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Rick's Red Wine Reviews & Recommendations

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Rick's Red Wine Reviews & Recommendations Rick’s Grape Skinny [email protected] January 2015 “Said the Mosquito to the Frog…it is better to die in wine than to live in water!” (A Wise…but alas…an Anonymous Mosquito) The Skinny on 3. Wine Enthusiast – Considered by many to Professional Wine Ratings! have the most reliable reviews. Only From whence do they come? wines rated 80 and above are published. Well, I can think of a good many answers to this 95-100 – Superb, Great Wine 90-94 = Excellent, Extremely Well-made basic question…and a couple of them would be 85-89 = Very Good, Could be Outstanding Value entirely impolite! So…in sparing you further 80-84 = Good, Solid, Suitable Everyday Wine insight into my admittedly wry – maybe even warped -- sense of humor, let’s just say that for 4. Wine & Sprits – Considered by many to the most part, the wine ratings that we tend to have the most objective reviews. Noted see...generally come from a fairly small circle of for its 2-step assessments – first by invited professionals who are associated with a handful panelists then by an in-house Critic. of trade publications. Think about that…people 95-100 = Superlative, Rare Find who make their living tasting and assessing the 90-94 = Exceptional Exemplar by Type 86-89 = Highly Recommended attributes of wine. Be still my beating heart! 80-85 = Good Examples by Variety or Region Major Raters and What the Scores Mean 5. Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar -- In a nutshell, five publications account for the Tanzer is the chief Taster and ratings bulk of the wine ratings that you and I are likely focus on comparing wines within peer to see or hear about in the US. All use a form of groups and how they stack up against a 100 point scale to indicate wine quality…a tool their expected quality during periods of popularized by Robert Parker, America’s most peak drinkability! If you figure out what influential wine Critic…and all assess color and that means…please let me know!! A “+” appearance, aroma and bouquet, flavor and earmarks wines whose scores could finish, and overall quality level…with wrinkles! improve over time. ?? Another enigma! 95-100 = Extraordinary 90-94 = Outstanding 1. The Wine Advocate – Robert Parker’s 85-89 = Very Good to Excellent globally distributed “digital” publication 80-84 = Good – arguably the most read and respected 75-79 = Average resource of its kind in the world. 70-74 = Below Average 96-100 = Extraordinary 90-95 = Outstanding There are a number of other “power raters” in 80-89 = Barely Above Average to Very Good the game…like James Suckling, and England’s 70-79 = Average, Little Distinction eno-royalty, Jancis Robinson, Clive Coates (both 60-69 = Below Average, Drinkable but Deficient of whom use a 20 point Rating Scale) and 50-59 = Poor, Unacceptable, Not Recommended Michael Broadbent, etc.. But despite all this tasting talent at our disposal…at the end of the 2. Wine Spectator – James Laube is the most day, we don’t drink the ratings do we!? Indeed noted Critic of this venerable publication. we don’t…so rather than get in a tizzy about 95-100 = Classic, great wine who’s right, who’s out-to-lunch or who’s best – 90-94 = Outstanding, Superior Character and Style just use the Ratings you see as guides and as 80-89 = Good to Very Good, Special Qualities 70-79 = Average, Drinkable, May Have Minor Flaws subjective indicators of general quality. Over 60-79 = Below Avg., Drinkable, Not Recommended time, you’ll get to know the Critics and whose 50-59 = Poor, Undrinkable Ratings are most likely to float your boat! Toast of the Month “Here’s to New Year Resolutions! To the fools who make them and to the weaklings who break them!” (Anonymous Reveler) Bunch of the Month Reds Monastrell/ Mourvêdre/Mataro (Monastrell Red Blend in Spain, Mourvêdre in France & Mataro in Australia) Bergevin Lane Linen 2011 Hécula 2012 Soft, Fruit-forward, & Silky Smooth & Sinfully Splendid! Delicious!(Yecla, Spain)/$10-$12 – From one of (Walla Walla, WA)//$12-$14 Spain’s most respected growing regions, Yecla, and Just when you think you’re going to taste yet the much respected Bodegas Castaño, this is not another delicious but otherwise run-of-the-mill Red only a delicious and very well-crafted wine – on Blend…up pops this amazingly straight-forward that consistently earns ratings of 90 points and dazzler that made me pause and really take notice of higher -- but it’s also a sensational value! Variously just how well-made, polished and refined it was. known as the Mourvêdre and Mataro – the With lusciously mature fruit from vineyards in Monastrell grape is known worldwide for its Washington’s Columbia Valley, this union of 57% essential succulence. With nearly 40% of the Merlot and 47% Syrah was aged as separate varietal world’s Monastrell crop being grown in Spain, it wines for 16 months in new French oak…then should be no surprise that it’s one of Spain’s most meticulously and carefully blended to achieve a prized varietals. With endeavors that are 100% beautifully balanced wine with exceptional finesse. dedicated to the perfection of making wine from the Veteran Washington Winemaker, Dave Harvey, has Monastrell grape, Bodegas Castaño Founder and managed to produce one of the best wine values principal winemaker, Ramon Castaño Santa, is I’ve run across in a good long while…and if you considered to be one of Spain’s foremost pioneers don’t see this beauty on the shelves of our favorite in the wine industry…and one of the chief reasons wine shop, make sure you ask for it!! You’ll be for Spain’s success in the international wine market. very glad you did! http://bergevinlane.com/ To showcase the fruit, this vintage was aged for only 6 months in “experienced” American oak and Tikal Patriota 2012 the result will make you shout -- Salud! Deep, Dark & Dazzlingly Delicious! http://www.bodegascastano.com/ (Mendoza, Argentina)/$20-$25 – If ever there was a perfectly named wine, this inky dark Ernesto White Catena expression of 60% Malbec and 40% White Blend Bonarda would definitely be in the running. It’s Daou Vineyards 2013 Chemin de Fleurs called Patriota, meaning the patriot, as a special A Sensational and Succulent Mélange! tribute to Argentina’s “two” Signature red (Central Coast – Paso Robles, CA)/$35-$40 grapes…grapes that accounted for the foundation of Wow…what an incredible and irresistible white wine Argentina’s wine industry. Aged for 12 months in a blend! And what a complimentary, if fairly unusual, trio combination of 70% new French oak and 30% of varietals! This merger of 55% Grenache Blanc, 26% Viognier and 19% Roussanne is indeed a marriage made previously used American oak, this fruit-forward, in heaven! Chemin de Fleurs -- which translates roughly luscious and perfectly balanced blend is a stunning to path of flowers -- is a silky smooth and sinfully exemplar that not only showcases Argentina’s delectable blend that was aged for seven months…on the national red grapes but it also puts on parade the lees…in once-used French oak barrels -- an approach magical winemaking prowess of Ernesto Catena. that adds an intriguing degree of substance and http://www.tikalwines.com complexity to its structure and character. This is nothing short of “happiness in a bottle!” http://www.daouvineyards.com .
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