2/18/2018 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Excellent-fresh wine with pronounced Sauvignon Blanc herbal qualities. Went well with Red Snapper dish cooked with Asian spices.

10/24/2017 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Excellent Chardonnay. Bright, clean, crisp with good acid, good balance, noticeable oak. Ready to enjoy. But may still get better with another year.

4/27/2017 - gino'svino wrote:

Very nice Riesling. Crisp. Not too dry, and not too sweet. Went well with spicy food. Would buy again.

8/17/2016 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Brought to a friend's house and opened at a party before the meal. I was afraid that it was too old. It did show some age, but the bubbles were still lively, and most people enjoyed it. I should have drank it sooner. But it was still good. The bottle was emptied quickly as everyone got a small taste.

8/17/2016 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

The 2014 was as usual delicious and refreshing. Slight sweetness, mild gewürztraminer spice, and slight spritz, with low alcohol. Every vintage of this wine over the past several years has been delicious and great. In my opinion, this is best and most consistent gewürztraminer from a Texas winery. I just purchased the 2015, but haven't opened it yet. Try it. You will probably like it.

6/20/2016 - gino'svino wrote:

Honey tinged flavor. Refreshing. Very sweet, but not late harvest style. Low-alcohol at 4.5%. Delicious. Can be consumed by itself as a desert wine. Can also be consumed with very hot spicy food.

5/24/2016 - gino'svino wrote:

Fragrant nose upon opening. Light body. Slight petrol aroma along with Riesling flower nose. Good.

5/24/2016 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Sweet Riesling. Went well with spicy Thai food. Simple, not complex, but good.
There is no sediment in the bottle.

4/9/2016 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Dark, rich, sweet, nutty. I was worried this would be too old, as I bought it at World Market many years ago, but it was not. I enjoyed it. I

3/5/2016 - gino'svino wrote:

Thought it would be too old when before I opened it. But, the color was still good, and it was smooth. Better the second day after I put in in the fridge and chilled it down.

2/17/2016 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

First time to try this wine. Fresh. Delicious white wine made from mixture of about 7 grapes. Easy to drink. Refreshing chilled. No complaints. Would buy again, but this was the last bottle of the 18th edition. Hope the 19th edition which is in the store now is as good.

2/7/2016 - gino'svino wrote:

Bought this on a store closeout for cheap. It was o.k. but wouldn't buy again.

1/16/2016 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Served cold by itself. Sweet honey. Apricot/peach. Carmel. Delicious. My wife and a friend and I opened it this evening. First Tokaji for all of us. Would buy again.

11/22/2015 - gino'svino wrote:

Green apple with dry almond taste. Better than I expected because it was fresh even though it was 4 years old. Medium light body. I bought it at a discounted close-out cost, and it was certainly worth the price I paid.

9/14/2015 - gino'svino wrote:

Opened my first bottle this weekend. Decanted it about three hours before drinking. Immediately upon decanting, it had a strong pleasant aroma of oak and wine that smelled like when you walk into a winery barrel room. After about two hours the aroma decreased somewhat, so maybe I decanted it too early. However, the wine was still excellent and everyone really enjoyed it.

9/5/2015 - gino'svino wrote:

Gave as gift, but didn't try it

8/15/2015 - gino'svino wrote:

gave away

7/20/2015 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Brought to Su's house. Had with dinner. Very nice still. Fresh despite being almost 10 years old now. Tannin reduced. Vanilla still present, but seems to be coming apart slightly. However, still good. Better than the Louis Martini Cabernet Sonoma that we also drank that night.

1/14/2015 - gino'svino wrote:

I like this wine which is a zintage blend of zinfandel, syrah, petite sirah, and cabernet sauvignon. It tastes like mixed berries with a vanilla aroma from the oak. The color is dark. The tannin is mild and smooth. It is medium bodied, and balanced. It was a beautiful wine from the moment it was opened. Everybody loved it. It is a joy to drink with food and friend. It is a great value. I would rate it higher than WE did. I hope the next bottle is as good.

5/4/2014 - gino'svino wrote:

I prefer the medium dry Rieslings because they have more density of body because of the residual sugar, and the smell is fruiter also. This wine had a nice smell of Riesling grapes, but it was light on the palate because it was dry. I enjoy Rieslings when I have hot chili spicy dishes. The sweetness and acid of the Riesling tames the heat in your mouth, and sets you up for another spicy bite. For this reason I prefer the medium dry Reislings such as Dr. L, and Gung Fu Riesling. But, this wine was well made, and might have gone well with a light fish dish without strong spices.

1/31/2014 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Good acid. Good balance between sweetness and acid makes this wine crisp. Intense sauvignon Blanc flavor. Enjoyable wine. Would buy again.

11/16/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

Beautiful fresh dark color, good fruit, with soft moderate tannins. I bought this wine about four years ago. At that time, it was fruity, but rough. The tannins have smoothed out with age. The wine is in sweet spot right now, and is very drinkable. Enjoyed with homemade Pizza with Warren and Zenda from Seattle. We tried this with a Texas Petite Sirah from the same year. The Jade Mountain Syrah was fresher, and more tasty, and clearly superior. Should last another three years.

8/23/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

Tasted next to a California zinfandel blend with Cabernet, Syrah,and Petite Syrah and the California wine had more fruit, taste, body and aroma.

8/11/2013 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Beautiful wine. The aroma is a 93. Very fragrant, flowery type, honeysuckle smell. The taste is delicious, but perhaps a little too sweet for some people. The taste is a 90 with a noticeable sweet mild spice. We served for dinner with an asian meal. The woman all liked it especially. Perhaps the best Gewurtraminer from Texas on a consistent basis. I would give it an overall rating of 91. It is a great bargain at about $10 as I remember. I would buy again.

6/8/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

Golden color. This South African Sauvignon Blanc took first place in a Sauvignon Blanc tasting of about 8 wines about two years ago. It still has fruit, and is very enjoyable.

4/7/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

I thought it might be too old, as I bought it off a grocery shelf where it had been sitting awhile several years ago. But, the color was still good, and the wine was still good. Not great, but surprisingly good. Exceeded my expectations.

3/24/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

This is past its prime. The wine lacks zip, and is a little flat tasting. The color is not yellow, rather it is taking on a golden color, which betrays its age. In short, it is too old now. Probably it is unfair to really rate it now.

3/24/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

Fresh, good fruit. The Viognier flavor is mild, but nicely balanced, which makes it good easy drinking with seafood. It enjoyed it very much. I was worried that maybe it was a little too old, but is was nice. I would buy again, but a newer vintage as I like my white wines fresh. Although this wine was fine. I have nothing to complain about.

3/17/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

This grape is desribed in a wine book as a "cousin of Grenache." The wine was medium light in body. It was just a good red wine. It went well with food. It was not really memorable, but it was good.

3/17/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

My first taste of this wine was last night at dinner. It was smooth, and went well with the three main entries of duck, fish, and tofu. It was medium bodied, and the color is still fresh. My impression was that it is a good wine with food, but it had no real "wow" factor for me. We did pop and pour the wine without dencanting. There was six of us so we finished the entire bottle on the first round. My wife, however, really liked this wine, and raved about it twice after the meal. She is not particularly interested in wine, so this really surprised me. Perhaps she paid more attention to the wine, or maybe she just liked its smoothness, or maybe she tasted something I didn't. I would be happy to drink it again, and it goes well with food. But, it is not the star itself, the food is the star, and it blends in unobtrusively. That is my impression.

3/17/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

It has been maybe a year since I last tasted this wine. It wasn't as fresh as I remember. The mixed berry taste that I liked so much has changed slightly to a more plum taste. The tannin was less, but so was the acid and freshness. Last year I rated this wine a 90, and today it was about an 88. Maybe it was just that one bottle. I have at least three more bottles left.

3/10/2013 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

This is the darkest Carmenere wine that I have yet tasted. The color is a deep purple blue. It is very dark. The fruit is moderate, and there is tannin which will have to be smoothed out over time. This wine can age I think. But, I give it a 91 for the color alone. Maybe with 5 years or more, the rating can increase to a 92 or more. I don't know if the fruit and acid will outlast the tannin, but the color sure will last a long time.

2/9/2013 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

The cork was good on this bottle, unlike the previous one. The wine was good, and at its prime. Went well with Cioppino on Super Bowl Sunday in Tyler.

2/9/2013 - gino'svino Likes this wine:

Good chardonnay character. Medium bodied chardonnay. Fresh but not huge wine. Stayed nice the first two days. On day three in the refrigerator, it seemed to lose its character, and became very average white.

2/3/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

Better than I expected. Some of the wine club wines have aged very quickly and are over the hill before I expect. But, this wine was fine. Mild to Moderate chardonnay flavor, and mild fruit. Still fresh, however. Good but not great.

2/2/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

The color was surprisingly purple indicating freshness. It smelled like a red wine, nothing remarkable. The fruit was moderate. Overall it was enjoyaable.

1/27/2013 - gino'svino wrote:

This wine was still drinkable, but probably past its prime. The color was purple with a touch of brown that gave it a dullness. There was no sherry-like smell which would indicate that it was too old to drink. It was O.K. but not especially memorable.

11/23/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Wine stll amazingly fresh with a good dark purple color with little signs of aging on the wine despite being 11 years old. Drank during Thanksgiving with turkey and roast pork loin. The wine had a slight sour component that I didn't remember. Still good, but didn't seem to match the meal as well as I hoped. Went well with the cranberry sauce.

11/12/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

I have opened several bottles of this wine over the past three years. This most recently consumed bottle is the best yet. It seems to be improving slightly with time. It is still fresh, with a bold dark color, and a berry flavor. It went well with smoked Turkey dinner. The Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc that is blended into this wine gives this Merlot a darker color than most, and also seems to be giving the wine added longevity. The wine surprised me. My wife even liked it. I would rate my first bottle on this wine about an 88, but the most recent bottle is an 89.5 or even a 90 score. This wine was a great deal. I think it is within 12 months or so of its peak, but it is drinking really well right now. Ithink it will last about 2 or 3 more years. But, why wait.

11/10/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

I have several bottle of this wine. Tried this again with a beef dish. Friends commented that this Cabernet had a really nice flavor. I agree. I like the fruit, the color, and the vanilla. This bottle was much more memorable than the last bottle which I tried about a year ago. Maybe I got lucky. The next bottle will tell.

11/10/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Wine was o.k. but not great. But, didn't expect greatness out of such a reasonably priced tempranillo. I was worried that I had kept the wine too long. The first pour, I thought I saw a little brown in the wine. But, the second day, the wine color seemed fine and I wondered if I had really seen any oxidation. Drink now, I think. It is a medium bodied wine, but not really smooth despite the age. The fruit seemed a little subdued. My wine didn't like it, but I thought in was was fine for an average meal, if you don't expect too much. However, given what I know about how it is now and how it ages, I probably wouldn't buy again.

10/21/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Good wine with light white fish. Medium intensity of varietal flavor. But, I like the "New Age" Torrontes better.

10/1/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

The color was not pleasing to the eye, but otherwise it was smooth, low tannin, and flavorful enough. Made for immediate drinking without any aging needed. I tried to the 14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon recently at a restaurant, and my wife and I agree that the Cabernet was better.

9/14/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Color is. golden. It does have a mild banana aroma, but not a strong Chardonnay varietal character. The fruit and the oak, if any, were subdued. The color was fine but it didn't have any acid zing or freshness. Probably I kept it beyond its proper drinking window.

9/13/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Drank during Zinfandel tasting. Was in the middle of the pack of 10.

9/13/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Drank with sushi. Went o.k. Like the packaging. Looks like beer bottle.

9/13/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Medium dark color. No sign of significant age. Mild vanilla in taste. First impression was somewhat hot. Haven't made up my mind about this wine. Not bad, but not sure if I'll buy another bottle.

9/13/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Good dark color. Good fruit. Should last 5 more years easily. No sign of age on wine yet practically.

9/11/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Very nice refreshing sauvignon blanc with mild varietal character. Went well with meal. Everyone finished the bottle. Just nice.

9/6/2012 - gino'svino wrote:

Served with asparagus with horseraddish sauce, and spicy tofu. Went well. Fresh, clean. I have consistently enjoyed this wine. Went well with split pea soup also.