South Carolina Wine Joe

Costco has had La Gitana Gold Rioja Reserva 2015 in some stores as early as September 2019, but I just found it locally last week.  Costco's price of $11.99 seems to be about half of the original price and the bottle sports a sticker proclaiming that Wine Enthusiast thinks this warrants 94 points.  While I do not find many 94 point wines for under $12, I do often find Spanish wines that over-deliver for their price. La Gitana gold is made from Tempranillo grown on 60 year old vines in the Rioja region of northern Spain.  It is aged for 28 months in American oak and an additional 12 months in the bottle.  The alcohol content is stated as 14.5%. This wine improved significantly after 45 minutes, so I recommend aerating it accordingly.  I get aromas of cherry, blackcherry and vanilla in the glass.  I taste cherry, black cherry, spice, oak and minor blackberry.  This is a great wine for a small price and it is one of the best Spanish wines I have tasted in the past year.  I will

My recent delivery of wines from Jolo Vineyards included a bottle of Golden Hallows White Wine Blend.  Last year, I wrote about the 2016 vintage of this wine that I found at a wine shop.  I really enjoyed the 2016 but I think this 2019 is even better.  This wine was bottled and released 3 months after harvest, so it does not experience much aging.  With a wine like this, the current vintage is always better than one that is a couple of years old.  Jolo Golden Hallows 2019 is a blend of 75% Vidal Blanc and 25% Traminette, both French-American hybrid grapes.  The alcohol content is listed as 12.5%. We enjoyed flavors of pineapple, peach, tangerine and a little honey.  As I said in my previous review, this is summer in a glass.  Obviously, this is a great wine to enjoy on the patio but I wondered how it would be with food.  Well, we paired it with baked Mahi and it was terrific.  I highly recommend this summer treat. Jolo sells Golden Hallows for $26.  In North Carolina, Jolo wines

I have been drinking wine purchased directly from my favorite wineries for several weeks, but now feel that I can mix in some wines from big box retailers.  Therefore, I was quite happy to find this Canoe Ridge The Expedition Merlot at Costco.  Canoe Ridge has long been one of my favorite wine brands from the Columbia Valley and I always grab a few bottles anytime Costco has a Canoe Ridge wine. I have noticed that Canoe Ridge will vary the blends on their wines significantly from year to year.  Whereas the 2016 Merlot had 19% Syrah, the 2017 has no Syrah but blends 4% Cabernet Franc with 96% Merlot.  The 2017 Merlot spends one year in French Oak and the alcohol is stated as 13.5%. With this wine, I taste dark berry fruit with some cherry cola.  The tannins are medium intensity and the finish is long and slightly spicy.  I keep finding great values in red wine from Washington and this is no exception.  Wine Spectator rates this as 91 points  and I will rate it at 90 points.  Costco