OK, so I fell for the funny name. The wine? meh.
I love a good pinot, though I’m not obsessed. This one is nothing to obsess over either. It is moderately cheap, but it isn’t a value by any stretch. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really all that good either.
I doubt they’ll be any more Loons in my shopping Bin in the near future.
OK, so the Vinagoth is seriously addicted to Petite Sirah, deal with it.
This one is a winner though. Seriously… go buy a case of it, today. You’ll understand my attraction. This is one of the first Petites I ever tried. Many, many years ago Mrs. Barbarian and I were out for dinner at our favorite local little restaurant, and I picked this one off the menu… mainly because I’d never heard of Petite Sirah. I’m an adventurous drinker, and will always try something new without fear. The Sommelier, who also is the co-owner of this particular neighborhood bistro, will usually give me a warning if I’m treading into dangerous territory, but this time he looked like I made a good choice. The bottle came, and we loved it so much we ordered another. Afterwards, I went looking for it in the stores and came up empty. I resorted to ordering a case through a liquor store. The second case of wine I had ever ordered. This was about ten years ago if I recall correctly. I’ve been loyal to this wine ever since. To me it is like an old friend that comes to visit every year… bringing gifts and good times.
Just about every year I buy a another case of this stuff. Every year it is CONSISTENTLY great. Mind you this isn’t Parker-perfect stuff but it is VERY GOOD. If you take any of my drunken barbarian advice, take this one home: Buy This Wine: Guenoc Petite Sirah from Langtry Estate. It is rarely more than $10 a bottle (last I checked it was $8 at my local wine merchant) and is kick-ass awesome every vintage I’ve tried since the late 90s.
One of these days I’ll make a pilgrimage to Lake County and prostrate myself before the vinyards.
The Vinagoth spent the month of June on a series of business trips… not enough time to write, but certainly enough opportunities to imbibe and make hazy tasting notes. So your patience will be rewarded by a torrent of new wine to try, most under twenty bucks. While I was having dinner on other people’s dimes I did venture into the high double-digits and low triples on occasion, so expect a few of those too.
Barbarians don’t apologize, so don’t ask.
Unless of course you need a good prison quality meat marinade. Blech.
Until last night, I felt about Petite Sirah like Will Rogers about people: I never met a Petite Sirah I didn’t like. Will Rogers never met Dick Cheney, but I just drank the Petite equivalent. Ugh.
The first warning should have gone off when I saw this on the grocery shelf for $7. Hello?! That really is too good to be true. The winemaker labeled this a “2005 Reserve”. I’d like to reserve a spot for his or her head on the end of a pike. Bleagh.
As you can see by the photo, I’m trying to put it to some good use however.
As I mentioned in the previous post, the Vinagoth enjoyed this Spanish wine on somebody else’s tab at a business dinner. Nice. It was pleasant and everyone at the table enjoyed it… until some Barbarian ordered a Petite Sirah to follow and it was mowed down like some civilized village before a plundering host.
I have no idea how much this costs, but it should be a safe pick so long as there aren’t any marauding Vinagoths nearby wielding blunt instruments from Lodi.
Out at a business dinner the client orders a Rioja (review coming) and for the second bottle I chose this one, which blew everyone at the table away… as Petite Sirahs are wont to do. Everyone liked it so much that two more bottles were ordered and a fine time was had by all.
Can’t go wrong with this one folks. It wasn’t that pricey on the wine list either, so I imagine it isn’t that pricey in the stores, likely under $20.
Clay Station 2004 Petite Sirah, Lodi.
Doing a bit of business travel recently and the Vinagoth swilled down this bottle with a companion at a hotel restaurant. Originally a Cab was ordered, but they were out, so this one came in second. Apologies for the flash-washed image.
It is a Sterling Vintner’s Collection 2004 Central Coast Merlot. It was “OK”… not awesome. Not bad. Just sort of … there. Meh. Better than drinking Bud Light, but nothing compared to say Neuevomundo for example.
Expect to pay about $14.
This is a Santa Ema 2005 Carmenere barrel select that I picked up for $10.99.
As you know, the Vinagoth has a thing for Chilean wines. They are good, cheap, and tasty. I actually first discovered them while living overseas (in Europe) for a short time in the mid-1990s. I had been a drinker of primarily California wines up to that point. California wines were hard to find, and/or expensive over there. However there was a VAST array of all these good wines from oddball countries I’d never tried; Bulgaria, Romania, South Africa, Argentina & Chile. Many of those oddballs have remained hard to find here in the USA, but not those Southern Cone Selects. Argentina & Chile are exporting plenty of good stuff to our shores now. I strongly suggest you give them a try.
Carmenère (using the Spanish accenting here since were talking Chilean) is one of those rare survivors. It was brought to Chile (under the mistaken impression of being Merlot) a few hundred years ago, and was subsequently destroyed by the phylloxera outbreak in France. It was thought to be extinct, until rediscovered growing in large tracts in Chile’s Central Valley. In a way it is like time travelling to open one of these bottles. I imagine 15 years from now you’ll be able to drink Carmenere from anywhere and everywhere, for now though it is mostly Chilean.
So where else would you be able to taste one of the Six Noble Grapes of Bordeaux, previously thought to be extinct, for about ten bucks?? I suggest you go out and hug a Chilean tonight!
We enjoyed this bottle with some scampi and pasta last night. It is inky dark red, but is light on the palate, not a powerful ballsy red. In one of those cases where food & wine mis-match, both Mrs. Barbarian & I agreed (for once!) that it would go far better with red meat. The bottle might also need to lie for a year or so. I’m not smart enough to know which is the answer… I’m just a barbarian after all.
I’m bewildered by the French, but I’m sure they’re OK with that.
Mind you, unlike many of my countrymen, I harbor no ill will towards them. I don’t think they are cowards. I don’t belittle their military history (I’ve read plenty about the Napoleonic Era, and lots about WWI, where the French did plenty of ass-kicking.) I actually thought they were damn smart to tell George W. Bush to “Va te faire foutre” when W said “are you wit’ us or again’ us? about Iraq. History will prove them right. Hell, history HAS proven them right! Besides, they are the only world power who has NEVER gone to war against us. We should LOVE the French!
Oh yeah, I Love Pomme Frites!
But despite having their fair language hammered into my brain for four years in school, I can’t speak it to save my life; can barely read it; and can only understand it when spoken by drunken Quebecois. Go figure.
I love French Wine though. I wish I knew enough to buy it with confidence, but I don’t. 99 times out of 100 you’ll see French Wines listed here in the “On Somebody Else’s Tab” category because I don’t know enough (yet!) to make my choices wisely when zere ees Francais sur la boutille.
This one was just so cheap (well under $10!) that I figured “Que l’Enfer?”
It is a typical Rhone Red, in that is a blend. Shockingly enough the importer put a Yank-Friendly label on the back: 50% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Carignan, 15% Cinsault. It appears to be the “second label” of Chateau de Beaucastel.
It went down well. A nice cheap red. Great for an afternoon or evening. Cheese & crackers. Fruit or snacks. Not really a wine to pair up with a slab o’ flesh though.
Might be a good wine for a cheap bachelor to bring to a date. After all, it has a big cock on the label. 😉
The Vinagoth had some business to do in the big city today and stopped by a big wine merchant afterwards. I packed the passenger seat of my car with numerous bottles of Cheap Red Wine! Said treasures are being dragged off to my distant northern lair where I’ll sample them all and report here on their value. I did cheat and buy a couple of bottles for just over $20, but the vast majority is under $10. Most of it is Chilean but I seem to recall knocking out a few Italian beauties and I ravaged my way through the aisles. Stay tuned, though I heard rumor of a business trip coming up… so it could be a week or two for these to show up here.
