South Carolina Wine Joe

The third red wine we tried from the Lidl French Wine Fair was the Pierre LaTour Pomerol.  Pomerol is a wine region in the right bank portion of Bordeaux.  Wines from this region are predominantly Merlot blended with lesser amounts of Cabernet Franc.  The grapes for this wine were harvested in 2014 which was a very good vintage. If you drink more than one wine variety on an occasion, the first wine has a big impact on the perceived taste of the second wine.  Wineries order their wine tasting flights so that the first wine enhances the perception of the second.  The opposite happened at our house with this wine when we finished our Chateauneuf du Pape and opened the Pomerol.  If I had written this blog that night, it would not have been complimentary.  Fortunately, we tried it again on a new day.. This Pomerol is a medium bodied dry wine with flavors of plum and earth and medium tannins.  The flavor expands into the tart finish.  This is a good representation of a wine style that is

Chateauneuf du Pape can be quite expensive. Our local Total Wines store stocks bottles that range in price from $30 to $100 but you can pay more than that at independent wine shops.  The lowest priced Chateauneuf du Pape that I previously found was Costco's Kirkland Signature for $18 but now Lidl has one for $16.99 in their "French Wine Fair".  In fact, I was able to buy it last week for 20% off that price but the promotion has since expired. There are over 100 wineries in the Chateauneuf du Pape region and as in every region, the quality varies greatly.  There is no brand name or winery shown on the label for this wine and furthermore, there is no information about the grapes incorporated into the wine.  Since there is no winery or brand name, you cannot find any information online.  We can assume that Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre are blended resulting in a stated alcohol content of 14%. What we really care about is how the wine tastes.  This wine improved greatly af

Lidl is having their French Wine Fair.  They have stocked  a collection of 16 French wines from various French wine regions.   These wines are not part of their regular collection and will be available for a limited time. The first wine that we tried from this collection is Terroir des Dentelles Vacqueyras.  Vacqueyras is a wine region in the southern Rhone Valley.  It is located adjacent to the more famous Chateauneuf du Pape region.  Red wine from Vacqueyras is made from the same grapes as in Chateauneuf du Pape - Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre but the wine is usually less prestigious and much less expensive. Terroir des Dentelles is 80% Grenache, 15% Syrah, and 5% Mouvedre with 14% alcohol.  I found the wine to be medium to full bodied with rich flavors of cherry, black cherry and a hint of mocha.  The wine has a long, enjoyable finish with a little spice and oak.  I really enjoyed this wine and it is only $9.99 at Lidl. SC Wine Joe rating = 89 points

The Greenville Costco has Franciscan Estate Napa Valley Merlot 2013 on sale for $9.99.  This is an incredible price for a quality Merlot that Costco usually sells for $16.99.  The 2013 vintage Merlot has been available for well over a year and Costco must have scored a good price from the winery as they begin to market the 2014 vintage. It has been almost 3 weeks since my last post on this blog.  I was busy preparing for a presentation that I gave about finding good values in white wine.   More importantly, the new wines I have tried recently were not especially interesting.  Napa Valley Merlot for $9.99 fixed that problem. Franciscan Estates Napa Valley Merlot is 97% Merlot and 3% Malbec with 13.5% alcohol.  The grapes are from a Franciscan Estates vineyard in Oakville blended with grapes from the cooler regions of southern Napa Valley including Oak Knoll.  The wine is aged for 18 months in small oak barrels. This wine has rich dark fruit flavors accented by flavors of licorice

I was in Total Wine and More recently with a specific list of wines to buy using a coupon before it expired.  It was Friday and beside the usual tasting table, a winery representative was pouring samples of Z. Alexander Brown Uncaged red wines.  I tried each of them and was particularly impressed with the tri-county Pinot Noir. Country music star Zac Brown is well known as a foodie and wine fan and he has now teamed with Delicato Family Wines to produce Z. Alexander Brown Uncaged wines.  Zac is involved in the entire process from label design to blending of the fermented grapes. This wine is sourced from three great Pinot Noir regions - Monterrey County, Napa County and Sonoma County.  The batches of grapes are aged separately in French and American oak then blended and bottled.  The wine has a hefty 14.5% alcohol. When I first tasted the wine in the store, I noted that there was something different than I usually taste in Pinot Noir.  The tasting sample size was so small that I