Value Red from Chile: Cameron Hughes Lot 95, Wine of Chile 2007 Meritage

November 22nd, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Cheap and Red, Chile, Merlot | No Comments »

The hardships I endure for you, dear reader. All so that you can pick your cheap wines with confidence.

As you know, Chilean wines are special to me. Mostly because they are such great values. Chile produces some of the world’s finest red wines and, at least for now, they are amazingly inexpensive. Sure, you can find a bottle from Chile for big bucks, but it will be the exception rather than the rule. Most of the wine Chile sends to us Yanquis is right in my spending sweet spot: $5-$25 a bottle. So, I buy a lot of Chilean wines. Just about the only thing with the gravitational mass to pull me from the “South America” part of any wine store or section is a bottle of Petite Sirah, no matter where it is made. So beyond my PSychopathic desire to taste every Petite Sirah ever made, my habits are largely Chileno. So it was with great pleasure that I noted that “Wine Blogging Wednesday” has chosen “Value Reds from Chile as their theme in December.

The point seems to be picking a Chilean Red and writing about it on one particular Wednesday.

The only point a Barbarian recognizes is the one at the end of his sword (or corkscrew as the case may be.) The only rules a Barbarian follows are those he makes for himself! What is good? To crush your grapes, see them driven before you into wine, and to hear the lamentation of the hangover! So I refuse to limit my writing to a single Wednesday! I plan to blog about Value Reds from Chile from now until the appointed day. My cellar is stocked and my laptop is honed and stropped to a fine razor’s edge. Let the blogging begin!

First up is this fine red blend from Chile’s Valle Central by way of Cameron Hughes Wines, and called “Lot 95”.  I chose this one first as the description on the CHwine website uses the word “raid” to describe the creation of this product. Suitable, no? What could possibly be more barbaric than raiding your way across continents and bringing back booty in the form of wine?

I received it as part of a sampler, and CH haven’t even posted the price yet, so think of this as a preview.

This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (50%), Merlot (35%), and that most Chilean of varietals, Carmenère (15%). Mrs. Barbarian is out of town so I drank this one alone. Last night I cooked up some bratwurst, sauteed broccoli (one of my specialties), and a few lightly fried corn tortillas (sounds weird, but trust me, it was awesome) and opened Lot 95 to accompany it. The Brats and Broccoli are a pretty strong flavor combo so this wine will need a backbone of steel to stand up to them. It did not disappoint! Big and bold at the start, yet smooth and strong on the finish. I managed to polish off half the bottle on my own before I sat down to finish my last review with a glass of Lot 95 to keep me company.

This morning I awoke early and the glass and bottle remained at my work desk. Fearlessly I threw caution to the wind and resumed tasting. Sure, it might be seven in the morning but what the hell, I’m a Barbarian! It had gotten a bit earthier overnight, losing some of its alcohol edge. Still uniquely Chilean in that odd mixture of New World flavor and Old World feel. Great stuff!

The hardships I endure for you, dear reader. All so that you can pick your cheap wines with confidence.

Cameron Hughes Lot 70, Lodi Petite Sirah

November 21st, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in California, Cheap and Red, Lodi, Petite Sirah | 1 Comment »

(Apologies for the horrible photo, I’m just not very good with a camera! Not to worry though all Cameron Hughes Wines look the same and I have another one queued up to review soon… I’ll get a better shot… promise!)

Not only am I a Barbarian, I’m also a man. Being a man means I have retail aversion. I don’t like to shop. I’d rather sit in the car and stare at my Blackberry or listen to the radio than voluntarily go into a retail establishment.

So Mrs. Barbarian’s eyebrows nearly flew off her head when I suggested that I accompany her into our local Costco.

I honestly had no interest in anything I might find within, except some Cameron Hughes Wine. Well, OK I lied… when I saw that you could buy a 55 gallon drum of motor oil I thought that might come in handy out in the garage. I have no way to get it TO my garage however, so my focus returned to wine. I heard Cameron Hughes on the radio and I was intrigued by the concept: He buys oddball bits of wine… stuff being sold due to divorce, leftover varietal lots from blends, etc, and packages it under his own label. He gives no indication where it came from, other than region and vintage. I heard him tell stories of finding amazing stuff, that would normally be sold for $40-$200 a bottle available from him, under a cloak of anonymity, for around $20. This is a man after my own heart!

The allure of big-buck wine at a 70% discount was enough to drive me into a big box retailer. While Mrs. Barbarian rolled off with her Hummer-sized shopping cart I made my way to the wine section, by way of the drums of 10W-40. I found the object of my desire, a treasure trove of Mr. Hughes’ masked wine bargains. I snapped up a mixed case and snickered all the way home. After tasting a few, and reading the labels I realized I could save myself the retail trauma and just order them online! Heaven.

These wines do indeed deliver on their promise. They are wines that I’d normally drink on somebody else’s tab, but here they are all available for between ten and twenty bucks. Gotta love that! Look for many more reviews of Cameron Hughes Wines here in the future but I’ll start right where you would expect me to… the beginning. No, not “Lot 1” – that was the beginning for Cameron. The first wine I ever touched, bought, and drank from this label was of course a Petit Sirah. Called Lot 70, this Petite hails from Lodi, the Lubbock of California. (Lubbock of course is the Fresno of Texas, but I digress) and costs a mere $11.

Lot 70 is still a bit young, and tasted to me like it needed some more R&R in the bottle. I’ve stashed the rest of what I originally bought down in the cellar and eagerly await the passage of time so that I can drink it all. It did however show a great deal of promise. Big and bold like a Petite Sirah should be. Stay tuned for more CH wine reviews.

“Any man who packs a big bore Sharps carbine could come in mighty handy, if we’re attacked by buffalo… or elephants.”

November 21st, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in California, Cheap and Red, Petite Sirah | No Comments »

“…or a bottle of Petite Sirah!”

The immortal words of Rooster Cogburn, a man with True Grit. This bottle went down after being holed with a corkscrew, no need for the big bore gun. A tasty 2004 Petite Sirah, hailing from Mendocino County via its Parducci winery. Like any Petite Sirah, Parducci’s True Grit is as big, bold, and over-the-top as The Duke’s iconic portrayal in the eponymous movie. It is fat, blustery, big, wears an eye patch & cowboy boots, and fires away with both hands while holding the reins it its teeth.

OK, I exaggerated … it doesn’t wear an eye patch. It’ll drop a buffalo at 200 yards though.

This will set you back about $18, or 144 bits if you’re a grumpy old cowboy.

Chatter Creek 2006 Grenache

November 20th, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in Cheap and Red, Grenache, Washington State | No Comments »

I have a soft spot in my heart for Chatter Creek wines. Many years ago Mrs. Barbarian & I enjoyed a great bottle of wine at our favorite restaurant, and I made it a point to write down the name. It was Chatter Creek. The owner of this restaurant is a total wine freak and loves to pick odd and hard to find wines, but I was determined to hunt this wine down and buy some for myself. The bottle had the winemaker’s email (or web) address and after I gave up finding it via my usual sources I contacted the winery. I received a nice reply from a guy named Gordy who helped me out finding his wines at a local retailer. We carried on a nice email conversation for a while and I learned that he was pretty much the entire staff of Chatter Creek at that time and the “winery” was his house in Seattle. I’ve been on his mailing list ever since and Chatter Creek has grown over the years. They now have several employees, and an actual, official winery in the town of Woodinville, Washington (home to a bunch of other wineries) and it seems that Chatter Creek has enjoyed some well-deserved success. They do deserve it too! Gordy makes some damn fine wine. I live too far to visit, but maybe someday I’ll drop by and shake Gordy’s hand and say “thanks.”

Now whenever Mrs. Barbarian is in a bad mood and I know she needs cheering I pull some Chatter Creek out and serve it. She recognizes the label and it brings back good memories and usually puts her at ease. This 2006 Grenache did the trick the other night. I have no idea what had her on the far side of grumpy… probably something I did, but far be it from me to recall! (Don’t expect sensitivity from me, I’m a barbarian!)

The Grenache was tasty and good. Good and tasty. Not a big wine, but not a lightweight either. Mrs. Barbarian loved it. You will too.

You should be able to find it for about 18 bucks.

Carver Sutro 2004 Petite Sirah

November 19th, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in California, Napa, On Somebody Else's Tab, Petite Sirah | No Comments »

Forgive me reader, for I have spent.

I classify this under my “on somebody else’s tab” category as it is an expensive wine… but I’ll admit, I spent my own hard earned money to acquire it. To be honest it is an act I mildly regret. Not that this is a bad wine really, in fact it was quite good. Excellent even! It is just that it goes against my character to hand over big bucks on a wine. Mind you what is big bucks to me is spare change to others.

This was a bottle of Carver Sutro 2004 Palisade Vineyard Napa Valley Petite Sirah, and I blew about forty five bucks on it. That is about double what I usually consider to be my limit on spending for a bottle of wine. This however, was a temptation I could not resist.

You see Carver Sutro is probably as passionate as I am about Petite Sirah… likely more. OK, I’ll be honest, WAY MORE. Petite Sirah is all they make (though I imagine some readers here suspect that it is all I drink!) At Carver Sutro they are dedicated to Durif. So you see, I HAD to buy this wine.

How was it? Pretty damn good. I should have decanted it for longer, in fact I should have cellared it given how much I paid… but what can I say? I’m a sucker for a Petite Sirah, and this one was polished off pretty damn quick. Mrs. Barbarian liked it. I loved it.

Should I find a $50 bill lying on the ground I know EXACTLY what I’m going to do with it.

Two Wines, One Winery.

November 15th, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Cheap and Red, Malbec, Pinot Noir, Washington State | 3 Comments »

 Last week it was two wines from Chile, this week it is two from Washington state… sort of the American equivalent of Chile I guess. Both have dry desert areas, glacier-clad volcanoes that occasionally erupt. Both sport fjords filled with whales, and rugged islands connected by ferry boat, and both produce excellent value wines. They differ in shape, with Chile being long and thin, and Washington being sort of squat. Separated by latitude, but connected in a great attitude towards wine.

I saw these two wines from the Challenger Ridge winery and decided to buy them. After all, they are from the romantically named town of Concrete, Washington. How can you turn that down? Seriously though they turned out to be a complete yin and yang experience. Both cost $17.99, but each was as different from the other as black is to white, male to female, night and day, disco and rock n’ roll, or Bush is to Obama.

The differences I suspect came down to terroir and varietal. On the one hand there was a 2005 Pinot Noir. This is grown in the Puget Sound region of Washington, which I imagine is not the best place on earth to grow grapes. It rains there a lot, and temperatures stay cool all the time (unlike Oregon to the south which can get quite hot in summer.) Of the two, this one was the weaker, by far. It had no backbone, and really not much to offer. The guy in Sideways must be right, Pinot is a hard grape to make wine out from, and if this Pinot is any indication perhaps the efforts up there in Concrete should be directed elsewhere. This wine is not worth eighteen bucks. It isn’t horrible (we did after all DRINK it, unlike some poorly reviewed wines around here!) but it just wasn’t that good either. Mrs. Barbarian, who normally likes most Pinots, had not much nice to say about this one.

On the flip side however is this wonderful 2003 Cabernet/Malbec blend from the Columbia Valley, Washington’s great wine production powerhouse region from over on the dry side of the state. This wine is big, bold, and very flavorful. Everything you expect in a great red wine. Unlike the Pinot, I’d call this a bargain at $17.99. I’ve tasted California reds at 3X this price that were not as good. Good stuff! Give it a try.

Shootout at the Chilean Corral!

November 9th, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Cheap and Red, Chile, Merlot, Syrah | No Comments »

Time to try something different here at The Wine Barbarian: Mortal Combat!

I ventured into The Cellar today to pick a wine for dinner. While that sounds pretentious let me dash your illusions as my “cellar” is just an unfinished room in the Barbarian basement where our house’s main electric panel and well equipment resides. It is also underground and at the north side of the house, so it maintains cellar temperature quite well. The workshop fluorescent lights and Costco baker’s racks don’t quite live up to the terminology though.

I’ve got a hankerin’ for something cheap & red, so I perused my selection of Chilean reds, and could not decide between these two, so I did what any good Barbarian would do, I grabbed them both! I plan on opening them shortly for an initial taste, the serving them with dinner. Afterwards, I’ll summarize my thoughts while still in a mildly inebriated state. Before that happens, here are the vital stats on the wines in question:

On the left, coming to the fight with Family history and Provenance in conflict with its low price is Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon. Originating in the Colchagua Valley of Chile, it bears the lofty title of Domaines Barons De Rothchild (Lafite), Mis en Bouteille au Domaine. As I picked up a smattering of French during an earlier phase of rapine & pillaging behaviors, I think that means This property is owned by the Rothchild (Lafite) family and this wine is produced and bottled on that estate. The vintage is 2006 and weighs in with a price tag of a mere $9.99.

On the right is the plucky challenger Sideral. It too boasts a French Connection, with some oversight by Château Dassault, Grand Cru Classé of St. Emilion together with Viña San Pedro of Chile. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (84%), Merlot (10%), and Syrah (6%) from the Rapel Valley. With a vintage of 2003 and a price tag of $23.99 it very well could pummel the opposition! The Vinagoth is always pulling for the underdog, but in this case both dogs seem to be purebred and poodley. Who knows which way it will go!

2:15 PM: Cut the foil and open both. The Los Vascos has an artificial cork, which removes with ease and a satisfying “pop!” The kitchen immediately is filled with an earthy wine aroma. A good start! The Sideral has a natural cork, which initially breaks along the top surface when pierced by the corkscrew. It gives up after a short struggle. Pour both into a glass. The Sideral is deeper in color and tone and is more pleasant on the nose than the Los Vascos, which seems to have weakened a bit in the glass.

2:30 PM: Upon initial tasting these are two very different Cabs. The Sideral is big and bold. The Los Vascos more subtle and smooth. The bottles go into hiding now to prevent Mrs. Barbarian from plundering her way through them before dinner. They need peace while they breathe.

3:30 PM Mrs. Barbarian discovers the half-drunk glasses in the kitchen. My lack of attention to detail is once again my undoing. I tell her to try both. She says “the one on the left is a bit flat, but otherwise they taste the same.”

4:30 PM, I’m about to start cooking dinner. Mrs. Barbarian has staretd rooting around the house trying to find open bottles of wine. Finally discovers my hidden cache. Steals some of the Sideral.

5:30 PM Dinner is served. It is a fine meal of chicken breasts, wrapped in a wonderful garlic/egg/herb/flour concoction and baked in a very hot oven. The sides are french fried sweet potatoes and corn on the cob.

Both wines have opened up as far as they’ll go. Both have mellowed and the Los Vascos has lost its weakness and is standing up as a moderately good Cabernet should, but the Cab/Merlot/Syrah blend from Sideral is pummeling it senseless. Much stronger nose and wonderful palate feel has the pricier wine winning the shootout in the end.

The Los Vascos is a fantastic buy at under $10 (by a penny) but the more sophisticated blend won out by a small margin. If paying less and getting more is your goal, you cannot go wrong with the Los Vascos. At$9.99, 40% the cost of the Sideral it almost stood up to the $23.99 wine. Some time spent breathing prior to serving really helped it as well.

Trying things head-to-head is often an enjoyable way to try wines. What made things interesting here was the price disparity between the contenders and how it played out in the end. What do you see as most important: Price or value? In this case the difference between the two was not indicated by the price.

Calina Carménère Reserva

November 4th, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in Carmenère, Cheap and Red, Chile | No Comments »

Mrs. Barbarian and I enjoyed this wonderful Calina Reserva 2006 Carmenere with dinner the other night. The Mrs had purchased some pork chops, which I honestly loathe. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hater of swine flesh… quite the contrary! I love bacon (who doesn’t!), pepperoni, ham, etc. I even once ate the entire leg of a pig on a dare in a Munich biergarten with the funniest crowd of Germans (that is not the oxymoron it seems) you’d ever meet. Well, OK, I failed at eating the entire leg, but I gave it a go and both the leg & I called it a draw. But pork chops to me are like faux steak. They look like steak, but taste like… well… leather. I begrudgingly marinated the chops in balsamic vinegar and some herbs, and when it came time to eat them opened up this Chilean Carmenere from Valle del Maule.

It was really quite nice. Not blow your socks off awesome, but genuinely enjoyable. The chops weren’t too bad either, but I REALLY enjoyed this wine.

Best of all is the price tag: $6.99!

I love a great wine under ten bucks and this one is worth 3x what they are charging. Chilean wines are going to explode and values like this are the reason why. Great stuff! Go buy a case. I will.

Foppiano Petite Sirah

November 2nd, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in California, Cheap and Red, Petite Sirah | No Comments »

This is a Russian River Valley Sirah. I paid about $15 for it and like just about every Petite Sirah, I really enjoyed it. So much so that I’m quite sleepy and at a loss for words. Must be good!

Woodinville Wow Cellars!

October 20th, 2008 by Vinagoth | Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, On Somebody Else's Tab, Washington State | No Comments »

First off this is, by far, the best stuff I have reviewed to date. Seriously good stuff.

A few weeks ago Mrs. Barbarian & I celebrated our wedding anniversary. Unlike my birthday, which is a budget affair, we have to go upscale for this one. I made a reservation at our favorite bistro and spoke to the owner, letting him know this was a special occasion. I requested a great wine at a reasonable price, and this is what he had waiting for us, at our nice table by a window.

Woodinville Wine Cellars 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Stillwatercreek Vineyard, Columbia Valley.

Amazing. Wonderful wine. If life ever takes me to Woodinville, Washington I’m going to have to stop by and say “thank you!”