $8.99 @ Gary's Liquors
Recommended by: a Wine Spectator "Best Value" wine
Comments: Can we agree with Wine Spectator two nights in a row? Say it isn't so! This wine is fantastic -- it earned every one of its 90 points. We had tried the Grand Estates Merlot before and enjoyed it, but this year's vintage is much better. Flavors of cherry and chocolate dominate the palate along with a healthy dose of blueberry, all brought together by a surprisingly long, smooth finish. For the price, this wine can't be beat. We'll be getting another bottle or two for the shelf soon!
Rating: 7.75/10
Price: $8.99 @ Gary's Liquors
Recommended by: great price, and we wanted to try another Washington State merlot.
Comments: For the price, this is a great wine. In fact, we were pleasantly surprised. However, after we found out that this wine is produced by our friends from the Ste Michelle winery, it made perfect sense. We've enjoyed all of their wines that we've tasted. This is not a hugely complex wine, but it has a nice cherry flavor and a smooth, pleasing finish. If you don't usually drink red wine, this might be a good one to start with. Order some pizza and enjoy.
Rating: 6.75/10
Price: $8.00
Tasting notes: Not as sweet as, and maybe a bit more acidic than, the Chateau Ste. Michelle, but certainly as joyable. The spice was slightly more pronounced (and we drank it with the exact same meal as the CSM). We will certainly be enjoying more bottles of this in the future.
Rating: 6.5/10
Price: $8.99
Tasting notes: This is a very happy Gewurz. And considering the price you cannot go wrong with it. We drank it with a seafood stew, and it was a great pairing. The stew really brought out the spiciness of the wine. It has the classic grapefruit flavor of Gewurz in abundance, and we look forward to drinking it again soon. (Can you tell we're fans of Gewurz?)
Rating: 7.75/10
Price: $7.99
Recommended by: Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Best Buys of 2005
Tasting notes: A nice wine, but not as edgy as some Gewurz’s. It lacked some of the spicyness and complexity of comparably priced ones. We prefer Columbia Winery or Chateau Ste. Michelle as far as domestic Gewurz's go.
Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $9.99
Recommended by: Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Best Buys
Tasting notes: This was a very enjoyable Gewurz. It's a really good balance between sweet and spicy, with hints of grapefruit. It was great with sushi, and we would definitely purchase this again.
Rating: 6.5/10
Price: $9.99 at Trader Joe's
Recommended by: Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Best Buys of 2005
Tasting notes: Buttery, apple, oak, and caramel flavors, which sound great, but we don’t enjoy this wine that much. However, we haven't had a Chardonnay that we've really enjoyed. Perhaps we just don't like Chardonnays and need to stop trying!
Rating: 4 /10
Price: about $25 
