Six from Safeway

After having enjoyed some fantastic wines - 1982 Bordeaux, brilliant Champagnes, fine Burgundies, among others - I decided to pay about $90 for six bottles of wine from Safeway. Most of these are common, well selling brands in my hometown Safeway. I was expecting more from these wines ...

• 2017 Meiomi Pinot Noir 84 Points

  USA, California

  First opened blind and I was getting some tomato leaf, dried herbs and clove, so not an uninteresting nose, but there was some underlying brett to the wine, which came out more fully when I retried the wine this morning. The palate was not so clean, either, and I was about as far away from fine Pinot Noir as I could imagine. The score may be too generous.

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• 2018 Trivento Malbec Reserve 80 Points

  Argentina, Mendoza

  A deep purple color on the pour, and I was gazing at the label that also indicates that this was selected as the "official wine for major league soccer". After tasting it, I felt like kicking myself. Underripe and even stemmy on the palate, I was wondering how this came from the New World. Excessive yields? Curiously had a high alcohol feel as well as high tannin, but it was more asphalt and hard on the palate than anything else. This may be a generous score.

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• 2014 Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva 85 Points

  Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja

  Of the six Safeway specials, I was expecting more from this bottle, as 2014 was a fine vintage for Rioja. But the wine came across as rather boring and lacking in expression. Some redcurrant, some ripe black fruit, as well, but as if they were in first gear and not even in third gear. I like subtle wines, but this was hiding somewhere in the backyard. It was furthermore a tad dilute on the palate, as if coming from excessively high yields. Not sure.

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• 2016 Rodney Strong Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 84 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  The nose gives off an almost sweet fruit expression but it is unmistakably Cabernet Sauvignon, which I guessed. Spicy oak notes as well as sweet red fruits on the nose could certainly please lovers of this style, but the palate disappoints insofar as the finish is like sucking on a plank of oak. No thanks. Readers should take note that this producer makes better wines from higher priced brands, as I had experienced as a judge at the Critics' Challenge in San Diego in 2019.

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• 2015 Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva Ducale Flawed

  Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG

  Tasted blind, and I could hardly detect an aroma. The palate was like a canoe : close to water. After I saw that it was the well selling Chianti brand, from a ripe vintage like 2015 to boot, I was wondering, "What the Hell?" I do hope that this was just a faulty bottle and not what consumers get normally...

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• 2017 Ravenswood Zinfandel Old Vine Lodi 85 Points

  USA, California, Central Valley, Lodi

  I have enjoyed far better Zins in the past, but I suppose this gets a pass for lovers of strawberry jam because on the palate, this got me thinking of morning toast with butter and Ravenswood. It brought forth a sweet plum aroma, with some spices, and the nose was OK, but the palate is too cloying for me to "like" here on Cellar Tracker. It is just OK, I guess.

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After having gone through these wines (last night, and again this morning to be sure), I am more convinced than ever that you get what you pay for. Sometimes less so.