NEWS FROM WINE OF THE MONTH CLUB Since 1972 April 2010 Wines evaluated last month: 362 Rejected: 330 Approved: 32 Selected: 8 What’s New CLASSIC SERIES LIMITED SERIES This Month? A nother month and We love this economy! see page 2 another host of wonderful Otherwise, our Hellbent Shiraz/ wines. The Classic Series Cabernet could have only been in the Limited Series if we Send Us Your starts out with yet one more blockbuster from limited it to ONE bottle. The email Address! Domaine Laurier. This time same goes for the Madrigal an absolutely perfect Cabernet, because if both were Enter to win a purchased together, these wines Chardonnay with mineral 3 liter bottle of wine once would have set you back each quarter. notes and an incredible nearly $80.00. Needless to say, finish. The Monte Lindo they won’t be around long. [email protected] Bonarda is a beautifully elegant offering that will Shiraz/Cabernet, 2007. stay with you as one of Hellbent, Australia the best reds ever. At these This is an enormous wine with The New Website is here, prices, they’re sure not to be plenty of extract and presence. around very long. This is the first blend of these the New Website is here! two grapes we’ve tasted from I am so thrilled to bring Chardonnay, 2008. Domaine France, and we’re wondering the membership our new Laurier, California where they’ve been all this time. It is more than just exciting, it’s website...same address, Lovely balance and style with hints of minerals thrilling. One taste and you’ll be new functionality. and apple. hellbent to get more. Try it with seasoned barbecued meats. Visit Bonarda, 2008. Monte www.wineofthemonthclub.com Lindo, Argentina Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005. Madrigal, Napa Valley, Another mouth filling California wine that refuses to be swallowed. More flavor An incredibly elegant wine with Gift Orders flavor and nuance for days. and more elegance for less see page 13 Could be confused with a $60 money. This lost grape was Bordeaux until you got to the fortunately found and we New Member checkout stand. This wine is just think the wine world is a beginning to show its stuff and Application better place as a result. will continue to do so for a very for a Friend Think of Merlot and Malbec long time. Don’t wait too long see page 19 fused together to create a as it will be gone faster than you soft, yet extracted wine. can say, “magical.” INSIDE THIS MONTH WINE OF THE MONTH CLUB NEWS 1 ORDER FORMS 11-14 WHAT ’S NEW ?2WOMC W INE RATING SCHEDULE 15 CLSC. CHARDONNAY , 2008. D OMAINE LAURIER 3 MEMBER COMMENTS 16 CLSC. B ONARDA , 2008. M ONTE LINDO 4 ADVENTURES IN GOOD FOOD 17 LTD. S HIRAZ /C AB . S AUV ., 2007. H ELLBENT 7 CLASSIC & L TD TASTING NOTES 18, 15 LTD. C ABERNET SAUVIGNON , 2005. M ADRIGAL 8 WORD ON THE STREET 20 Join us on the Web: www.WineoftheMonthClub.com A N OTE WHAT’S NEW THIS MONTH? FROM YOUR CELLARMASTER Wine is fascinating. Staying away from the clichés of the romanticism and aura around wine…let’s be more pragmatic. The Wine of the Month Club was founded on the principal that wine is a dynamic product. Not only does the wine in the bottle change before your very eyes over time, but each year the same vines from the same vineyards produce a wine from the same winemaker that can be entirely different than the previous year. If you were to try this with beer, you would be out of business promptly. You see, for those of us who drink beer, we ask for a particular Paul Kalemkiarian brand because we know what it tastes like - it needs to be the same year after year. Wine cannot be like that… How exciting is this? As I By nature it must be different. write this note, mid-March, Coffee carries some of the fascination that wine does. the Wine of the Month Club And it is subject to similar nuances, and of course it is Facebook page (www. agricultural. You expect coffees from Africa to carry facebook.com/wineofthe certain flavors and coffees from South America to be different in their own right. But try and describe monthclub just crossed over coffee. You end up with a few adjectives that really 10,000 fans! Wow...for aren’t that great at describing the flavors….Nutty, all of you that are fans... bold, mild, chocolate, spice, etc. There is a finite set of terms you can use. (Many of you may remember that thank you! And for those we had a club named Coffee House Discoveries. It was that will be...let's have some fun). But with wine, the descriptive terms are endless. fun! Look for new videos, First you have all of the fruit family to draw from...Some of the words I like to use are: green apple, wine talk and a little melon, cranberry, raspberry, dark fruit, lychee nut, craziness! I am looking grapefruit, plum, strawberry, banana, tropical fruit, forward to new discussions, guava…Seriously, for as many fruits as you have tasted, you can probably find a wine that will remind topics and comments. Check you of that fruit. Then there are the spices; nutmeg, out www.wineofthemonth clove, cinnamon, anise, sumac, pepper, vanilla, and the list just keeps growing. Let’s not forget all the club.tv for the latest videos. other organic descriptive including vegetables and Salud. things like cedar, tobacco, leather, dark chocolate, raisins, prunes, alcohol, and many, many more. Wine is fascinating and it will always be….Enjoy our Paul Kalemkiarian time together in the world of wine. Membership in the Wine of the Month Club is open to anyone with an interest and appreciation for superb wines... and excellent wine values. Membership is FREE. For more info write: Wine of the Month Club P.O. Box 660220, Arcadia, CA 91066 Or call: 1-800-949-WINE (9463) or (626) 303-1690 FAX: (626) 303-2597 Visit us at: www.WineoftheMonthClub.com Newsletter written by: Ed Masciana, Wine Author 2 1-800-949-WINE • www.wineofthemonthclub.com DOMESTIC SELECTION ollowing in the introducing new consumers footsteps of his to the wine market and legendary uncle, ultimately to the premium F none other than brands. His business model Earnest Gallo, Fred Franzia is based on the surplus of founded the Bronco Wine grapes that followed the Company in 1973, after collapse of the dot com the Franzia family wine market in the late 1990s. business was purchased by His famous quotes on wine Coca-Cola and then later by values litter the landscape the Wine Group, a privately of the wine press. He has held bulk wine producer set himself up as the Chardonnay based in San Francisco. Wine wine everyman whose sole (Shar-doe-nay) Group is the source of the mission is to bring reasonably "bag-in-box" wines that bear priced wines to the table just 2008 the Franzia name, but like his ancestors did in a which have no connection post war-torn Italy. Domaine to either the Franzia family or to Bronco. So far so good as Franzia’s Laurier labels, now numbering Sonoma County, Bronco owns over 35,000 in the dozens, are all acres of vineyards making exceptional values and have California them one of the largest helped build his empire to vineyard holders in the state. the level it is today. Making Color: Most of their holdings are no compromises and taking located in California's no prisoners, their brands Very pale Central Valley, but a growing are still the ones to beat. number are in California’s Nose: prime vineyard areas like Chardonnay hasn’t lost any Fresh apple Napa and Sonoma with of its luster in California storage and production and as a result the prices, Palate: facilities in Ceres, Napa even in a recession, have Slight with a hint been increasing. We honestly Valley, Sonoma Valley, of spice Escalon and Madera. Bronco thought that this wine would be for the Vintner’s has the capacity to produce Finish: 23 million cases of wine Series once we tasted it and annually, making it one of had to hold our enthusiasm Apple, minerals the largest wineries in the so that we could actually and vanilla world behind Constellation offer it in the Classic Series. Brands based in New York. There is a classic minerality and mouth feel we only Franzia's marketing methods get from wines costing four contrast with those of his to five times as much. We WOMC Rating higher priced competitors. think you’ll find this to be a 89 Points He is often credited with great bargain. CELLARING SUGGESTIONS 410A Retail Price: $12.00/each Special Member Price: $9.99/each Drink now Reorder Price: $6.99/each through 2012 41% Discount $83.88/case 1-800-949-WINE • www.wineofthemonthclub.com 3 IMPORT SELECTION onte Lindo is that are sometimes known part of the as Bonarda.) Argentina's Edonia Group, National Institute of a French Viticulture is relatively M family-owned sure that the variety is not company engaged in the Croatian, which is a production of high quality Lombardia grape also wines in France, Argentina known as Bonarda Oltrepo and Hungary and distribut - Pavese. ing them in most major countries worldwide. Whichever it is, Bonarda was until recently the most Bonarda Their expertise in marketing widely planted wine grape and production has variety in Argentina.