The Desert Wine Guy - 2015 Robert Mondavi, "Private Selection" Cabernet Sauvignon.

  Today we are going to be taking a trip to the Napa Valley and discuss a wine from the prestigious Robert Mondavi vineyards which is now owned by Constellation Brands. Today I will be reviewing the 2015 Robert Mondavi, "Private Selection" Cabernet Sauvignon. Let's start off this review by learning that the grapes for this Mondavi Red are grown in the Nothern California Coastal areas and as such are therefore are not subject to the hot days of the Napa Valley. Whether or not that will make a difference in this wine remains to be seen. The grapes also come from different vineyards throughout Northern California. This wine up for review is also a wine which is blended with small amounts of Syrah, Merlot, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Tannat, and Petit Verdot. That's a heck of lot of different wine varietals if you ask me, why this wine would be blended with so many different varietals is beyond me, perhaps the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes of this vintage or these vineyards were not all that great, I don't know. At an Alcohol level of 13.5% and at a cost of around $8 this of course is also the low end of the Mondavi wine line up. Still with all this being said, none of that means that you or I should not or will will not enjoy the wine so let's dig a little deeper into this wine and find out whats is going with it.

  Let's begin this review at the Bouquet. On the nose this wine is rather impressive with a strong note of Cedar or Cigar Box as it is sometimes described. To me the aroma of Cedar or Cigar Box is an awesome opening for what is supposed to be a serious Red varietal such as that of Cabernet Sauvignon. Following up this note of Cedar or Cigar Box is a deep and rather rich Blackberry that when combined together with the other note continues to give me the impression that this should be a fairly serious wine and one that is well put together. Another note that I believe always goes great with the ones already on display and that is also present here is that of Black liquorice, and boy is that note ever present as that note is not shy here and I am loving it. Let's talk also about the note of Leather, you know that smell of a nice Leather jacket that you break out as the weather begins to cool off in the Fall and you put away when the weather begins to warm up in the Spring. That rustic Leather note is also presented rather well in this Bouquet. Blended in super nicely is also the note of Cocoa that presents itself on the nose rather nicely as well and will indeed make you sit up and take notice. On the end of the nose is an aroma of a sort of candy sweetness. This is the run of what my nose is picking up here in this wine and it is a lot. So far, so good folks. I specifically want to draw your attention to the Bouquet of this wine because the wine is certainly demanding that we pay attention to what it is appearing to promise us. The Bouquet is presenting this wine as a powerhouse of a wine but whether the rest of the wine supports that or not remains to be seen. I am sure you have been fooled once or twice into thinking that because the Bouquet of a wine is great that the rest of the wine is great, we probably all know better now. Let's try the wine on the Palette now and see if it is as presentable as the Bouquet is. Folks before we move on I leave you with a question. Since we are talking about an $8 wine here, should it even have this kind of a Bouquet in the first place?

  Moving to the Palette now I will tell you that this is really and truly a fruit forward wine. but unlike a lot inexpensive and fruit forward wines this particular wine does indeed have something to offer in the way of a little bit of depth or complexity. Now, don't get me wrong because on one hand this is NOT a $50 Peju Cabernet Sauvignon but on the other hand it wasn't designed or priced to be either. First let me state right up front that aside from being a fruit forward wine this wine is also heavy on the sugary or sweet side as well. When first tasting this wine, aside from the Sugar or fruit forwardness, the note of Black berry is the note that will hit you first. The Blackberry is mixed with Molasses which in a large way also adds to the sweet / sugary note. Aside from the Blackberry all is not truly lost because there are some other notes that push the wine forward.......to an extent. Let's talk about Tannins for a moment. Could there be Tannins in an $8 wine? Isn't this particular wine just meant to be drank and for you to then move on? Well....yes and no. Yes, there are Tannins present and they are soft but they are also perfect here in this particular wine. If you love Tannins but do not like the strong Tannins of an Oakey Red that is capable pf being Cellared for years and that still needs time to develop then you surely will love these Tannins. They are just enough to let you know that they are there and to give you some time to enjoy them. There also enough Tannins to tell you that the wine can be around for a least another few years to enjoy as well. Long term aging, defenitely not, but three to five years is a can do here. There is also an astringent note to this wine that is on the Mid-Palette which is perfect because that is where these Tannins are also at their most notable. Moving on now let's discuss the note of Cocoa that is present. This is not a note that I expected to be present folks. I figured that this inexpensive wine was pushing it as it is. The Cocoa reminded me of a baking Cocoa and added another sense of depth to the wine. There was some Black Pepper but just slightly more than a touch and I believe that this was really presented nicely in combination with the Molasses and Tannins. Improving this inexpensive wine is the note of Oak. While I cannot tell you what type of Oak or for how long the wine sat in this Oak. What I can tell you is that the Oak will be noted and enjoyed throughout the entire Palette. Rounding out the palette is a note of leather as well. As you can see now, this wine does indeed have some depth to it and would have been a great wine if not for the over powering and Sugary fruit forwardness that it overloads the Palette with. Let's discuss what that did to this wine and how it ruined it in my opinion.

  So I am sitting here in my Loft and I am in a way but to a very small extent able to appreciate this wine due to some of the notes present, except I find it extremely difficult if not impossible to get over that sweet and over powering fruit forwardness of the wine. Yes, on one hand the wine does have a lot to offer but on the other hand this offering is killed by that fruit forwardness especially when it is combined with the Molasses note. Now, don't get me wrong as I said, there were things to enjoy in the wine and there were enough notes that tried their best to overpower the sweeter notes but in the long run the sweeter, fruit forward notes did overwhelmingly win out. 
  So, it is now about time to wrap it up folks and give you my final feelings on this wine. Would I recommend this wine to anyone? The answer is, that depends. This wine is perfect for the person who loves over the top sweeter reds or someone who loves a fruit forward wine. Now don't get me wrong, you can srill love a Red that is on the fruit forward side (I do) there is nothing wrong with that but this wine is waaaayyy over the top in my book. If however you have a Palette that is developed or sophisticated enough to pick up on the various notes that I mentioned then it is also probably developed enough to categorize this wine into it's rightful place which is in the "not acceptable" book. If this is the case with you then I suggest you (and I)  look elsewhere for an inexpensive Cabernet Sauvignon as there are many great ones on the market. 
  On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I give this wine 82 points

                                                                                                               The Desert Wine Guy


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The Desert Wine Guy - A Review of The Vegas Valley Winery

   I told ya so. Yeah that's right, I told ya so. Ooops, what happened to your humbleness there Desert Wine Guy? Ahhh sorry foks, let's try this again. For those of you who follow me on my WINE ONLY Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy/) you might remember that in 2015 Las Vegas, Assembly Bill 4 passed through the Nevada Legislature and as of May 25, 2015 counties in Nevada which have a population of 100,00 or greater were now permitted to have wineries. Well fast forward a few years and now Clark County does indeed have it's very first winery. The Vegas Valley Winery (https://vegasvalleywinery.com/) is now open for business. Yesterday (Dec 22) I took a trip to Henderson Nevada to see what the winery was all about and to check out the wines themselves. What I left the winery with was without wine and with mixed feelings so let's move ahead and see what I discovered.

Inside The tasting Room

   To start off here I want to tell you that I am really baffled by what I found at the winery and I think you will be as well. The first problem that I ran into is attempting to find the winery. The winery is located in an area that is dominated by warehouse style buildings.While there are businesses in some of these buildings the entire area is very industrial looking and not some place I would ever think would house a type of business such a Winery. When I attempted to call and get directions to the winery as well as to find out if my children were allowed to be present (they are not, must be 21 or over) my call went to a voice mail which actually went to a different business (Greap Expectations) and wasn't returned until about an hour later. I eventually plugged the address into my car and made my way across town. Pulling into the propertys address which is 7360 Eastgate Rd, Ste 123, Henderson, Nevada 89011, Ste 123 I (finally) found that the winery is locared all the way in the back (getting off the Freeway I thought my GPS messed up) of the above mentioned warehouse buildings and next to another business which is owned by the same people (Grape Expectations). This particular business will actually allow you or a group of people to create your own wine under the supervision of Mike Schoenbaechler (their Winemaker) and allow you to age that wine in barrels in their Warehouse. Both businesses share the same large storage warehouse. Some other issues that I found fairly annoying were that when you go to shop on the website you find that there are no products to purchase. When you click to subscribe to Vegas Valley Winery E-Mail list you are also giving Grape Expectations and not the Vegas Valley Winery permission to E-mail you. To make matters even weirder, the winery also has no wine to sell other than by the glass. The tour that you will be takes about five minutes as there really is nothing to see as they do not grow any grapes at the winery and the actual space dedicated to the winery itself is very tiny, to me it was a waste of five minutes and more an advertisement for their other business.

Wine Barrels Aging

   Okay so now I am in the winery. Keeping it on the 100% folks, I was a little disappointed actually to see just how plain the winery is inside, the place just appeared bare and void. The tasting counter looked bare and there was a small T.V in the right hand corner. If you are expecting to see a winery like Napa or even Arizona I think you will be disappointed as well. I know that you might be having second thoughts about visiting the winery now and I truly don't blame you for thinking this way but there are indeed a few positives to the winery. The first positive is that hopefully this is only the start of wineries themselves coming to Southern Nevada. The second positive is that the wine was really enjoyable. The third positive is that the staff was great. I ended up spending a lot of time talking with Ryan who is one of the pourers as well as a certified Sommelier and an ex Henderson Police officer. Ryan was wonderful and very knowledgeable of the wines he was pouring, it was a pleasure talking with him.

Bonded Area

   Now for the wines themselves. Aside from the employees of the winery I was impressed with the wines themselves. There is a tasting fee of $8 for 5 wines and I enjoyed each one. My favorites were the 2015 Subtle Blond Riesling ($7.50 a glass) made from grapes grown in the Suisun valley. The wine had notes of Peach and other tropical notes. The wine was slight more than what I would call semi-sweet but not overdone in the sugar aspect on the Palette. If you have ever wanted the perfect white for the pool, this is most definitely it. On the Red side was the awesome 2015 Zinfandel ($9.50 a glass) made from grapes grown in the Paso Robles area. What a wine here folks. Fruit forward with notes of Peppercorn, light Black Cherry. I thought the wine was wonderfully jammy but to just the right point before backing off and avoiding being overdone in that department. There is also a 2015 Gamay Rose with grapes from the Suisun Valley

"Professor of Yeastology" & Director of Marketing & Advertising

and selling for $8 a glass that was over the top candy sweet with a note of Jolly Rancher and didn't interest me in the slightest but I could see it going very well at the pool for all you sweet wine lovers. The winery also sells a White named "Whimsical with grapes from the Suisun Valley for $7.50 a glass and is blend of Riesling & Sauvignon Blanc which was really nice as well, I did detect a slight carbonation to it. Finishing up the reds is a 2014 Syrah with grapes from Paso Robles for $9.50 a glass. All the wines with the exception of the Gamay Rose were really enjoyable and if I could I would have bough a few bottles of each but as I previously stated, there are no bottles available for purchase and to make matters worse they don't know when they will have the bottles to sell.There is food available with Pizza ($6.50 - $8.50) and a meat & cheese platter at $15.50.
   Well there you have it guys. There really isn't much more left to say. Overall to me it appears that the Vegas Valley Winery opened prematurely and isn't truly prepared to do business, at least as of yet. It also appears to me that the owners are using the winery and the media attention due to it as a draw for their wine making school in hopes to draw more business for it with perhaps hopes of that business spilling over and therefore becoming able to expound on the upstart winery they currently have. My suggestion is that you stop by for a few glasses of good wine and some conversation with the staff but don't expect much other than that. I don't unfortunately see any reason for customers to be drawn back to the winery. In Las Vegas there are many wine destinations that are much more lively and much more welcoming to the wine lover.
                                                                                                                 The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert WIne Guy - Sanders Winery - Serenity White WIne Table Wine

   Starting off this review I have to tell you about the owner and winemaker at the Sanders Winery (http://sanderswinery.com/) which is located in Pahrump Nevada. The owner / Winemaker is Jack Sanders. I have personally met and talked to Jack on numerous occasions and I have to tell you that Jack is the kind of person who is not only interested in but truly has a loves and passion for his vines and the wines that comes from them. Jack also "keeps it real" so to speak. Jack isn't the kind of guy who is there to pretend that he is interested in interacting with you or pretend that he enjoys pouring wine for you the customer. Jack is the kind of guy who will finish your tasting pour and come out from behind the counter and actually draw pictures for you to describe how to grow and cultivate wine grapes. Jack will explain not only his vines and wines but talk to an extent about the present and future wine industry in Southern Nevada. How you might ask do I know this? I know this because  he has done it many times for me. Jack is a wealth of knowledge and a lot of what I know about the local wine industry as well as my own vines and vineyard I owe to Jack.  Jack doesn't know the word "pretentious" and seems unaware that he is supposed to act "too good" to talk to the average wine fan so don't tell him :) Wow you say, Desert Wine Guy you really are going crazy on this dude. Yes I am, and he is worthy of every praise and more. If you want to learn about wines and vines AND drink some great wine than get to the Sanders Winery in Pahrump Nevada which is about 45 minutes North of Las Vegas. By the way his Son is just as awesome and he also works behind the tasting counter and is every bit as knowledgeable and accommodating to wine lovers who visit.  Beware however that Jack and his son will give others the same undivided attention that he will give you so depending on how busy the Tasting Room is you might have to wait your turn if you require one on one attention.  You know, it's kind of funny (or sad, depending on how you look at it) how the so called "master wine makers" dismiss Southern Nevada area as being unable to grow good / great wine grapes or produce a good / great wine. By the way the state of Arizona is ignored the same way but that is starting to change. As someone who lives in Las Vegas and grows two varietals of wine grapes I can tell you that not only is growing good /great wine grapes possible but a given. There are certain varietals of grapes in general that simply love the Desert heat. As an example I offer you the two varietals of Cabernet Sauvignon as well as Sauvignon Blanc that I grow here in the Desert heat. The one draw back however to the Desert heat challenge presented here is the fact that Harvest is really early compared to the Napa Valley due to the quick rise in the Brix (sugar) level of the grapes. Where Napa and other wine growing regions temperatures will drop as the sun goes down this does not happen in Las Vegas where the drop in the Summer temperatures might be 15 degrees at the most. When the Daytime temperature is 113, that 15 degree drop doesn't make a heck of a lot of difference in the development of the grape. O.k so let's move on now and deal with an issue I discovered with what appears to be a lack of attention to detail.
   Let me continue here by bringing up a slight issue that could have turned into a bigger issue perhaps even to the point of ruining this wine. When I removed the foil off off the mouth of the bottle there was a very apparent defect in the cork. The wine appeared to be sealed well but the attention to detail of the cork was lacking. If you look at the picture I took of what I saw when I removed the foil you will see what I mean. Looking closely you will see not only an unevenly cut cork but one with little bits of cork as well as cork dust laying on top of the cork itself. This actually wasn't something that I noticed until I reviewed the pictures just prior to writing this review.

Cork with particles and dust visible

These pieces of cork could have gotten into the wine bottle itself and ruined the presentation / ability to drink the wine. To say that I was surprised would be an understatement. Looking back on the fact that I didn't actually see the bits and pieces of the cork until just now I was very lucky to have avoided contamination of the wine. 
   So with all this being said, how was the wine? Great question so let me go ahead and answer it. The first thing that I want to establish is that this is not a dry wine by any means. This wine is fruit forward and a little more than slightly on the sweeter side, as it was meant to be by the way. Is this a Wine Cooler, absolutely not, not even close to it. The wine is indeed smooth and not harsh in any way. It is certainly sweet but not overly. The wine also does not have tons of Alcohol coming in at only 12.5% which is pretty nice. Fruit forwardness is in actuality a plus in this wine and being a white wine and Summer wine, I like that. This is not a fancy dinner wine nor does it pretend to be either, it is a friends over, out back, Barbecue at the pool wine to enjoy all day wine. It is as simple as that. Nothing harsh or offensive. No bitter taste to put one off simply a first note of moderately sweet Peach, moderately sweet Nectarine, Honey Dew on the Palatte White wine blend. On the nose (only) there is a slightly syrupy note that I thought was refreshing although a little scary until you realize that it does not appear on the Palatte. Here is what I think is an important point that I want to emphasize. This wine is not heavy or syrupy and therefore is not some cheaply or carelessly made wine. In my opinion there was indeed thought and care put into this wine. Upon initial inspection of the wine in my glass I thought that this was perhaps a slightly carbonated wine but that is ever so slightly seen only but yet not tasted on the Palatte in any way. A secondary Fermentation perhaps but whatever caused it you will not care because it takes nothing away from the Palatte nor from the visual presentation of this indeed overall great wine. I would consider that the perhaps slight carbonation presentation is more than made up for in the taste, structure and indeed overall lightness of this White blend.

Jack Sanders

   Let's wrap this up now fans. Sometimes I wonder if my opinions of a wine is influenced by outside means. An example of this for instance is, did I just get done with a visit with Jack? Was there another influence that altered my perception of this particular wine? Today I went to do some research on what the varietal blends of this particular wine was and I came across the fact that I had already reviewed this particular wine but actually forgot about that review. Prior to this revelation I had informed a friend after he asked me what I would rate this wine that I was very early into the review and that I was initially probably looking at a rating on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale of 92 points. He replied that he thought that was really nice. I than proceeded with researching the varietal makeup of this particular wine since it is not stated on the bottle itself and I came across my original review (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-desert-wine-guy-sanders-family.html) of this wine. I discovered that I initially gave this wine 92 points. For those of you who wish to discover if I am indeed consistent, here is a perfect example of my consistency indeed. A one (1) point deviation on a review that was done almost two (2) years to the date is pretty darn consistent I would say. With that being said I am going to put this wine today at 93 points on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale. If you get to Las Vegas and love wine, spend the 45 minutes and take the trip to Sanders Winery, you won't be sorry you did. One last thing. Tell Jack that The Desert Wine Guy said hello.

                                                                                                                The Desert Wine Guy
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