Showing posts with label Bordeaux Blend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bordeaux Blend. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Review: Blackbird 2017 'Arise' Bordeaux Blend ($50)

Blackbird Arise RedIt's not cheap, but as Napa Cab or Bordeaux-style blends go, this is a screaming value. You could compare it to Cain V, but it's much cleaner and precise. The nose is positively perfumed with berries, tarragon, and anise notes, and the wine is seamless and harmonious on the palate, fresh, juicy and complex with blueberry, raspberry and black currant fruit and a little bit of excellent, well-seasoned French oak. Beautifully blended by winemaker Aaron Pott. (93 Points)

- Tim Teichgraeber

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Review: Buty 2016 Conner Lee Vineyard Merlot / Cabernet Franc Columbia Valley, WA ($45)

Buty's Conner Lee is more than dependable, but I really have to tip my hat to the 2016 edition. This 2016 vintage seems to have produced an incredible cornucopia of really fresh, lively wines all up and down the West Coast. We all know Washington State is rightfully proud of its Merlot, and that side of this wine very nicely, but the minority blend of 41% Cabernet Franc really shines through in the violet, blackberry, boysenberry, mint and tobacco notes that run through the aromas and flavors of this very approachable, serious red. This is a very hard wine to put down. (94 Points)

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Review: Decoy 2014 Sonoma County Red Wine ($25)

I'm always impressed with the prices that Duckhorn charges for its higher end Napa Valley wines. They tend to get pretty high prices. Then again, when I taste them, I often appreciate the precision of the winemaking and the quality of the fruit that goes into Duckhorn wines. At their heart, they're very direct, generous, sunny California wines, but they're also extremely well made, and you can tell that there is a lot of subtle hard work that goes into blending them.

Decoy is the Duckhorn's "everyday" label of wines priced mostly in the $25 range, though you may find them for $19.99 with some regularity. The 2014 Decoy red blend is a damn good value, mostly because it is so precisely blended.% Petite Sirah, 8% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot with aromas of black cherry, cassis, tobacco leaf, and coriander spice, silky-textured black and red fruit and a supple finish. It isn't goopy, or sweet, or overly-oaked. It's a sophisticated  red blend that is miles better than a lot of the California red blends that you might find in the $15 to $25 price range these days. What's even more impressive is that they made nearly 50,000 cases of this wine. Get some. (91 Points)