South Carolina Wine Joe

My local Costco, has had this Tinazzi Vino Rosso for a few weeks.  This is one of those wines that Costco spreads around to a few warehouses, so you may not find it everywhere.  The first things you notice are that this is the heaviest glass bottle you will ever lift, it has beautiful embossing in the glass bottle, and someone in Italy has rated this wine at 98 points.  While I may not be experienced with 98 point wines, I am reasonably sure you cannot buy one at Costco for $15.99. Neither the bottle or the winery website list the grapes in the blend or where in Italy that the grapes were grown.  There are some bloggers online that list this information, but I believe this was originally speculation that was accepted as fact by some other writers.  It is hard to compare this wine to others in its category without this information. I really enjoyed drinking this wine.  It is a rich, fruit forward blend of cranberry, black cherry, blueberry and licorice f...

I was in my local LIDL this week, so I detoured over to the wine department.  I had not been in the store for a while and I was surprised to find this new Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.  The wine is part of the LIDL North American Sommelier Collection, so it may not be available in the European LIDL stores.  The Willamette Valley lies east of the Coastal Mountain Range and west of the Cascade Mountains as described in the name of this wine. Cascade West Pinot Noir is produced by Union Wine Company, Tualatin Oregon.  Union Wine Company is the maker of Underwood Wines and Kings Ridge Wines.  Last summer, Union Wine made a series of "LoveJoy" wines sold only at Lidl.  Underwood Oregon Pinot Noir sells at Total Wine for $14.99 and Kings Ridge Willamette Valley Pinot Noir sells for $20.99 (Total Wine is a little overpriced on these wines). The wine is a dark cherry red color in the glass.  The wine begins with bright flavors of raspberry and cherry but f...

Since my trip to Oregon, I cannot get enough Oregon Pinot Noir.  On my last trip to my local wine shop (Wine Xpress, Simpsonville SC), I browsed the great selection of Pinots and chose Argyle Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.  Argyle is often best known for sparkling wine but they also make great Chardonnay, Reisling and of course Pinot Noir. The Argyle Pinot Noir that I purchased is part of their growers series and is the lowest priced of their Pinots.  The wine pours a lighter cherry color than some others I have tried lately, so I was expecting a lighter fruit flavored wine.  That is exactly how the initial sip began with cherry, strawberry and cranberry flavors followed by minor black cherry.  The wine reflects the cool climate and the red soil of the Dundee region, where Argyle is located.  I really appreciate that Oregon wine laws are so strict that the wine you taste reflects the grapes and the winemaker has not included additives to make the wine ta...

Last year, I loved the 2011 Kirkland Signature Ribera del Duero Gran Reserva which I reviewed at  https://scwinejoe.blogspot.com/2017/09/kirkland-signature-ribera-del-duero.html .  The wine has finally reappeared at my local Costco and I quickly grabbed s couple of bottles.. As I noted last year, a "Gran Reserva" Ribera del Duero must be aged 5 years with at least 2 years aged in oak.  The back label notes that this wine was aged in new French oak for 13 months and then in American oak for 25 months.  Finally it was aged for 24 more months after bottling.  You would expect a wine with that amount of handling and aging to be expensive but Costco sells this for $12.99. This is not a heavy wine, but it is very rich in black fruit with chocolate tones, dusty tannins and a very nice finish.  I recommend that you give this a try. SC Wine Joe rating = 91 points

The current Trader Joe's Fearless flyer features Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Yountsville in Napa Valley.  I reviewed the 2015 vintage of the wine a year ago and I liked it, but not as much as I expected to.  Since, I generally enjoy the Platinum Reserve wines, I wanted to try the 2016 vintage. The first thing you notice about this wine in the glass is the very dark color.  The color and the aroma alert you that this will be a rich, dark flavored wine.  Indeed there are flavors of blackberries.  There is some smoke and vanilla but those flavors are much more in balance with the fruit than last years wine.  The tannins are also in balance and the finish has some licorice flavor, even reminding me of black jelly beans.  The wine has 14.5% alcohol.  This is a terrific wine which I found far superior to the 2015 wine. SC Wine Joe rating = 91 points

The best wine pairing for the typical Thanksgiving turkey dinner is a lighter, fruit flavored wine.  This will enhance the flavors of the food rather than overpower it.  Some choose Riesling, Pinot Gris or some other white wine but in recent years I have chosen a lighter bodied Pinot Noir.  This year we will accent our dinner with a Rose' of Pinot Noir.  A good choice is the Acrobat Rose' of Pinot Noir which I reviewed in September,( https://scwinejoe.blogspot.com/2018/09/acrobat-rose-of-pinot-noir-oregon-2017.html ). The wine that we will have this year is Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate Rose'of Pinot Noir.  This is a dry, medium bodied Rose' with flavors of red cherry and some tropical fruit.  The bright acidity makes this a great pairing for our turkey dinner.  I purchased this wine from the winery ($24) and you will not likely find it at your retail outlet.  You likely can find the Acrobat mentioned above or some other Rose' of Pinot Noir...

Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer for November 2018 is featuring their VINTJS Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, which they are selling for $8.99.  They are anticipating that you might select this Pinot Noir to accompany your Thanksgiving turkey or ham. For the past several months, we have been enjoying several Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs and I have written on this blog about several of them.  I can assure you that none of them cost under $10.  So, I had to bring home a couple of bottles to see if this is a fantastic Trader Joe's bargain (or not). Neither the Fearless Flyer nor the bottle give any useful information to judge the wine.  As with most Trader Joe's wines, we do not know who grew the grapes or made the wine.  The bottle says the wine is vinted by ABJ Wines, Geyserville CA.but that is just a paper company to hide the actual maker of the wine. The first thing you notice is that this is a 2017 vintage, so it is very young.  The second thing you notice...