South Carolina Wine Joe

Total Wines and More mailed me a coupon for $10 off from a $40 purchase.  The store rarely offers up to a 25% discount, but perhaps their tracking system somehow knew I had not been in the store as much in the past year as previously.  My strategy was to buy name brand wines (those with prices not ending in 7) totaling just above $40, thus maximizing my discount.  My wife does not think me frugal without reason!  I came home with 3 wines, including the Meiomi Pinot Noir. Meiomi Pinot Noir is one of the best selling Pinot Noirs in America.  Sales have gone from 90,000 cases in 2010 to 700,000 cases in 2015.  Last year Meiomi was acquired by Constellation brands. Meiomi Pinot Noir is a blend of grapes from coastal California regions in Monterrey County (4ti8%), Sonoma County (27%) and Santa Barbara County (25%).   Each region brings different characteristics to the blend.  The different lots were aged separately in French oak and then blend...

I was impressed with the 2012 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon wines from California but the 2013 vintage may be even better.  Francis Coppola Director's Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 2013 is a great example of that superior quality. This wine is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec.  The grapes are grown in the Alexander Valley, Sonoma Valley and Dry Creek areas of Sonoma County and aged in 55% French oak and 45% American oak.    The winemaker has done a magical blending of these grapes to achieve a very drinkable wine with 13.5 % alcohol. This wine has flavors of blackberries, cherries and a little vanilla.  I found this to be full flavored with medium oak tones.  You can buy this wine online for about $20 but I bought it at Total Wines, where it is normally priced at $14.49.  My coupon reduced it even more to less than $12.00.  In my opinion this is a $20 wine and I will buy it any day for $12, s...

Trader Joe's March Fearless Flyer features their Reserve Chardonnay 2014 from Napa Valley.  This wine is very different from the True Myth Edna Valley Chardonnay that I recently blogged about.  Where the True Myth is crisp and a little acidic, the Trader Joe's Reserve is full bodied, creamy and a little oaky.  I agree with the Fearless Flyer description pf pineapple, melon and apple flavors with caramel notes.  With such variation in styles, it is hard to judge which wine is better and that is why I do not assign numerical ratings to white wine.  Trader Joe's Reserve Chardonnay is $9.99 and it has 13.5% alcohol.  If you like your chardonnay to be full bodied and creamy, you will definitely like this wine.

The wine sale at our local Costco includes Pacific Rim Dry Reisling Yakima Valley Selenium Vineyard 2013 priced at $7.99.  Pacific Rim is a brand owned by Banfi, which is a privately held company that also owns brands from Italy and South America such as Concha y Toro and Trivento.  Pacific Rim produces several lines of Reisling in the State of Washington , both sweet and dry. Americans are most familiar with sweet reislings, but if you are like me and find those too sweet, you should try a dry reisling.  Dry Reisling wines are very popular in Germany and Australia and are gaining in popularity in the United States. The Pacific Rim Dry Reisling from the Selenium Vineyard, Yakima Valley is aged in stainless steel tanks for five months.  The wine has an alcohol content of 12.9%.  The wine has a pleasing aroma of citrus and pear and the fruit flavors follow through with peach and minerals. I recommend this very enjoyable example of a dry reisling at a very re...

My local Costco is having one of their seasonal wine sales.  This sale lasts until March 26 and there are 21 wines selling for reduced prices.  One of the wines in the sale is the 2011 Besllum Red Blend from Montsant Spain.  In December 2013, I blogged about the Besllum 2008 which I had purchased at Costco for $12.99.  I noted that the wine had magazine ratings as high as 93 points but that the praise was far from unanimous.  I myself, liked the wine and rated it as 90 points.  Since 2013, Costco has periodically stocked later vintages of Besllum and I was less enthusiastic about it. Costco now has the 2011 vintage Besllum for $8.59.  The wine is 50% Garnacha, 40% Carinena and 10% Syrah aged for 13-15 months in oak barriques, 40% of them new.  The wine has flavors of very dark fruit, described by some as plums, prunes and dates.  There are definite good points to this wine but overall it is far from the very enjoyable 2008 version. SC W...