W&CN Tasting Notes & The Wine Rack Purge

Clean Slate Riesling turned out to be my favorite last night.

We live in a small state and anyone who knows my dad, knows about Wine & Cigar Night and, in the past few years, a lot of wines have been given to him. How they fall into his lap usually goes something like this: "Oh, you like wine?! I have a bottle that was a gift, but I don't drink wine. You can have it!" I am willing to bet that most people with a passion for vino have experienced this phenomenon. Everyone who has ever attended a W&CN has shown up, at one point or another, with an unfamiliar bottle that had been pawned off on them. We usually reserve these mystery wines until the crowd is substantial and everyone is tipsy, because, by then, even less than palatable wines tend to disappear. However, too many of us have developed a taste for good wine and this elimination process was long overdue.

Good bye, organic.

Hello, mouthwash.

Len was impressed with the legs on the Petit Verdot.

Last night started on a high note with a delicious Riesling that Len brought with him, but it was mostly downhill from there. The following wine was organic, which was accidental. If you are a fan of organic wines, then you can have them... all of them. In our experience, organic wine is terrible. Anyone involved at W&CN has yet to taste an organic wine that even compares to its non-organic cousin. If anyone out there has a suggestion that might prove us wrong, send it our way. Until then - yuck. The following two wines were part of the wine rack purge. Both wines were awful, and I mean just awful. None of us even made through more than a couple of sips. Those three wines were so bad, none of us made any real attempt to take tasting notes, we mostly just complained. Though, I can say with confidence, none of us would recommend them to anyone. Ever. Luckily, the last wine of the evening was decent.

***

Tasting Notes, in order of appearance:

Name: Clean Slate Riesling
Producer: Winebow, Inc.
Varietal: Riesling
Vintage: 2011
Region:  Mosel
Country:  Germany
Alcohol: 10.5%
Price: $10.99/bottle
Barcode: 0750625653012
Flavors: apple, lime, peach
Notes: Light and fruity with a hint of lime and a peachy finish.
Rating: 7.0/10.0

***

 

Name: Cono Sur Organic Cabernet Sauvignon
Producer: Vina Cono Sur S.A.
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2011
Region:  Colchagua Valley
Country: Chile
Alcohol: 13.5%
Price: $10.99/bottle
Barcode: 0089417036
Flavors:
Notes: Smells awful. Tastes like gasoline and rotten produce. Finishes like burnt toast. Paul immediately dumped his glass and found mouthwash. Lenny testifies that the brand itself should not be to blame for this atrocity, as he has tired Cono Sur in the past and is completely convinced we should point our fingers at the organic grapes.
 Rating: 0.0/10.0

***

Name: Lambert's American Ice Breaker
Producer: Lambert's Vintage Wines
Varietal: American Ice Breaker
Vintage: Unknown
Region: West Virginia
Country: US
Alcohol: 12%
Price: Unknown, gifted
Barcode: 0894409000194
Flavors: grape
Notes: If you actually paid for this wine, demand a refund. The flavor bears an uncanny resemblance to Welch's grape juice and it is sickeningly sweet. The label offered no information other than the ABV% and where it is produced and bottled. This is probably the reason West Virginia isn't known as wine country.
Rating: 0.0/10.0

***

Name: Rhubarb Wine
Producer: Black Diamond Winery
Varietal: Rhubarb Wine
Vintage: Unkown
Region: Washington
Country: US
Alcohol: 12%
Price: Unknown, gifted
Barcode: Unkown
Flavors:
Notes: I brought this wine back from Washington three years earlier and I am fairly certain that it had expired long before we tasted it. I should also note that it is rare that fruit wines, mead, or the like go over well at W&CN, so I'll take the hit this time for even suggesting it. Before opening, we noticed some floating debris in the bottle, but we were already committed to at least tasting it. Upon opening, the sound was more of a, for lack of better term, queef, than it was a pop. We should have stopped at the smell, which was close to a dirty diaper and further suggested that this wine was way past it's prime, but we continued. To our surprise, the taste was not nearly as horrible as we anticipated, but the smell ultimately won and we tossed it.
Rating: 0.0/10.0

  ***

Name: Edna Valley Vineyard Petit Verdo
Producer: Edna Valley Vineyard
Varietal: Petit Verdo (according to label: Merlot/Cabernet blend)
Vintage: 2008
Region: California
Country: US
Alcohol: 14.5%
Price: Unkown, gifted?
Barcode: Unkown
Flavors: black pepper, cherry, leather, oak
Notes: Smelled very much like leather, which was interesting, but not unpleasant. This wine was all strong, complex flavors, which mellowed out the longer we drank it. The first sip hits you in the back of the tongue like a typical strong, dark red before the hints of pepper and oak
make themselves known. It is definitely an acquired taste, which we do not recommend for newer winos. Probably best pairs with red meats and strong cheeses.
Rating:  5.0/10.0 (We actually forgot to rate this last night. I'm filling in the blank with my opinion, which Len is sure to argue.)