The Desert WIne Guy - 2012 Dynamite Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

Today I want to talk about a wine that almost nothing is known about, at least I can't seem to find much. Today I want to discuss the 2012 Dynamite Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. A deep search on the internet will bring you to a link for their website however the link is dead. I did find an e-mail to the vineyard but that also is dead. There are some mentions of the wine but they are just that, mentions. I did find out that the inspiration for the name "Dynamite" came from Hillside Vineyards because the land was full of Volcanic rock and they needed to use Dynamite in order to plant the vines. The artist for the label is Stephen Ward and illustrates the Pomo Indian legend behind the Diamond like quam that sparkles in the soils of the Vineyard. The Moon wept when she could not be with her love, a Pomo Chieftain and her tears fell to the Earth forming glistening "moon tears". The other thing I found out is that Dynamite is owned by Diageo which is the worlds biggest spirits supplier and also owns Beaulieu Vineyards and Sterling Vineyards to name just a couple. Before we move on I also want to let you know that I paid $10 for this wine at a warehouse type liquor store and it was more that worth it.
   Before we go on with the actual review I feel that I again must comment on the label. I sitting in front of my computer and am looking at my notes here and it brings me back to seeing the bottle itself. The label brought to mind the thoughts of a very unprofessional wine with childish art work. I thought the label was unclassy. This seems to be a new trend in today's wine world and I for one do not like it. When I see a silly label on a wine or a wine with a silly name I usually avoid it. How I can to but this wine I will explain a little bit later on. Having harped on the subject long enough I'll leave you with this question. How many of you readers agree with me.
   Today you are going to read about a wine that I think is fantastic. It is truly amazing how many small label wines there out there that for whatever reason don't make a name for themselves and yet are every bit as good if not better that some of the big label wines that we have are all familiar with. This is one of those wines folks. Sit back and relax and enjoy this review and that if you can find the wine go out and buy a few bottles for yourself.  The 2012 Dynamite Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of both Cabernet Sauvignon as well as Cabernet Franc and what a blend they make here together in this wine. O.K let's start off with the Bouquet of this wine. This wine was weird on the nose because although there was a lot of notes on the nose but none of them were that you would call strong or overpowering.  There most certainly was Leather and wood along with a Green Pepper spice and Cedar. I really enjoyed it but wished it had been stronger on the nose. In my glass the wine showed a medium to dark Inky Red and I was really impressed by it's appearance in my glass. Now onto how this wine displayed itself on my Palette. This section is going to be a little weird because upon initially tasting this wine I sensed that I needed to leave it alone for a while. I sensed that this wine needed badly to be given a chance to open up .....a lot. My initial impression upon tasting this wine was that there was a note of overpowering Black Cherry a slight bitterness and strong hints of Alcohol. Now normally I would end the review right there and perhaps not even mention that I did a review on it because it simply wouldn't be worth it but as I said, something told me to give the wine some time to develop. I occupied my time by reading a wine magazine and from time to time I would take a sip and after about a half an hour to forty five minutes I started to notice that the wine was starting to evolve in a big way, it was beginning to develop some nice notes. What would another little while do for it I wondered. I really didn't expect much because in order for this wine to even be decent it would need a lot of development and I didn't think it was possible. Well I waited a total of two hours and while I didn't Decant the wine I simply left it in the bottle I experienced the wine begin to express itself and the development of it and I was finally ready to do my review. Here is what I found. The Bitterness was gone from the wine and actually replaced by quite a bit of Tannins in it's place. There were notes of Pomegranate and Cassis there was also still that big Black Cherry but it was not offensive at this point as it had toned down just enough and remained at the level that it allowed the wine to be what it was designed to be. This wine had developed into a very nicely structured wine. The finish left you with all the stated notes intact with none taking precedence or dominance over the other. An added bonus came when a nice Caramel note was also appeared. This wine is very aggressive in the fact that all it's notes are straight forward with no hiding or underlying notes anywhere as some wines tend do. With all it's in your face power it is not over the top (close though) and brash yet classy and in a sense elegant. This is not what I would consider a fruit forward wine although there is some some nice fruit her that you will enjoy but not to the extent of being able to call it fruit forward. Slight acidity is present and seems to connect well with the Blackberry and Caramel that were mentioned.  Did I mention the Dark Chocolate that is present as well? Oh yeah, there is a wonderful Dark Chocolate note that shows up a little later and meshes nicely with the other dark fruit. While drinking this wine I was able to imagine myself in a very expensive restaurant ordering a very expensive bottle of wine, this wine. Poise, elegance, stuck up and nicely developed this wine can last many more years since the Tannins are very bold and aggressive. There is also just the right amount of acidity to help set this wine off nicely.




   Let's go ahead and put the finishing touches on this wine. Originally this wine was going to find it's way down the drain very quickly. I didn't think that a wine could change that dramatically but this wine did just that. Guys, this wine changed that much. I wish the Vineyard would ditch that label however, this wine deserves a lot more than the weird label that was placed on it. I never would have bought this wine if not for one of my children picking it out because of the child like label. Yes that's right one of my 5 year old liked the label, she thought it was "pretty". This is not a "Yuppie" wine or a wine for someone who has a preference for a light or a soft Red. The wine is definitely big and bold and meant for a true lover of a meaty, dramatic wine. This wine exceeded all my expectations of a wonderful Cabernet Sauvignon. The structure here is almost unmatched and came very near to the 2011 Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-annabella.html) that I reviewed in October of 2015. The wonderful Caramel note and the Tannins present were great. This is a wine meant for a nice Dinner and for some spicy ribs and a hefty steak., it is meant for a spicy meat dominated Dinner. Don't waste this on Chicken or Hot Dogs please, you will be sorry you did. So how much did this wine change over time? The wine changed so much over time that Ion The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale I put it at a superb 93 points.

                                                                                                                 The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert Wine Guy - 2014 Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc

  
   Well everyone now that there is bud break occurring in both my Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard as well as the Sauvignon Blanc vineyard I figured it would be nice to review a wine from one of those varietals. Since I seem to tend to do a lot of reviews of the Cabernet Sauvignon varietal I thought it would be nice to do a review of a Sauvignon Blanc this time. So...do a review on the Sauvignon Blanc varietal I did. Well off to the store to buy a wine I guess. While I was there one of my kids pointed out "I like this label, it's pretty" so of course I had to pick that particular wine. to review.
   Today's review is on the family owned 2014 Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc http://www.villamaria.co.nz/wines). This wine is from the Marlborough wine region of New Zealand. The Marlborough region is known for its complete LACK of subtlety as far as flavor. The grapes in our review wine are sourced from sites in the Wairau and Awatere Valleys. This region which had it's first Sauvignon Blanc vines planted in 1973 and it's first wines made in commercial quantities in 1979 and has now become known for Sauvignon Blancs that are seriously in your face with Green Pepper, Gooseberry as well as Lemongrass.  This wine is certainly no exception. There is a moderate level of acidity that is brilliant and in your face. The Marlborough region has a long growing season due to it's diurnal temperature variation. Autumn in this region is dry and sunny and helps produce the Sauvignon Blanc that it is known for. The country of New Zealand had it's first planting of wine grapes back in 1819 when the Reverend Samuel Mardsen decided to plant 100 vines at a mission located in Kerikeri. In 1851 New Zealand's oldest existing vineyard was created by French Roman Catholic missionaries at Mission Estate in Hawke's Bay. The Marlborough Region itself which is where this wine comes from was first planted in 1973 but it wasn't until the late 1980's that the region came to have the fame for the varietal known as Sauvignon Blanc and is today believed by most wine reviewers to grow the worlds best Sauvignon Blanc. Today there are about 50,000 Acres of grapevines planted and the country of New Zealand gets around 73% of their wine production from there. Another interesting statistic is that around 85% of the country's wine export comes from the Marlborough region. Villa Maria itself was actually founded in 1961 and today is one of New Zealand's leading winemakers. The wine has an Alcohol level at 12.5%
  Before we head off into this review I just wanted to say that I REALLY liked this wine. There was an extremely nice bouquet that really showed this wine off upon opening the bottle. Let's begin with the little fact that this is a screw cap wine....well I've said all I want to say about that topic unless you need a lecture on my thoughts on the topic.  In my glass the wine exhibited a very slight Golden hue but for the most part was almost clear in color when held to the light. Bringing this glass to my nose the wine showed off aromas of Peach, Lemon & Nectarine notes that reminded me of being out in an Orchard somewhere. There was a note of a very pale Honeydew to add to the complexity here as well. The aroma of Gooseberry was present here as well. Like I do with all wines that display a nice bouquet I started wondering if the wine would be able to transfer all this on over to the Palette. In my mouth the wine was super crisp with acidity and showed notes of fruit such as Lemon , Nectarine and Honeydew, almost all of the notes in the Bouquet. The Honeydew note is sustained throughout the time the wine is in your mouth, nice. As I noted, this wine has a good amount of an acidic side to it and has plenty of grassy / Lemongrass pop to it as well. The majority of Sauvignon Blancs from the Marlborough area of New Zealand seem to have these notes.  The notes of Lemon and Nectarine simply explode in your mouth and combined with that good bit of acidity are wonderful. The notes of Gooseberry and Honeydew are not quite as in your face but are almost at that level. The Lemongrass was enjoyable and is well placed in the wine and helps all the other notes present here in creating a stunning wine. As a side note there does appear to be a note of sweetness here that I detected but nothing that alters the wine in a negative way so no worries there.
  
In wrapping up this review I want to tell you guys that I drank this wine at room temperature and I believe that elevated the acidic note that it had. I really believe that if this wine was chilled a bit some of that acidic note would disappear which would allow the wine to still have a good bit of acidity to it but tone it down slightly. I think also that the toning down of the acidity a bit would be very nice and I probably would have elevated this wine another point on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale if it was toned down but never the less I still really enjoyed this wine. I must say here folks that this is certainly a very serious Sauvignon Blanc for very serious Sauvignon Blanc lovers. As far as food with this wine I envision Oysters, Clam Chowder and lightly battered Fish & Chips. Well now the moment you have been waiting for. As I said if not for the good amount of acidity I would have boosted this wine by 1 point however the score I did give it is great as it is. I am going to score this great wine at 92 points folks. I highly recommend that you go buy a couple of bottles but do place a slight chill on the first prior to drinking.

  

                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy

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