2005 Tin Roof Merlot

Super QPR for $8, deep color, with intense aromas of dark cherry, plum, spice, and hint of mocha. These aromas are followed in taste with a good base of berry flavors supported by firm tannins, but has a soft texture with a lingering finish. All that you’d expect from a great and complex Merlot. Highly recommended.

From the wine maker-
“Our 2005 Merlot offers ripe, luscious black cherry and plum fruit aromas and flavors characteristic of the Merlot variety, enhanced by hints of tobacco, herbal spice and chocolate. With smooth, supple tannins and a long, rich finish, it pairs especially well with grilled red meats, herb-roasted chicken, pork chops, red-sauced pastas and flavorful hard cheeses.”

90 Points - Wine Enthusiast Magazine, November 2007: "...a good, gentle, easy sipper. It's a pleasure to drink one that's so nicely dry and balanced. Does a great job balancing ripe berry and stone fruits with earthy herbs and spices. Sommeliers and restaurateurs, scoop this one up while you can."
4 Stars (EXCELLENT quality for its type, style and price. Among the very best of its type for its price. Highly recommended.) - Restaurant Wine, #121-122: "Excellent value; supple, full bodied and distinct (ripe fruit, herbs), with some richness, and very good balance and length. Has a hint of oak."

2005 Mas Carlot Les Enfants Terribles Costieres de Nimes

An interesting blend of 50% Mourvedre and 50% Syrah, quite nice value at $12, I recommend giving this a try.
Dark dense color, very drinkable now and right from popping the cork. Forward aromas of bright,tart cherry with that Mourvedre meatiness(if you know what I mean)and wood hints, very appealing. Again red fruit, mineral, woodsy flavors. Deep flavors, very lush texture. I feel the fruit and brightness faded after about 3 hours making a more brooding funky mix.
This wine paired wonderfully with spicy Italian sausage grilled in peppers & onions,
with a pesto pasta side.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate 90pts Drink 2008 - 2014 (Feb 2008)
The 2005 Costieres de Nimes Les Enfants Terribles is a blend from Costieres
de Nimes,Languedoc Roussillon,France of equal parts Mourvedre and Syrah, with 50% kept in tank and 50% in barrel. A super bargain, it possesses a dense ruby/purple color as well as a bouquet of charcoal, blueberries, mushrooms, and spicy wood. Rich, medium-bodied, pure, and tasty, it should drink nicely for 5-6 years. This excellent estate in the Costieres de Nimes continues to turn out some superb bargain-priced wines that consumers should seek out for relief from increasingly higher prices as well as the weak dollar.

2004 Allegrini Palazzo Delle Torre

We drove up to Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley Sunday to celebrate our 26th anniversary.
Started with some wine tasting at Andrew Murray's, one of our favorites.
We're members of their wine club but couldn't resist buying the tasting room special of 6 reds for $99. The pack included 2 of the 2005 Esperance GSM blend, 2 of the 2006 Tous les Jours syrah, a 2005 Brave Oak Vineyard syrah and a 2005 Santa Ynez Valley syrah- overall a terrific deal.
BTW- 2005 could be the last vintage of my AM favorite, Roasted Slope. Apparently the Roasted Slope vineyard was sold so getting fruit in the true Cote Rotie style, Viogner interplanted with the Syrah, will no longer be possible.

Strolled down the block to our preferred eatery in the Valley; Los Olivos Cafe for an early dinner.
Popped a 2004 Zaca Mesa Z Cuvee with our appetizers, wonderful as usual.
Tried a new wine with dinner, 2004 Allegrini Palazzo Delle Torre, what an interesting gem!
This wine was selected by Wine Spectator as one of the “Top 100 wines of the World” for five years in a row, from 2000 to 2005.
Robert Parker 90 pts. - (70% Corvina, 25% Rondinella, 5% Sangiovese) has long been one of my favorite ripasso-style wines and the 2004 is another winner. It reveals a plump, juicy personality loaded with perfumed, jammy fruit, roasted coffee beans and new leather. Although it is absolutely irresistible today, a few additional months of bottle age should help soften the wine further. It is a gorgeous effort at this level and a terrific value. Allegrini employs a unique variation of the ripasso technique for its Palazzo della Torre. The traditional method calls for the wine to undergo a second fermentation on the skins that are leftover from the vinification of the Amarone. The estate believes that this method leads to oxidized wines. Instead Allegrini dries a portion of the grapes (around 30%) and ferments them separately in the same style as an Amarone, then adds that wine to the larger portion of the wine, which is fermented in the conventional manner. This is a terrific set of consistently excellent to outstanding wines from Allegrini" Best 2007-2010.

2006 Guillaume Gros El Nino Loco Cotes Du Luberon

We really like this baby; well made, very nicely balanced and integrated.
$12 and free shipping, what a steal, I only wish I'd gotten more as I can't find it anywhere now.
60% syrah, 30% grenache, carignan 10%
Unfiltered with a little sediment.
Nice nose; strawberry with light leather, licorice & mineral tones.
On the palate; red fruits, pepper, great feel & wonderful structure.
Decent length on the finish with cherry, mineral and spice.
Wonderful Old World style, this wine beats the pants off most CdR's.

2003 Chateau Bernadotte Haut-Medoc

57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, 1 %Petit Verdot
A generous nose right from the start; dark berries dominate, traces of pencil shavings, cigar box and a certain toastiness.
It comes together nicely; nice sleek mouthfeel with some weight to it and firm tannins at the back. Flavors are layered, complex and follow the aroma profile.
With time, my feeling is, it brought out more ripe fruit on the palate and more complexity in the nose.
I'm a novice French wine drinker, so I'm not sure of the QPR at $24 but we enjoyed this wine.
I actually preferred drinking this on its own than I did paired with New York strip steak.

"A sleeper of the vintage, the 2003 possesses a dense plum/purple color, a rich, sumptuous perfume of roasted nuts, cedar, figs, plums, and black currants, medium to full body, silky tannin, low acidity, and a lush, hedonistic, sensual personality. It should drink well for a decade." - Rated 90, Robert Parker

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, May/Jun 05
Rated: 88
Medium-deep red. Roasted currant, leather and tobacco on the expressive nose. Smooth and silky on the palate, with noteworthy concentration and a lovely core of sweetness supported by firm structure. The berry, mineral and lead pencil flavors are generous and expressive. In the hot, dry summer of 2003, this chateau obviously benefited from the substantial clay content of its soil. This was bottled in March.
It offers luscious kirsch liqueur notes intermixed with hints of blackberries, underbrush, and spice box. It possesses good density, a voluminous, chewy mouthfeel, and a long finish. Drink it over the next 10-12 years.

2004 Castell Del Remei Gotim Bru

We are really glad we explored this Spanish wine. I think its a great deal at under $14, Wine Advocate awarded it 90pts.
A dark inky beauty, wonderful nose & tastes of red cherry with some cranberry, spice and a vegetal aspect (asparagas, celery).
Nicely balanced and integrated with a pleasurable mouthfeel.
I'm new to trying Bordeaux wines but this reminds of French wines of twice the price.
We are off to buy more!

The 2004 Gotim Bru is a blend of 50% Tempranillo, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 10% Garnacha aged for 10 months in French and American oak. Purple-colored, it provides a fragrant nose of spice box, tobacco, blueberry, and blackberry. Firmly structured, medium to full-bodied, and layered, this ripe, tasty wine should evolve for 2-3 years but who is going to wait? It is an outstanding value. Score: 90. —Jay Miller, February 2007.

Wine Enthusiast Top 100 and Top Values of 2007

Wine Enthusiast Top 100 and Top Values of 2007

Wine Spectator's top 100 wines of 2007

Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2007

2005 Chateau de La Dauphine Fronsac

90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Approx. $20 at Costco.
Opens nicely in 1-2 hours. Soft rounded fruit, the oak was handled nicely, balanced tannic finish. Barb and I liked this from the start but it continued to blossom with time.

A Fronsac estate formerly owned by Christian Moueix, of Château Petrus fame. Acquired by Jean Halley in 2000. The Moueix’s brought the vineyards up to speed and Halley has followed up with heavy investments in the vinification cellars. The efforts are clear in 2004 and clearer still with the 2005. La Dauphine is one of the appellation’s leaders again. 22 acres of 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc has delivered a wine with a purple plum colour, sweet cinnamon cherry aromas and a plum and cherry fruit palate with licorice and toast accents. Delicious now; better with a little time in the bottle.
88-90 Robert Parker Jr. The Wine Advocate, April 2007

2006 Panarroz Jumilla

A great Spanish bargain for around $7. A blend of mourvedre, grenache, and syrah rated 90pts. by Parker. Ripe blackberry and pepper, great mouthfeel. This is a deep dark chewy tannic beaut. I like it as is but it shines with food- serve with barbeque, how about spiced tri-tip or pork loin with chimichurri sauce? Interestingly, several remarked it went fine along side Bob's white coconut birthday cake!

2004 Peter Lehmann Clancy's

Under $13 and 90pts. from Wine Spectator. This blend varies a bit year to year, the 2004 is 43% Shiraz, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot.
I found dark fruits and a great balance of smokiness, oak, tobacco and dark wood. Nicely textured, smooth and friendly with a wonderful balance of tannins on the finish.
A enjoyable wine to drink on its own but will really shine pairing with many foods, grilled beef would be great. Highly recommended.

2005 Te Kairanga Runholder Pinot Noir

The most complex aromas of any Pinot we've ever tried, make that almost any wine we've ever tried.

Flavors mirror the nose of: fruit (Dark cherries, plums), herbals (liquorice, eucalyptus, mint, juniper) and spice (white pepper and the tiniest amount of curry).
Classic fruit leads, textured and concentrated with a long finish. Nice silky tannins and subtle oak.

Barb loved this wine. It was amazing to experience the different characteristics of this wine emerge with time.

Wine Spectator 88 pts.
Concentrated, firm and fragrant, with black pepper, spice, beef and black cherry flavors. Mint, cola and cedar notes accent the muscular, tannic finish. Best from 2008 through 2010. 6,500 cases made.
--Daniel Sogg