The Desert Wine Guy - 2010 Picket Fence Cabernet Sauvignon

Picket Fence 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon

   With Spring finally under way you may ask yourself why I am still mostly drinking Red wines. Well the short answer is actually two part. The first part is that I tend to like Red wines a lot and the second part of my answer is that I don't go for the usual Spring & Summer mean Whites and Fall & Winter mean Reds, I simply drink what sounds good at that time. There are times like the other day when I was out in the Vineyard all day and a Red wine did not sound good to me so I went with a Sauvignon Blanc. Maybe it was because I was in the Sauvignon Blanc (Mirror Image) Vineyard, I don't know. What ever the reason was I stuck with a Red this time and recently had the opportunity to do a tasting on the 2010 Picket Fence Cabernet Sauvignon and that is the wine I am also about to write this  review on.
   Picket Fence is owned by the bronco Wine Company and marketed by 585 Wine Partners (http://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataId=48597) which ends up also being a division of Bronco Wines. Picket Fence produces between 5,000 & 10,000 cases of wine a year with the majority being Chardonnay. Picket Fence does not own any vineyards, they make their wine from sourced grapes.
   So Desert Wine Guy, exactly what do you think of the 2010 Picket Fence Sauvignon Blanc? Good question guys, here is my thoughts on this wine. Let's jump to how this wine tastes in the mouth to start this off. After sipping a small amount of this wine and holding it for a few seconds in my mouth I tasted Black Current, Blackberry, a strong sense / taste of French Oak and Cassis (the Cassis seemed to slip in out out of being detectable). The wine also had a nice leathery feel to it as well. So far so good,. The wine seems like a fairly decent wine and one that I am going to enjoy. This wine started off being a wine on the lighter to slightly medium depth side of wine. The wine also tends to be Blackberry / Cherry dominate. If the wine would have stopped here it would have ended with a sort of decent rating of  85 points at the maximum. The wine however did not stop here or continue to open up unfortunately for it. Something in the wine did change though and that something is what I want to talk about. What changed? Something very disappointing & strange happened to this wine. This wine actually went downhill FAST after being opened for an hour or so. I've never experienced anything like it before and I hope I never do again. . All the notes except for the Blackberry seemed to slip away as the wine opened up. The Cassis, gone. The French Oak, gone. How or why this happened is beyond me but happen it did. the wine became sort of harsh in it's taste. What started off as a sort of decent wine ended up a disaster of a wine. The wine couldn't maintain what it had which truly wasn't much in the first place but was at least drinkable. There were also no tannins at all and I see no hope in the wine developing in the future if cellard  into anything even semi drinkable.
   So what is the final verdict on this wine? The final verdict is that for $18 dollars I could find many wines that not only are less expensive but a heck of a lot better as well. What is the final rating I give this wine? That is another good question and here is my answer. I rate this wine at 80 points. When you take into account the price and how the wine simply fell apart shortly after opening it I think I am being generous here in that rating. Bronco Wines does put out very good wines but this one unfortunately is not one of them.


                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy



https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy

https://twitter.com/DesertWineGuyLV

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCUb3w1n2S_UGU2yYRkFYQ/videos

www.Thedesertwineguy.com

The Desert Wine Guy - Arizona Stronghold Vineyards

                       
   Today we are going to talk about a little Tasting Room located in Cottonwood Arizona named Arizona Stronghold Vineyards (http://www.azstronghold.com/TastingRoom). This past Saturday (April  11, 2015) my Daughter of Angel Vineyards fame and I went to Cottonwood Arizona for a day trip and stopped at Arizona Stronghold Vineyards. The winery is a small place and the staff were very friendly. When we walked in we were greeted promptly by smiling staff and invited to actually sit anywhere we wanted. We chose to sit on a large comfortable well worn Leather couch and we were told that the flight of wine would be brought. Wow that's different for a Tasting Room. Well sit I did and sure enough a friendly staff member brought me some wonderful wine to taste while I relaxed. As I already said, Stronghold Wines is a small Tasting Room but the size along with the staff was more than enough to keep all the customers happy and yet still large enough to walk around. As a side note I should mention that there are no Vineyards on main street Cottonwood. I was informed that the Vineyards are in the hills and that they are not open to the public. Where ever they are I didn't seem a Vineyard all day. The staff was not uptight and did not seem rushed, they actually seemed to enjoy working here. They took the time to actually hang out for a few minutes and engage me in conversation. My Daughter who is not 21 and always travels with me on day trips was treated just as nicely. She was informed that there was Soda, juice and water as well as Chocolate which can be paired with the wine. She was made to feel right just as important as I did. One item related to bringing people who are under 21 that I would like to mention is that the staff also watched their language, no one cursed. Yes, I know it is a wine tasting room and it is geared for adults but there are still customers who bring their WELL MANURED children in as well and besides there is no reason for employees of any business to use curse words. There are three different wine clubs that Stronghold offers  with the beginning level (The Almanac) offering 12 free wine tastings per year and the highest level, (The Vault) offering 48 free wine tastings a year.  After the tasting I was asked if there were any wines we wanted to "revisit" which I thought was a nice touch. I had already made up my mind as to what I wanted and politely declined the offer. The tasting charge is $9 and yes you get to keep the glass :)
   I ended up purchasing two bottles of their 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon "pick2", I also bought my Daughter a T-Shirt and Chocolate (yum) for my Daughter. The wine overall was really good and the wine I chose was on the peppery, full bodied side and  and was fruit forward. Both aspects  blended nicely, there is a review coming by the way. The wine came in at $34 a piece and although a little pricey I felt it was worth it. One bottle will end up in the Wine Cellar and the other will be put aside for the reopening of my Loft (my Man Cave) which is under renovation.
   If you plan to make the trip to Cottonwood, and I recommend that you do, it is a 4.5 hour drive from Las Vegas and a lot of the trip is actually really nice and Green. The city has 4 wineries and some antique shops as well as many restaurants and The Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders which sells all different kinds of infused Olive Oil. I bought the Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Basil.
    Before we left for home we ended up having Dinner at Pizzeria Bocce which is just on the edge of town and ate outside on the Patio. You must have the Banana & Nutella Pizza for Dessert. This crazy sounding dish comes on a soft, thin pizza crust and has Bananas, Nutella and Ricotta Cheese. Trust me, try it. The food and service was awesome and my Daughter and I left full.
   Cottonwood is not far at all from the Grand Canyon and about a half hour from Sedona and just outside Sedona are two Vineyards which are open to the public and have Tasting Rooms. My favorite was Page Springs Cellars which had some good wine and a beautiful Balcony that overlooks the Vineyards as well as a River that had some really cool Birds that would fly by. They also have some great food which adds to the atmosphere.      

   The weather and the day were  awesome and I recommend everyone go.
                                                                                                                 


                                                                                                                    The Desert Wine Guy

https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy

https://twitter.com/DesertWineGuyLV

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCUb3w1n2S_UGU2yYRkFYQ/videos

www.Thedesertwineguy.com