BYOB Reviews - Restaurants & Wine & Music Review » Red Wine

2005 Blackstone Sonoma County Reserve Merlot

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:57:56 +0000

From the Blackstone tasting notes on their website:

The Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Merlot 2005 offers pleasing aromas of fresh raspberry, black currant, clove and vanilla with a hint of earthiness. The wine is full-bodied with layers of bright red fruit, coffee and clove, finished with nice, well-integrated structure and a velvety mouthfeel. Try serving this soft and silky wine with beef or pork tenderloin, cassoulet, sausage, pizza or beef ravioli.

The breakdown of the varietals present are: 76% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petite Sirah, 5% Syrah, 3% Teroldego. While some of those are prettty small percentages, I think they add to the overall balance of the bottle. Overall I found the taste to be very appealing, I though much better than the “regular” Blacksone Merlot, which I found to be a bit harsh. At a price point of $13.99, it’s not a bad first bottle at a cozy byob.

2004 Cline Red Truck

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:00:36 +0000

I was wandering the isle of my local retailer and noticed a bottle of 2004 Cline “Red Truck“. Having had some great Cline port wine in the past, I was intrigued and with the price being less than $10, I was sold. As it turns out, this is a vinted blend of Syrah, Petite Syrah and Cabernet Franc, with a bit of Merlot from Sonoma Valley California.

This wine went very well with dinner, which was cheese tortellini from Trader Joe’s and a red mushroom sauce. I could see grabbing this wine as an inexpensive bottle to take out to dinner where you may not know the menu, or if you are looking for a safe bottle. I tasted a pleasing flavor of berries and something dark, which I could not quite place. Overall I would give this a strong B+ rating, scoring well on it’s nice bouquet, clarity, and smoothness. I believe I will pickup a bottle or two of this wine and let it sit in the cellar for a bit of time, it could be interesting to see how this one does with some age.

2004 Yellowtail Reserve Shiraz

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:35:38 +0000

2004 Yellowtail Reserve Shiraz. I was quite surprised by this bottle. As the lighting was low for dinner, I really can’t tell you much about the clarity of the wine, the color appeared to be a nice ruby. I tasted some fruity berries with a bit of oak and a nice smooth finish. All in all, I was very impressed by this bottle for the price, and I would recommend this bottle as a great wine under $15.00.

Pascal Chatelus, Beaujolais Nouveau 2007

admin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:28:17 +0000

It’s March, so I’m about 3 months late on a review of Pascal Chatelus, Beaujolais Nouveau 2007 ($11.99). For the wine that makes up the Beaujolais Nouveau experience, this was a very enjoyable bottle. I found it to be very bright in color, with a high clarity. We sampled this wine with a reduced set of cheeses than we would have usually knowing that we should expect a very light red. As a result, we used only the soft mozzarella and the marbled Colby-jack. Both were great with this wine, the crackers could have been giving me a bit of the smoke aroma/flavor as I was the only one in the group getting that feeling.

This was drinkable all by itself, I have another bottle I’m looking forward to drinking Memorial Day weekend with some friends. If you want to pair it with something, I could see this being very good with chicken or pork. Pretty much anything that a pinot noir would pair well with. For the price it was not a bad French bottle, but I think there are better priced wines with less adieu. Of course, if you are going for the experience and not 3 months late, then rock out with this one.