South Carolina Wine Joe

We are supporting our favorite wineries by purchasing directly from them.  One purchase we made was from Willamette Valley Vineyards in Oregon.  This purchase included a bottle of Viognier from Willamette Valley Vineyards' Griffen Creek brand of Rogue Valley wines. Rogue Valley AVA is located in southern Oregon and it is the warmest and driest wine grape region in Oregon.  Although the acreage of wine grapes is small, a wide variety of grapes are grown due to the differences of terrior throughout the region. Griffen Creek Viognier is a very aromatic wine from the time you pull the cork following into the glass.  Floral and peach aromas burst into the room.  Sparkling peach, pineapple and lemon flavors continue into the finish and beyond.  There is an additional flavor at the back of the mouth that I could not name, but it could be honey.  This is not a one dimensional wine and we thoroughly enjoyed each glass. Willamette Valley Vineyards sel...

My shipment arrived from Shelton Vineyards yesterday, and the first bottle that we opened was the 2016 Cabernet Franc.  In working on this post, I noticed that the label on my bottle identifies this as being from the North Carolina AVA whereas the bottle shown on the website shows it as from the Yadkin Valley AVA and "Estate Bottled".  If we had not enjoyed the wine so much, we would have been quite upset. The back label says the wine was aged 18 months in a combination of French and American oak.  The alcohol content is 11.6% which is not that low for a North Carolina wine. The wine is a medium red color which you can see through, so you know this will not be a heavy wine.  As expected, this Cabernet Franc is a medium bodied wine with cherry and black cherry flavors.  There is a little black pepper and oak on the finish.  I really like this lighter style of Cabernet Franc.  The regular price for the wine is $14.99 and I received a 20% discount ...

This is a difficult time for those wineries that are dependent on tasting room sales.  If you are able, this is the time to support your favorite producers by ordering wine directly from the source.  If you are close enough, drive to the winery and take home a few bottles.  Some of the wineries have drive thru pickup and you do not have to leave your car.  If you cannot drive to the winery, you can have wine shipped to you.  Some wineries are offering free shipping, others are offering discounts and a few are offering both free shipping and a discount. In the past week, we found these offers that we took advantage of: Willamette Valley Vineyards is offering free shipment on orders of $150 and a discount on orders of 6 or 12 bottles. Shelton Vineyards  (Yadkin Valley NC) is offering free shipment and a 20% discount on any 6 bottles. This is an opportunity to purchase some interesting wine and do a good thing in the process.  Costco, Trader Joe'...

A reader of this blog came back from Argentina and relayed how impressed he was with the Cabernet Franc from high elevations of Mendoza.  Since that time, I have found only a few bottles of Cabernet Franc from Argentina and they were not special.  However, I recently found Catena San Carlos Cabernet Franc 2017 at a local wine shop. Catena is a major wine producer in Argentina with a long family history.  This wine is 100% Cabernet Franc grown at the San Carlos Vineyard, elevation 3576 feet. We tasted this wine along with a favorite Virginia Cabernet Franc and a Chinon Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley of France.  On this night, we enjoyed the Catena Cabernet Franc more than the other two.  This is a medium bodied wine with flavors of Raspberry and Black cherry with fine tannins.  Robert Parker rated this wine at 90 points and I think he got it right.  I paid $21.99 for the wine and that seems to be about an average price. SC Wine Joe rating = ...

Wine Jane and I are part of a generation considered to be "at risk" in the current pandemic, so we are hibernating in place with little to do, other than to try new wines and write about them.  Well, it beats working on the taxes!    My favorite Syrah wines come from the Columbia Valley.  A few months ago, I blogged about a Red Mountain Syrah, which I loved.   When I was last in the local wine shop and looking for wines for my mixed case in order to take advantage of my 15% off coupon, I chose Barnard Griffin Syrah. Barnard Griffin Syrah Columbia Valley is 96% Syrah and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The Syrah is from the Desert Aire Vineyard which is located in the Wahluke slope region. This region has one of the warmest and driest climates in Washington.  Several highly rated Cabernet Sauvignons and Syrahs originate in the Wahluke slope AVA. We taste cherry, dark cherry and cola with oak and spice on the finish.  This is a very tasty wi...

Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Chalk Hill Sonoma County 2018 is featured in the current issue of the Fearless Flyer.  As far as I can tell, this is the first version of the wine for Trader Joe's.  Since I usually find the Grand Reserve wines to be excellent choices, I placed this on my shopping list. Chalk Hill is an AVA carved out of the northeast corner of the larger Russian River Valley AVA and it gets it's name from the white volcanic ash in the soil.  Although Chalk Hill is best known for Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, you can also find Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. From the nose, you expect plum and blackberry, but in the mouth I also found cherry and blueberry with a spicy finish.  To my taste, the wine is dominated by light fruit flavors and needs more dark fruit into the finish.  All in all, this is good wine for the $12.99 cost, but not as good as some other recent Grand Reserve and Platinum Reserve Trader Joe's Cab...

Last week, I arrived at Costco just after Owen Roe Sinister Hand was placed in the bins and after the wine manager pointed it out to me, I added it to my haul.  (It is always good to make the wine manager your friend)  This is a Yakima Valley Washington version of a Rhone wine,  56% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 20% Mourvedre and 4% Cinsaut. The Yakima Valley AVA is part of the larger Columbia Valley AVA and includes sub-AVAs Red Mountain and Rattlesnake Hills.  It is bordered on the south by the Horse Heaven Hills AVA.  This is one of the most important wine regions in Washington. Sinister Hand is a medium bodied wine with flavors of raspberry and dark cherry and a spicy finish.   We found it to be a very enjoyable, flavorful wine with enough bite to pair with a variety of foods.  Online, the wine sells for $20 to $27 but Costco had it for $14.59.   I will buy it again for that price. SC Wine Joe rating = 90 points

Costco annually has several Kirkland Signature wines priced under $10 that are fantastic values.  Cotes du Rhone, Chianti Clasico and this Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough New Zealand come quickly to mind and they are extremely popular, selling out quickly. You will note "TI Point" on the front label.  While TI point is a coastal New Zealand penninsula, in this instance, TI Point is the name of a winery that began on that penninsula.  The grapes for this wine are sourced from vineyards elsewhere in Marlborough.  The winemaker is Tracy Haslam, the winemaker and co-founder of TI Point Vineyard.  I know of no other Kirkland Signature wine that has the producer on the front label. Sauvignon Blanc is the most planted grape in New Zealand.  In fact, 86% of the wine exported from the country is Sauvignon Blanc.  Marlborough, in the southern island, is internationally known for a style of Sauvignon Blanc that often has grassy green flavors. Kirkland Sign...

It had been a while since I had a Spanish red wine and Costco had a couple in the bins that looked interesting.  The first was a Tempranillo from an unfamiliar region and we did not find it very blog worthy.  The other was Siglo Rioja Gran Reserva, 2009.  I first noted the 2009 vintage of the wine.  While 10 and a half years since harvest is a long time for a wine found on store shelves, it is not rare for a Rioja Gran Reserve.  The minimum requirement for a Rioja Gran Reserva is 2 years in oak and 3 years in the bottle, but because these are the best grapes,  the winemaker will often age the wine as long as needed to achieve his desired end result. I note some cherry and spice on the nose and the flavors began with cherry and blueberry, finishing with darker berries and spice.  We really enjoyed this wine on the first night, and enjoyed it only sightly less on the second night as we finished up the bottle.   Wine and Spirits rated thi...