8/12/2010 - ctew wrote:

This wine gets very angry if you drink it right after popping the cork, coating your tongue with burning smoke. It simmers down and buttons itself up after a couple of hours, becoming a spicy wine that expresses good fruit and rocky soil, and even a little melon. Still, I think that after the initial outburst, it becomes almost too restrained.

8/12/2010 - ctew wrote:

A big fat pour of fruit, but not so much that I'd drop the b-word on it. It's structured well enough for some spice and a little dark chocolate to come through, but it's not exactly elegant. A very good first release, though!

8/4/2010 - ctew wrote:

Standard-issue Barbera d'Alba. Dark, fruity, and smooth. Pairs perfectly with coffee.

8/4/2010 - ctew wrote:

One of the best under-$10 bottles of wine that I can remember having, although my memory is a bit shot from, well, drinking too much wine and rarely remembering to take notes before starting in on the next bottle. A lot of anise on the nose, more in the mouth, and a bit of caraway seed, along with the usual Malbec fruits. It would be great with a pastrami rueben on rye, I think, but I'd have to actually get the sandwich before finishing the bottle.

8/4/2010 - ctew wrote:

This is a very autumnal wine, one that ought to be had at harvest time alongside roasted meats and vegetables. It smells of roast beef, very smoky and warm. On the tongue it's well structured, with a little bit of fruit under a vegetative cover, like good red lettuce with a peppery light vinaigrette with some clove. It went well with a plate of roasted beets and carrots, accenting the natural sugars and flavors brought out by roasting the vegetables.

7/30/2010 - ctew wrote:

Miserably corked. Shame, as it would have been good.

7/30/2010 - ctew wrote:

Very tight and a little rough on the initial pour, with a quick and thin peppery attack. After about two hours, it opened up and softened, and the attack became a little more sustained while currants and herbs filled out the rest of each swig. Still, it was just a bit limp around the edges.

7/24/2010 - ctew wrote:

This is the least serious wine in the history of wine. Charles Shaw is utterly serious wine, made by serious people who are serious about making loads of money from stemmy grape juice. A seriously traditional Barolo winemaker is very serious about pounding your face to death with tannins if you don't cellar his wine for half a century. This Chiaretto, on the other hand, is made by a few blokes who want to party it up in the tropics. This is no gooey malty spritzer; It is nicely made, but it would be silly to lend any sort of gravitas to a wine that smells and tastes of strawberry fields with a little tropical fruit and a fresh scent, and I wouldn't ask for anything different on a hot summer night.

7/24/2010 - ctew wrote:

Drank the whole bottle during a nasty all-nighter at work. Good stuff, good times. Every sip was a lush mouthful of fruit and warming spice. It made a bad night better.

7/18/2010 - ctew wrote:

This Chiaretto aged exceptionally well. Lovely pale gold at the bottom of the glass, turning into a warm sunset at the top. Smells of sweet grassy fields with lavender and strawberry wafting around. Full-bodied, extremely smooth, and perfectly balanced with lemon, ripe peach, grass, sandalwood, mint, and floral notes. Best of all, it has a long and very warming finish, reminiscent of a great scotch or bourbon over ice. There's only one problem with this wine: I don't have any more of it.

7/14/2010 - ctew wrote:

Nicely balanced, showing dark cherries and a little plum and a little bit of spice. Sadly, after being accidentally left open overnight, the bottle died miserably and had to be disposed of down a drain rather than my face.

7/14/2010 - ctew wrote:

A citrusy and somewhat fizzy wine with a hint of something tropical and just the right amount of dryness. Quite nice!

7/14/2010 - ctew wrote:

Weird boozy cherry bubblegummy nose, jammy goopy overripe cherry taste that sort of stuck to my mouth. I've had better for less.

4/2/2010 - ctew wrote:

A very well-crafted wine. Cherry nose, cherry on the front, spice on the back. Develops a nice powdery hint of key lime must with a bit of very dark chocolate. Mouthfeel balances livelyness with a moderate weight and tannins. An outstanding example of Oregon Pinot Noir.

1/6/2010 - ctew wrote:

Cherries and a little licorice. Somewhat rough, with a long dry finish. Should be good once the tannins settle down a bit more. Well made, but not terribly interesting.

1/6/2010 - ctew wrote:

Slightly boozy nose with a bit of cookie dough. Tasted bright cherries, but with very undeveloped and rough tannins.

1/6/2010 - ctew wrote:

It's purple. Deep heavy purple. Light doesn't escape from its purple depths. It turns your tongue purple. It tastes purple. There's some dark chocolate and vanilla in there, too.

12/28/2009 - ctew wrote:

Sometimes a wine comes along that reminds me of why I bother with this often silly pastime of caring about wine and paying outrageous sums of money for liquids that I pour into my face. This is one of them. It's inexpensive and refreshing. A sharp and slightly floral smell of apples and citrus is followed by a sharp taste of apples, citrus, melon, and just the right amount of minerality to wake the tongue up.

12/25/2009 - ctew wrote:

Far too young right now, but it shows some promise for when the tannins mellow. It had a very nice bouquet of deep red fruit and roses, and tasted of very ripe strawberries and cherries with spice and smoke, and a bit of licorice. But, there is a huge shot of tannins that, while smooth, beat my tongue and throat into submission with a sticky clay-like feel. Given at least 10 years, this should be good, but I expect that the '01 and the '04 from the same producer will be much better.

I'm not scoring this since it's just too young to tell.

12/17/2009 - ctew wrote:

Extremely tight when poured directly after opening. After several hours, it starts opening up, but you still only get a bit of cherry on the nose. This is the wine that has pushed me to finally buy my own decanter, as it took a long time to be brought to life in the open bottle. It tastes very well-balanced and smooth, of cranberry backed by smokey earthiness and a hint of leafy greens. The glasses I poured for myself disappeared very quickly. A nicely crafted and very amicable wine.

12/1/2009 - ctew wrote:

A plum jammy wine that fills the mouth, with a little bit of paprika towards the back. The nose is a mix of berries, but not much more. A good rustic wine.

12/1/2009 - ctew wrote:

Out of the bottle, it simply tells you to wait. You get just a little hint of what's to come in a tightly composed scent of dark berries and a bit of burnt pencil shavings, and restrained on the palette, showing black cherry with heavy tannins, yet something tells you to sit back and relax as it takes its time to get out of bed. And when it does, it is sensational. The nose becomes more spicy and dark, with plums and espresso and even a bit of tobacco somewhere in the background. On the tongue it tastes of even more dark berries, with the pleasant additions of graphite, anise, and a little spice on the back of the tongue. My only wish is that I had another bottle to age an additional 5-10 years.

12/1/2009 - ctew wrote:

A very nice floral nose with hints of honey and citrus, rather nicer than many perfumes. It is crisp on the palate, having a nice amount of lemon with a bit of pear and just enough minerality to wake the tongue up. It would be best served as a refreshing end to a good meal.

12/1/2009 - ctew wrote:

Mas Carlot created a textbook blend of Grenache and Syrah in which the grapes compliment each other without compromising either of their fine points. The slightly smoky raspberry smell is inviting, and it tastes of a warm and smooth blend of ripe berries with hints of licorice and pepper. An ideal wine to warm up a cold fall night.

12/1/2009 - ctew wrote:

This wine is apparently 95% Cab Sauv blended with 5% Petit Verdot. The wine reeked of alcohol, and had a slight hint of blackberry underneath a suffocating layer of tannins. Mouthfeel was extremely rough. Letting it breathe didn't help matters at all. I get the sense that the makers pressed the grapes as hard as they could in order to make production goals.

11/27/2009 - ctew wrote:

Good lemony nose, smooth texture that's round on the back of the tongue, but nice and sharp towards the front. Well oaked, nicely balanced with green apple as the primary fruit and a hint of citrus.