Wines of note last night:
La Vielle Ferme 2006 Rose. Nice, crisp, dry, flavorful. Only $10, and worth it. I prefer the 2006 Rose of Syrah from Elizabeth Spencer, but that's more expensive.
La Ville Ferme Cotes du Ventoux 2005. Awesome "rustic" red. Amazing flavors of raspberry, garrigue, savory notes. Delicious-especially for $9.99! 3*+ (given QPR). More proof that I need to expand my experience with Rhones-this is only "Supermarket Wine" after all. Not sure, however, that non-wine nerds would like this-it is very savory and garrigue-y
Edmeades 2006 Mendocinio County Zinfandel. $18.00
I much prefer this vintage to the 2005, which was VERY hot and fumey. Somewhat richer and riper than the 2005, which proves the comments that you need "big fruit" to handle the 15.7% abv. Even with the rich black plum and zinberry flavors, this wine remains balanced and is not cough syrup like some big zins! However, the alcohol does show in the distinct heat in the back of throat. Still-very delicious. 3*
2002 Arrowood Cabernet Sauvignon Lots of big fruit, some nice savory flavors, marred by a lot of oak. Still...I think there is enough fruit and tannin here to absorb the oak nicely in, say, five years or so. I could drink this happily, but at $47 the QPR is suspect. 2.5*
Calima (Chile) Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. Weird. A lot of Chilean cabs seem to have this minty eucalyptus character. As I told the guy holding up the winebar with me, I find this "interesting" more than I "like" it. He was properly dismissive of my over-intellectualizing things!
