South Carolina Wine Joe

I recently purchased Casa Santos Lima Colossal Reserva 2015 at Costco for $7.99.  As prominently shown on the bottle, Wine Spectator rated this wine at 90 points and included the wine on their 2017 list of top 100 wines (#60).  Buying such a prestigious wine for $8 was a no-brainer. Colossal Reserva is from the Lisboa wine region of Portugal, north and west of the City of Lisbon.  The region is long and thin near the Atlantic coast and the eastern portions are protected by hills providing warmer temperatures suited for red wine grapes. The wine is a blend of 30% Touriga Nacional, 30% Syrah, 30% Tinta Roriz and 10% Alacante Bouschet aged in both French and American oak.  The wine has 14% Alcohol. Colossal pours a dark ruby red color with aromas of red and black fruit.  The flavor is rich black fruit with an herbal tone.  The finish is a little spicy and peppery with medium tannins.  While this is a very good but unusual wine, I would not place it in the list of top 100 wines.  Nev

I did not plan to write about another Lidl Summer Wine Fair selection tonight.  I bought 6 wines on the first day of the wine fair to take advantage of the "mix and match 30% off six or more bottles" and I have written about 4 of the wines.  I was not impressed with the fifth selection (Corte Allodola Pinot Grigio).  I have now tasted the sixth wine, Untamed Vine Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, and this wine is such a good buy that I feel obligated to write about it before the 30% off sale ends about 24 hours from now. The Untamed Vine Cabernet Sauvignon is from the Alexander Valley region in Sonoma County.  This region extends northward from Healdsburg to the Mendocino County line and from the Russian River  to the Mayacamas Mountains.  We visited this area a few years ago stopping at tasting rooms for Simi and Rodney Strong wineries.  Alexander Valley is noted for rich, voluptuous Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  The soils can impart rich chocolate notes to the w

The fourth wine from the Lidl Summer Wine Fair is Blazing Earth Rutherford Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015.  This wine sells for $19.99 and is part of Lidl's regular Sommelier Selection line.  I never previously tried this wine, but buying it during the first week sale gave me a chance to try it for $13.99. The Rutherford AVA is centered on the town of Rutherford in the middle of the Napa Valley.  It is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. As with most Lidl wines, there is not much useful information on the label.  We know that the wine has 14.5% alcohol and was made in a sustainable winery.  The wine pours a rich dark ruby red with dark berry aromas.  Flavors noted include dark cherry and some spice.  There are some dusty tannins that are not overpowering.  This is a very enjoyable wine and a very nice buy for $14.  I might buy it for $20 but I would not rush to the store. I have tried to taste as many of the Lidl Summer Wine Fair selections as I can before the end of the

The third wine I tried from the Lidl spring wine fair is Cavatappi Sangiovese Columbia Valley.  This wine is produced by Precept Wine in Walla Walla, Washington.  Precept is the maker of Canoe Ridge, Waterbrook and Pendulum Wines which I previously enjoyed and wrote about. This Cavatappi is 100% Sangiovese aged for 5 months in neutral oak.  The wine pours a lighter shade of red than I expected with a sweet floral aroma.  For a red wine, this is light bodied with raspberry, strawberry, and black cherry flavors.  The finish came with unexpected tannins.  I was not that enthusiastic about this wine and there are better choices in the Lidl sale.  The wine is $8.99 and I paid $6.29 in their sale that ends May 23, 2018. SC Wine Joe rating = 86 points

Visigodo Rueda Verdejo is the second wine I tried from the Lidl summer wine fair.  This Spanish white wine is from the Rueda wine region on the Duoro River, 90 miles northwest of Madrid.  This region is west of Rioja and is known for white wines made predominately from the Verdejo grape. Yesterday, I wrote about the Love Joy white blend from Oregon.  If you poured me a glass of Visigodo Rueda Verdejo and told me that it was from a second bottle of Love Joy white blend, I would have totally believed you.  Visigodo Rueda Verdejo is a refreshing, easy drinking, dry, crisp summer wine that begins with citrus flavors.  If there is any difference from the Love Joy white blend it is that the finish is less grapefruit with more tannins.  The difference is very small.  The great thing about this wine is that it is only $4.99 at Lidl (half the price of Love Joy white) and with the 30% discount this week, I paid $3.50.  This has to be the best bargain of the Lidl summer wine fair. SC Wine Joe

LIDL has begun their summer wine fair.  Lidl's Master of Wine, Adam Lapierre selected 31 summer wines for this event and for the first week, May 17 thru May 23 you can mix and match 6 or more bottles for 30% off the regular price.  Some of the 31 wines are regular stock and some have been brought in for this event. As part of this event, Lidl is introducing Love Joy wines from Oregon.  This line of wines is unique to Lidl and will be available for a limited time.  The brightly colored labels, front and back, have limited useful information.  The only things we know are that the wines are produced by Union Wine Company in Tualatin, Oregon from unknown grape varietals harvested somewhere in Oregon in 2017 and the wine has 12.5% alcohol.  Online, I learned that Union Wine Company is located south of Portland and is best known for producing Underwood wines in bottles and cans.  The Love Joy wine collection includes white, Pinot Noir and rose' which all sell for $9.99 and discount

I have not seen Kirkland Signature Toscana at Costco in previous years so I assume it is a new offering this year.   Apparently, it has been in some Costco warehouses for a few weeks but it just arrived in Greenville.  Sometimes Costco works in mysterious ways. This wine is a 80% Sangiovese with 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot.  It is classified as a "Super Tuscan" because it is predominantly the Italian grape Sangiovese blended with small amounts of French varietals.  I purchased two bottles and I liked the second better than the first.  Sometimes there can be a difference between bottles but more often, two wine days are different so I will be giving my impressions of the second bottle. This is a medium bodied wine with flavors of dark cherry and raspberry.  The tannins are smooth and the finish is crisp and long lasting.  Although this can be an informal wine, there is good quality here for the $13.99 price and I will buy more.  SC Wine Joe rating = 89 points

We just returned from a trip to the Yadkin Valley, North Carolina wine country.  Since, the Yadkin Valley is only 150 miles from home, we have visited the area several times in the past.  This trip was less enjoyable for several reasons, including that some of the wineries had sold out of their best wines with new vintages not yet released.  The wines we did drink were not as good as we remembered in the past.  Here are our reflections on the wineries we visited: West Bend Vineyards West Bend was one of the early vineyards in North Carolina and produced some excellent wines.  The winery closed a few years ago and reopened in October 2016 under new owners Walt and Sonya Breathwit.  The new owners razed the old inadequate tasting room and winery and built a new state of the art facility.  The vines were neglected during the closure and the new owners are working hard to restore the vineyard.  Some of their current wines are made with grapes from other sources.  We were served by Sonya

Bogle Phantom is a popular red blend from California.  The wine is a blend of 42% Petite Sirah, 34% Zinfandel, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot aged 24 months in one and two year old American oak.  The alcohol content is 14.5% by volume. The wine name and the bottle label evoke feelings of mystery and suspense lurking in the shadows.  The wine pours a dark ruby color with aromas of raisins and spice.  There are many concentrated flavors layered into this wine.  I detected black cherry, blackberry, cherry cola, vanilla and some baking spice with dusty tannins.  This wine was quite different from the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominated red blends we have been drinking lately and we really enjoyed the Phantom! The Greenville Costco is currently selling the Phantom for $14.99 and Total Wine and More sells it for $16.99.  Otherwise you will probably pay about $20 in a grocery.  We have stocked up a few bottles while it is available at Costco. SC Wine Joe rating = 90 point