This G5 Puerta Bonita came recommended by my dad, who’d gotten some in October last year at Highland Wine. He raved about this one, so I had to give it a try. I’ve had mixed reviews with Grenachas, so I figured this tasting could go either way.

Well, as they say – father knows best. This wine rocks, hands down. From 120-year-old vines, they only make about 1,100 cases – with 900 imported to the US, so I’m not sure how widely available you’ll find this one. If you run across it, definitely give it a shot.

Origin: Madrid, Spain
Where: Highland Wine
Price: $15ish
Next time: Get a case!

I had high hopes for this $13 California Cab. Unfortunately, I wasn’t overly impressed.

According to the website:

Our Rio Vaca estate vineyard lies 10 miles east of the famed Napa Valley, separated only by the craggy Vaca Mountains. Planted in ancient volcanic and alluvial soils, majestic 25-year-old vines produce grapes with complex and concentrated flavors.

The Vaca Cabernet Sauvignon was fermented in small, separate lots then aged in 60-gallon barrels. reserve lots of Syrah were cold-soaked prior to fermentation. Cold-soaking extracts darker, concentrated colors and fruits leaving behind harsh tannins.

The wine was aged 14 months in barrels, 25% new. a blend of 60% American, 20% French, and 20% Hungarian oak adds toasty vanilla, clove, and cedar highlights. the results is a dark wine, ruby in color, with ripe blackberry and plum flavors. Layered with velvety tannins, the finish is long and enduring.

The high acidity as well as the cedar and oak notes are the source of my sub-par opinion of the Vaca Cab, but if those characteristics appeal to you, give it a try.

Origin: California
Where: Highland Wine
Price: $13
Next time: I’ll pass.

I remember trying this wine for the first time a couple of years ago at New Year’s, and loving it. This wine is a great example of what two years of tasting some really excellent wines can do to your palate. I’ll tell you what… it makes this wine taste like a horrible fruit bomb, an extreme adult version of fruit punch.

I’d say, if you’re a newbie to wine, give this one a try. You might enjoy it. Otherwise, steer clear.

Either way, do go to their website and check out this extremely fun game – Ad Libs! W and I have found it’s really more fun the more inappropriate the words are that you put in.

Origin: Vin de Pays D’Oc, France
Where: Publix
Price: around $10
Next time: I’ll pass.

This Big Bang Rioja, also called “BB” made it to my wine collection by way of Highland Wine’s monthly wine club (one of the best things I’ve ever signed up for!). The accompanying wine notes recommended pairing this powerful wine with roasted lamb with rosemary and garlic. Wouldn’t you know that’s exactly what our friends the Glovers cooked for our New Year’s Day feast! Perfect.

We uncorked the Big Bang with high expectations — and it delivered! This blended wine is composed of 50% Garnacha, 40% Tempranillo, and 10% Graciano. Wine Advocate describes this wine as:

The Garnacha was raised in concrete vats, the Tempranillo and Graciano in oak for nine months. Dark ruby colored, it offers up an exceptionally spicy nose (from the Graciano) along with floral notes, underbrush, cassis, cherry, and plum. Medium-to full-bodied on the palate, it has layers of flavor, excellent acidity, savory fruit, and enough structure to evolve for 2-3 years. It will be at its best from 2010 to 2017.

I’d tried some Riojas in the past at tastings and was never particularly fond of them. The more I’ve thought about it, I think it comes down to the massive power of these wines – oftentimes, they have strong tannins, so they’re just not going to come across at their best at a tasting without a big powerful meat to go with it. They’re just too much to really enjoy as a solo beverage. So next time you have a spicy, flavorful lamb – definitely give this wine a try!

Origin: Rioja, Spain
Where: Highland Wine
Price: $17
Next time: Get a glass!

The Torre del Falasco Corvina was one of the first I tried in 2010 while celebrating the new year in Blue Ridge, Georgia. It’s only $9, which is great. Unfortunately, I wasn’t blown away by the flavor. It was lighter bodied than I was expecting it to be, more on the dry side, medium tannins. Just didn’t blow my socks off.

I’m not too familiar with the Corvina grape at this point, so I checked out this Italian native on Wikipedia. It’s no wonder I wasn’t blown away by the flavor – Wikipedia describe the grape as:

Corvina produces light to medium body wines with a light crimson coloring. The grapes naturally high acidity can make the wine somewhat tart with a slight, bitter almond note. The finish is sometimes marked with sour cherry notes.

Not sure I’ll be spending much time in the future on evaluating Corvinas.

Origin: Italy
Where: Highland Wine
Price: $9
Next time: I’ll pass.

Wine number two from New Year’s Eve, the Simonnet-Febre Pinot Noir is a tasty, enjoyable Pinot from southern France, especially for the price. Price-wise, I’d compare this to something like a Jargon or a Hangtime, something affordable enough to drink often and without too much fuss. Taste-wise, it knocks those guys out of the water – great strawberry flavors as well as soft, yummy tannins with a great balance. This wine is tied with Lucky Star Pinot for my top economy Pinot.

Origin: Vin de Pays des Portes de Mediterranee, France
Where: Highland Wine
Price: Need to verify, but I think it was under $10
Next time: Get a case!

A New Year’s Eve wine, this Molnar Family Pinot Noir was a treat to help ring in the new year during our celebrations with friends in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Coincidentally, I’ve recently written about another wine called Obsidian Ridge – it just so happens that Molnar Family and Obsidian Ridge are made by the same great folks over at the Tricycle Wine Co. (remember the cool Fly Over video?) That’s one of the things I love about delving just a bit deeper into wine – you start running across the same names and the same locales… winemakers coming and going to different wineries, family-owned and generational vineyards, fun collaborations between top talent. You really start to see the wine community as an evolving organism in itself. And at the same time, it reminds me of the music industry – nothing is ever set in stone, each artist is always trying to create something new and different, maybe even inspiring… and it’s so fun when different artists join forces and learn from each other about the craft they love so much. I get the feeling it might be a similar world in the wine craft.

If you’re interested in the more technical aspects of the wine making as it relates to the climate and geological/topographical features of the land, then be sure to check out their description of the Poseidon Vineyard where these grapes originate (here’s a short snippet from their site):

At high tide the river tastes of salt, a reminder of the sea’s proximity and reach as well as an inspiration for the name Poseidon. Pacific winds blow through the Petaluma Gap from the west and bring cooling fog throughout the spring, summer, and fall, tempering the generosity of California sun. Although Poseidon was the god of water, in his additional role of god of earthquakes he created the uplifted Mayacamas Range, which provides the soils and gravel of our vineyard.

With this inaugural New Year’s Eve beauty, you’ll find a beautiful ruby-hued wine with very fresh berry flavors and a great balance with the tannins. If you like the Morande Pionero Pinot Noir, then you’d LOVE this Molnar (except for the price difference). Give it a try with this yummy baked brie and mushroom appetizer – you won’t be sorry! Even better, if you’re lazy in the kitchen like I am, don’t even worry about the thyme and just use pre-sliced, pre-washed white or baby bella mushrooms from the grocery store. Easy.

Origin: Carneros, Napa Valley, California
Where: Highland Wine
Price: $26
Next time: Get a glass!

Another Christmas wine (in conjunction with Le Signal’s Carignan), the Eos Estates Petite Syrah was a fun wine to try out. With family in town and a new dinner entree recipe (Cornish hens), my dad and I put this Petite Syrah to the test again the Le Signal – before and with both appetizer and the main course. You might remember that the Le Signal wasn’t so hot as a solo wine. It was just too tannic and overpowering on its own – with food, it was amazing though. On the other hand, the Eos Estate Petite Syrah was a dark garnet, purplish hue and so smooth and balanced on its own. It was  heavenly! Then with food, it just mellowed out a bit more, maintaining that wonderful smooth quality and less noticeable tannins. I think that’s what I’ve fallen in love with regarding Petite Syrahs (like another favorite, Spellbound).

You’ll find lots of fruit in this unbelievable wine, as described on their website tasting notes:

NOSE: Dark plum, raspberry, black cherry, and blueberry introduce this wine to the senses with hints of licorice, smoke, and leather.
MOUTH: Bright fruit of raspberry introduces the palate to the darker fruit characters of blackberry, cassis, and blueberry leading into rich velvety textures.
FINISH: A wonderful medium length finish with silky textures of leather, smoke, and bakers chocolate round out the wine.

Next family occasion – grab a bottle of this Eos Estate Petite Syrah (or their delicious Zinfandel) and give thanks :)

Origin: Paso Robles, California
Where: Highland Wine
Price: $16
Next time: Get a case!

I was a little hesitant to try this wine at first – Skip from Highland Wine basically described Le Signal one as a huge blueberry aroma! I thought it was going to be a huge blueberry fruit bomb, totally weird, and what the heck would it go with. So this was a “let’s give it a shot” at Christmas-time when my parents visited. My dad and I compared Le Signal against the Eos Estate Petite Sirah (more on that one later). We also had fun comparing wines poured with and without his new Vintue Wine Aerator.

I’m a big fan of Sweetwater Beer’s Sweetwater Blue beer, with powerful hints of blueberry flavors. Having experienced – and enjoyed – that beer, it’s easy to pick up on the blueberry notes in this wine. Luckily, I don’t have the insanely powerful sense of smell that Skip has, so I wasn’t completely overwhelmed by a blueberry bomb going off in the kitchen.

My dad and I first tried this wine before dinner, with and without some baked brie and mushrooms appetizer. Without food, the tannins are pretty powerful and overwhelming. I’d suggest saving this one for a heavier appetizer or a nice dinner – we had a few delicious Cornish Hens as our Christmas dinner stars, and the wine was an excellent accompaniment. But before dinner, go for something lighter.

Now, on to the story of the wine. Label is iconic but not overly interesting. Two-toned icon of a truck with wine casks on the flat truck bed/trailer area. The story is interesting though – from the label and the website:

In the 1920’s, Louis Lignères delivered the domaine’s wines with his Berliet barrel-carrier truck to the Pyrenees Mountains. His customers couldn’t be impatient: it took him 22 hours at an average speed of 11km/h (6.8mph) to go from Alaric Mountain to Lourdes! And he announced his arrival with the Signal of the truck’s characteristic horn.

Pretty neat. And… I’m also intrigued by grapes I’m not very familiar with – this one being primarily Carignan (also spelled Carignane), a historically popular French grape. This blend is Carignan 80% , Grenache 10%, Syrah 5%, Mourvèdre 5%. I recently read an interesting article mentioning Carignan in Wine Spectator (by the way, I’m appalled by their obvious typos and grammatical errors in each issue) how it is being replaced with more popular New World grapes like Merlot and Syrah. Le Signal is a prime example of why traditional grape varieties should be preserved – and more importantly, why they should be flourishing!

So try something new – Carignan – and expect greatness; you’ll find it in Le Signal!

Origin: Chateau la Baronne, Montagne d’Alaric, France
Where: Highland Wine
Price: $19
Next time: Get a glass!

I’ll admit, I’m a huge fan of the screw cap / twist off wines! It’s just so convenient, and I don’t have to worry about a corked wine… or forgetting a wine opener if I’m out on a picnic! Even the fake corks are just plain annoying, as they’re so dense that it’s very difficult to get them off your wine opener once they’re out of the bottle. I’m a firm believer that screw cap is in no way an indicator on quality. I’ve had twist offs that were great and awful, which is the same experience I’ve had with plastic and real corks.

So, I hope to see more wineries switch to screw caps in the future — as well as for wine snobs to get over their obsession with the cork.

In the spirit of screw caps, I’ve started a new tagging category – Screw cap – for all the Wine Shindig posts. If any wine is a screw cap, I’ll be sure to tag so if you’re looking for a screw cap wine to take on a picnic, you can easily go to that category and peruse those posts specifically.

A few great screw caps wines I’d recommend include:

• Angeline Pinot Noirs – Russian River Valley and others (California)
• Big Fire Pinot Noir (Oregon)
• Wirra Wirra Church Block Cabernet Sauvignon (Australia)
• Oyster Bay Pinot Noir (New Zealand)
• Starborough Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand)
• The Post Stones (South Africa)

Food & Wine editor Lettie Teague has an excellent article about screw caps wines. She makes some great points that screw caps do have a few potential failings, such as leakage. In addition, wine experts aren’t exactly sure how wines will age underneath a screw cap. Lucky for me, I’m not collecting anything so fancy at this point that it’s going to last for that long! I am interested to see how that evaluation goes in about 15+ years. On the bright side, at least you can store your screw caps vertically, instead of worrying with the horizontal storage irritation.