The Desert Wine Guy - 2013 Wilson Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Variant Series (VS)

   Here is a review of a wine I drank about a year ago but just never got around to publishing. This wine comes from one of my favorite winery's in the Temecula California area and that winery is the Wilson Creek Winery. Today's review is on their 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon VS (Variant Series). This particular wine is mostly a Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Zinfandel and Merlot and comes in with an Alcohol percentage at 14.3%. This Cabernet sells for $29.99 at the winery. Let me start off with a little bit about Wilson Creek Winery. My family and I stopped at Wilson Creek on the way out of San Diego one day.  The kids and Mrs. Desert Wine Guy chose to stay outside (although the kids were welcomed inside)  and play on the grass since it was such a beautiful day and Mrs Desert Wine Guy doesn't drink (what??).  On the grounds there are plenty of nicely manicured grass areas to choose from for the family to play in. Out back is an area set aside for club members to relax while sipping on some Wilson creek wine. The inside has a large display of wine barrels on display almost to the ceiling as well as a very long and spread out counter to do some tasting at, there is a $15 fee for the tasting. There is a gift shop, picnic areas as well as areas for weddings and 70 acres of vineyards as well. There is also a Bed & Breakfast as well as numerous Suites including the 1600 square foot Grand Almond Champagne Suite. Trust me folks there is something for everyone, the place is

wonderful. Well how does the review wine stand up to the beautiful grounds.

    O.K here we go now onto the review. While I love the winery itself I will start off with my opinion of the wine. While I did enjoy it I was not really impressed with this Cabernet Sauvignon. Don't get me wrong it was a pleasant wine but it did not in any way hold up to the standards of it's varietal. Let's start from the beginning and you will see what I mean. The bouquet here was of Cassis, Cherry and Caramel, sounds great right? Sounds like this is going to be a good, deep Cab right?  In the glass the color of the wine was a very light Red in appearance and really noting to catch your attention nor lead you to expect anything special to this wine. The wine on your Palette opens with a slightly over the top and dominating Cherry / Black Cherry notes. There is some decent Cassis, Plum and Black Cherry notes here as well. Despite all the notes that I have listed however the wine comes across as a wine that is past it's prime and has lost it's zeal or power. It comes across as a wine that has faded and lost everything it once had. The body on this wine is light to medium. There was also a slight sweetness to this wine that was noticeable to me and that I did not care for too much. All the notes combined made for a really bright, fruit forward wine that distracted me from the other notes. Now, on the upside and there is one upside I think. While this wine is not even in the ballpark of being a serious or even semi-serious Cabernet Sauvignon it would make a nice picnic Red. Overall this is a very light, fun Cab (?) that is great for Barbecues, picnics or even the first pool party of the year. Basically this is what Cabernet drinkers drink when they are not drinking Cabernet. With Summer on the way quickly this would make a perfect wine that you might think of getting perhaps a bottle of if you have some extra money . To say that I didn't enjoy this wine would not be accurate because I did enjoy it it's just that with the label on the bottle and the price of $29.99 I was expecting a lot more that a Summer Red. I would drink this wine quickly because I don't believe it has any more that three years life left to it.
   Alright everyone so what do we have here? Without a doubt we have a wine that is great for the Summer and you will enjoy. On the other hand you have a wine that simply can't be taken seriously as anything other that some Red blend that is of a very nondescript varietal(s). You also have the price that to me is in need of serious reconsideration.  I am going to put this wine at an 86 on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale.
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The Desert WIne Guy - 1999 Glass Mountain Quarry Cabernet Sauvignon

1999 Glass Mountain Quarry Cabernet Sauvignon

    Folks today I have a special treat for you. Today I will be reviewing a Cabernet Sauvignon from 1999....yeah that's right 1999. Today's review is of the Glass Mountain Markham / Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon ....1999 vintage. For me to do this review I had to actually go back to the reviews originally published when the wine was released. I wanted something to compare the then and now so I could try and see if the wine has lost anything in time. Did the wine originally exhibits certain notes that it no longer exhibits. I expected that what ever Tannins the wine originally had would be gone by this time but I was up in the air about the rest. I guess the biggest question would be is the wine still any good or did it turn to Vinegar and be better used on a salad :). One other question I had was whether the cork held up or not. Well all those question were answered and in pretty surprising ways I thought. Research did show that the wine originally cost $10 so I have to say that going into this review I did NOT have high hopes of anything special at all. Before I get into the heart of my review I want to give you a little bit about this winery than we will get into this review I think you will be as surprised as I was.

Very Light In Color Cabernet Sauvignon

   Around 1975 Markham Vineyard (http://www.markhamvineyards.com/) founder Bruce Markham moved to the Napa Valley and bought 250 acres of farmland that he quickly began growing wine grapes on.  The fruit was so good that he had the Honor of selling it to the legend Robert Mondavi as well as the famous Beaulieu Vineyards which happens to be one of my favorite wines by the way. In 1977 Bruce purchased an historic winery and founded Markham Vineyards. The first wines were released in 1978 and had immediate acclaim. In 1988 Bruce decided to retire from the wine making business and sold the Vineyard to a Japanese wine company named Mercian Corporation. In the year 2001 Bruce unfortunately passed away. Markham Vineyards still marches on however and is a very popular destination in the Napa Valley wine industry.

   Alright guys now down to the inspection and opening of this wine. Before opening the wine I inspected the outside foil / cork area for any damage and there was none visible. Taking the foil off revealed what appeared to be a perfectly intact cork, still more great news. Screwing the Cork Screw in I did not notice any crumbling of the cork, another good thing. Removing the cork was done as normal however when I inspected the cork I noticed that the bottom of the cork, the part that was inside the bottle was beginning to fall apart. Look at the photos that I took and you will see what I mean. I now started having doubts as to if the wine would be contaminated by cork. Looking closer at the cork though did not show that it was crumbling only that it was beginning to almost separate from itself. Well let's take a glass and head on upstairs to my Tasting Room (my Loft) and see what we can see.

Cork Stained Halfway Thru

Cork Splitting

   On the pour of this wine I saw something that I didn't think could be good. The wine although Reddish in appearance was really VERY VERY light and watery looking. Now I am truly worried but it's already opened so I guess I should move on and taste it. When the wine hit my Palette I got the unexpected note of Mocha along with a nice, not too bright Cherry note. This Cherry note wasn't the overpowering Cherry that I have tasted in some wines that can ruin the wine in in my book, this was a semi bright Cherry that was indeed well placed, awesome on the Palette and simply perfect. The wine was slightly on the sweeter side but once again not overdone in that category either. As expected due to aging there were no Tannins left at all but there was a nice level of Cassis that was tasted and along with a nice superb Blackberry note it all combined very nicely to form this wonderful wine. All the notes were very polished here and the wine needed no Decanting as can be expected with it's age. So remember when I said I was going to look at reviews written when the wine was released? I can now tell you that other than the small amount of Tannins some reviewers said it had at that time of release,

Markham Vineyards

Cork Breaking Down

the wine simply hasn't skipped a beat. Throw in a note of Oak and you have the complete picture of this wine down. The wine is smooth with no harsh notes at all. It appears this wine has stood the test of time and I have to say that if a wine could melt in your mouth than this would be a great example. Older reviews also talk of a slightly fruity wine and one on the light side well that is what you currently have folks. Drinking this wine today is probably how this wine was meant to be and how the wine tasted upon release and I think that is awesome. For a wine to be 17 years old and STILL impress......that says a lot about the winemaker AND the type of seal that was chosen to protect this wine.
   When a wine can handle 17 years of storage and still be as good as the day it was released says a lot about the quality of the wine and the competency of the wine maker. I wish I could find out who the wine maker was and send him a copy of this review to let him know how great his work was. Will be enclosing a few lines asking Markham Vineyards to forward this to him or her if they are still able to contact them. This wine also stands as a testimony to cork closures. At the risk of getting started on my preference of cork closures here I will simply say that the wine making process AND the type of closure  go hand in hand, you could not keep this wine as drinkable as it was with just one of these two elements in place, it required both.  The other element that kept the wine great was the storage. Without great storage this wine would NOT have made it. I owned this bottle from day one and it was kept away from direct sunlight and heat, it was also kept tilted down in order to keep the cork wet.
   The one negative thing I can say about the wine is that it is very on the light side for a Cabernet Sauvignon but that also is in the original reviews so that was not a change. This wine really fits more into a medium bodied Merlot than a Cab. Because of the fact that I don't feel this fits the characteristics of a cab I can't bring myself to elevate it to the 90 point level but I definitely will place it at a very comfortable and well deserved 88 points, and that is not bad at all for a 17 year old wine.

Bruce Markham & Two Grandchildren

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The Desert Wine Guy - A Review Of The Boiling Crab - A Disapointing Seafood Restaurant

Front of the restaurant

Gumbo with rice

Front counter area

My Meal Served in a Bag

   From time to time I like to break from my wine stuff and I get inspired to do a restaurant review. Well folks today is one of those days. Today Ladies and Gentleman The Desert Wine Guy will temporarily become The Desert Restaurant Guy in order to do a restaurant review of a restaurant named The Boiling Crab which is located here in Las Vegas but does have locations in California, Nevada and Texas. In Las Vegas the restaurant is located at 4025 S Decatur Blvd. O.K folks, before I get into this review I want you to know something. Please keep in mind that I am not some primadonna by any stretch of the imagination and as you guys know  I have two vineyards PLUS a garden so I am not afraid to get down and dirty and get my hands dirty. It is important that you keep that this mind as you read this review.

Too many "market price" items

Oysters

What a mess

Shrimp W/Head & Legs

    The other day Mrs. Desert Wine Girl and I were out for Dinner at a restaurant I had previously reviewed (the FireRock steakhouse http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/07/today-i-am-going-to-take-break-from-my.html) on this blog which by the way was awesome.  We ended up striking up a conversation with the Waitress. It seems that my Mrs. Desert Wine Girl was eating the Oysters and she complained about how terrible they were. I guess they were very small and contained little meat. Since the dozen Oysters were around $20 she figured she would voice her opinion.  The waitress was very nice and apologized and recommended a place named The Boiling Crab for great Crab and Oysters. Well since she loves Oysters that was all Mrs. Desert Wine Girl needed to hear so one night shortly after that we decided to head on down to The Boiling Crab and see what it was all about. When Mrs. Desert Wine Girl and I walked into the restaurant at around 7:30 PM the restaurant was fairly busy so we waited about fifteen minutes to be seated which wasn't bad considering how crowded the place was. We would have been seated about five minutes earlier but decided to wait for a booth. The restaurant is pretty decent size and is well lit. It has a very casual atmosphere and is set up for people to just walk in off the streets and have Dinner. There were family's galore and dress is as you can imagine, come as you are. This restaurant unfortunately,  is also one of those places where the manager feels the need to play the music very loudly. While not loud enough that you couldn't hear people at your table talk it is loud enough to be annoying, if I wanted a Nightclub I would have went to one. There are also a good amount of T.Vs for those of you who need your sports updates. Once we were seated our Waitress Jess T approached us for our drink order and to also explain how the ordering process went. Jess did a good job explaining things and was one of the bright spots to the evening (not as bright as Mrs. Desert Wine Girl though :) O.K things are going O.K so far. During this explanation I learned that there were only basic dishes such as for instance as in in my case, Shrimp. If you wanted say for instance to add Sausage that was extra, everything seemed to be extra. There were no combo plates to choose from. O.K I guess that's something that you can get over. The minute I started reviewing the menu I saw a few issue. The first thing is that there were a lot of things at "market price", in my opinion way to many things. This place wants to come across as a VERY casual, come right off the streets place one one hand yet on the other wants to act price wise like a fancy seafood restaurant. The other issue I noticed was that there was Gumbo on the menu and if you wanted rice in your Gumbo that was cheaper than if you didn't want rice and here started my issues. To me this issue of a larger charge without rice told me that the restaurant was going to charge you more because they might have to put in a few extra pieces of Sausage or perhaps an extra Shrimp or two, I don't like stuff like that. Simply just put the Gumbo on the menu and give me a price, besides I have never even seen gumbo without rice before. I have been to enough restaurants to know when I am getting "nickeled and dimed" so to speak. I can't stand restaurants that choose to do that. You know the restaurants, the ones who charge you for an extra sauce or want to charge for substitution of Cole Slaw for Potato Salad.  Well anyway let's move on because I think you are getting the idea of the type of restaurant I am reviewing. My Wife ordered the dozen Oysters and I ordered the Gumbo.....with rice. Mrs. Desert Wine Girl told me that the Oysters were great and had a lot of meat to them and that she really enjoyed them, I wish I could say the same about my Gumbo however. My Gumbo was very watery even with the little bit of rice they were kind enough to throw in. The Few bits of Sausage in the Gumbo were fairly tasty but the couple of shrimp they were again "nice enough" to throw in were bland although they were peeled  and had no heads or legs. As you read on you will see why I threw that comment in.  I was overall not all impressed with the Gumbo.

The bill for eating with my hands

When ordering the main meal my Wife ordered the pound of Shrimp and a half a Corn on the Cobb. For flavor she ordered "The Whole Sha-Bang, non spicy. I ordered the pound of shrimp with sausage and for seasoning I chose mild.  The wait for the food was about 15 minutes which is fine. The real problems I have with this place however, start here. All the food was served in a medium size, clear, plastic bag. There are no plates. Now think about this and look at the pictures. the food and bag is coated with a messy , sticky, Brown sauce and you are expected to reach in to the bottom of the bag and pull out your shrimp, sausage or whatever else you ordered. Want to wear a watch or any wrist jewelry? You can forget it unless you want to go thru the process of removing them. Want to have sauce past your wrist to the middle of your forearm? You are in luck, you have come to the right place. The only other option is to dump everything onto the table cloth which is disposable. I don't know about you but having a big mess layed out in front of me at my restaurant table is not my idea of a good time. Well I looked at my bag and asked if I could get a plate instead. Jess, our Waitress looked at me for a second like I was crazy and informed me that there were no plates. I guess I was also supposed to know that you eat EVERYTHING with your hands. I simply said "O.K". Well I opened my ....bag of cooked shrimp and sausage and all I saw was a big mess (look at the picture). Not only was there a mess of food but there were things on my shrimp that I never experienced in a place where I had to actually spend money such as the legs, heads and yes ....eyes. It seems in this restaurant you have to devein your shrimp, pull the legs off your shrimp, pull the head (with eyes) off your shrimp!!! I'm sorry folks but when I spend that kind of money for my food I expect ALL that junk to be removed BEFORE it gets to me, call me crazy. My wife who hates spicy food said she thought the non-spicy was slightly spicy. I thought the mild was just that, mild. My Shrimp had a greasy / mildly spicy taste to it and was simply O.K.. My sausage was decent although kind of on the greasy side. Mrs. Desert Wine Guy ordered the Shrimp and thought they were simply "O.K". For her side she had the corn which she said was "mushy".

So you don't think that Mrs. Desert Wine Girl or I are off base with our reviews I ended up striking up a conversation with the people at the next table across from us who were made up of four Women. I asked them what they thought about the place and after giving me a look that said all I needed to know they voiced that they weren't too happy with it. They also specifically commented on the mess that you are forced to eat in. I also happened to also strike up a conversation with a guy in the bathroom (it's a guy thing O.K) after washing the greasy, messy sauce off my hands and he said he is from Los Angeles and he wasn't too impressed and also commented on how the shrimp did not taste fresh. 

Inside the restaurant

The end of the Dinner - Still want to go??

Here is the bottom line everyone. I think this place is popular because it is new to town and it is unique. I also do NOT think it will last too long. I can't imagine anyone especially here in Las Vegas where you can get a seafood buffet anywhere AND also have the heads and eyes and legs removed off your food for you and also not go thru your dinner sticky and messy. Here in Las Vegas you can get FRESH seafood along with plates and a little more upscale environment for around the same prices as you can at The Boiling Crab. I give the place six months and it will be gone. For $83.25 there are TONS of better places we can go and not feel like we have to take a bath afterwards. As for me and Mrs. Desert Wine Girl we have had our one and only visit to this place.

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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.

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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.

  

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The Desert WIne Guy - 2013 Dominican Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon - A Real Sugar Bomb

   Today's review will be a rather short one because that is really all this so so Napa Valley Cabernet really deserves. Today's review is of the 2013 Dominican Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a wine that you really can't find any information about for some reason. The makers of this wine are the Rutherford Wine Company however when you go to their webpage you can't find anything on this wine, they make no claim to the label. The only way I knew they made it was because I looked at the back of the bottle. There is no other information about this wine that I can find available. This is a $20 bottle of wine that no one wants to take credit for. I would love to tell you more about the wine from the angle of the makeup of the grapes (blending) or a little about the winery but since no is willing to take ownership of the wine I guess I won't worry about it.
  Call me weird but when I pour a wine into my glass I enjoy pouring a very small amount. I believe rightly or wrongly, that this gives the wine more of an opportunity to open up quicker and allows me to really get into the swirling of the wine. I also feel that since there is so little in the glass it allows more room for air to mix in quicker. I am not saying there is any scientific evidence to this but it sounds good in my mind :) This can be a detriment as well because by the time I am half way thru the bottle Mrs. Desert Wine Girl has Dinner ready and there is still half a bottle left that goes down the sink drain since I don't like wine sitting around even for a day.
   Now to the wine and what I thought of it. First remember that we are talking about a $20 bottle of wine. With all the great wine being offered in today's market at prices just under this wines price, I feel this wine should stand out. Now while that is fresh in your mind I want you to think about the fact that this wine is VERY fruit forward and VERY sweet. In the glass the wine looked pretty nice however and I had hopes for a good wine to be in the cards. A medium to dark, inky / Burgundy in color appearance sat in the bowl of my glass. The Bouquet consisted of Caramel, Black Berry and Hibiscus....still promising I thought and I was getting more excited in anticipation. For $20 this would be what I should expect and it is what I thought I was about to receive. Here however is where expectations met reality and you will see what the results are.
   From the very first sips of this wine till the very last sip of this wine the wine changed or opened up very little. On my Palette I consistently tasted Oak and Black cherry but to me the overly dominate note in this wine was a very fruity Black Cherry that carried with it a lot of sweetness. There were nice notes of Cassis and there were also some nice Tannins but they couldn't help this wine much. Because the Cassis and tannin's were so nice I did however raise the final score on this wine by 1 point but the overall sweet notes simply couldn't be overcome enough to raise it more than that.
   I'm not going to sit here and say that this wine was not O.K but it was really just an average fruit forward, hastily made Cabernet Sauvignon. I won't even use the word decent to describe it. There are many of these wine out there and if the wine was less expensive for what it was I might have raised the score another point for value but not at this price point, no way. Although the Bouquet may seem to have been nice I didn't find this wine really expressing itself or able to use it for it's benefit. The notes as described were there but they didn't ....yell out that they were there, they were simply present. If I had to use one word to describe the wine it would be "sweet". If you like a fruit forward Cabernet Sauvignon, as I do but hate when they are dominated by sweetness than you seriously need to look elsewhere. This wine sits at a price point that I feel more, much more is expected of it. There was some Caramel in it when the wine opened up but still not enough to make any meaningful impact.
   Bottom line here is that unless you like the fruit forward, overly sugary tasting red wine this is not the wine for you. There are a lot better and for a less expensive price that blow this wine away. If you are looking for one here ( http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-black-stallion.html) is my review on one. For $10.99 you will have yourself an excellent fruit forward yet NOT overly sweet, expressive Cabernet Sauvignon that I rated at 93 points on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale. As for this wine well it can't hope to touch that rating and I place it at 86 points on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert WIne Guy - 2013 Z Alexander Brown "Uncaged" Propriety Red Blend

The 2013 Z Alexander Brown "Uncaged"

    Hello everyone, today I want to discuss a little bit about a wine from Z Alexander Brown entitled "Uncaged". Before we get into this wine review however, I would like to tell you a short story about just exactly how I came across this wine in the first place. Last year, in November I came across and did a review (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-black-stallion.html) of  the 2011 Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon from the Delicato Family Vineyards. I loved the wine so much that I searched all over to find some more. It turned out that this particular vintage was sadly  unavailable (sadly) anymore. Well to make a long story short I finally managed to find the last couple of bottles at a wine seller on line named WineLibrary (https://winelibrary.com/) and bought a couple of bottles for my cellar. When I went back to get some more they of course were sold out. Well I still wanted a couple of more bottles and I ended up contacting the Delicato Family Vineyards (http://www.delicato.com/) themselves who are the makers of Black Stallion and I was referred to Allison Mendoza who is the Areas Sales Manager for Nevada. She unfortunately informed me that neither she nor her numerous wine sources were able to get me any more of that particular vintage, she was however able to get me the 2013 vintage and she would gladly get me a bottle to review if I so desired. Well I assumed that if the actual winery can't come up with any more that I have to believe that it is not available anymore. I also hoped that if the 2013 was as good as the 2011 than I was in luck and I felt the wine maker deserved a shot at trying to impress me again. Well Allison and I ended up meeting at a local coffee house here in Las Vegas and to my surprise Allison brought not only a bottle of the 2013 Black Stallion but a bottle of wine named Z Alexander Brown "Uncaged" red propriety blend as well. Neither wines had actually been released to the general public at that time although you should be able to find them at the time you are reading this review. Before I go on I wanted to give a special thank you to Allison. I was very impressed with her and thought she was very professional and presented the Delicato Family Vineyards extremely well. Allison was also prompt for our meeting which is important to me and was extremely pleasant and informative as well. We ended up speaking for about an hour and I learned much about the wine and distribution end of alcohol in general.
   With that being said I would like to establish once again before I move into the body of this review that this wine was a gift from Allison on behalf of the Delicato Family Vineyards.  As always, I promise you that I will always give you my honest opinion. Remember that I have a full time job and am not beholden to anyone. One last item before we get into the heart of the review. In case you think that you might recognize the name Z Alexander Brown from somewhere but you can't put your finger on it Yes, the wine is named after the singer Zac Brown.
   So lets begin at the pour. This wine is truly what is known as an inky red wine. The color is really wonderful to experience, it is like a feast for the eyes. You can almost see how good this wine is going to be by it's appearance. So we have started off here on a good note for this wine. There really isn't much more to say about the appearance of this wine in my glass so let's now move on.
   Now we move to the Bouquet. I really wish that the Bouquet was as appealing to my nose as the pour was to my eyes, unfortunately I can't really say much about the Bouquet because there really isn't much of a Bouquet in my opinion to speak about. There were notes of Blackberry and Baking Spice there but they were fairly on the weak side. Basically there really wasn't much of anything on the nose I am sorry to say. So far it looks as if we have a mixed review here doesn't it? Don't be fooled into thinking that this review is going down hill here though folks because it most certainly is not.

Back of The "Uncaged" Wine Bottle

   Onto how the wine was on my Palette. Here is truly where this wine really shines. When I very first put this wine in my mouth the first thought that came to mind was "wow, impressive". My mouth was filled with some simply powerfully impressive notes and I really was rather impressed. Here is a wine that has as much depth to it as there is color on the pour and that folks is a lot. To continue, there is a luscious, deep, rich Black Cherry note followed by well refined and rather nice Cassis that coats the Tongue. Pretty serious deep BlackBerry notes are in here as well.  In the wine and on the finish there is a hint of Caramel that seems to softens the BlackBerry note and provides a velvety smoothness. Adding to the finish is the sense of a almost a hint of Black Pepper and along with the rest of the notes mentioned adds to this delicious mix. Yes, there is a lot on the finish. It is very busy in a good way. There really isn't one particular flavor that dominates the finish which think is nice.
   There is also a surprising hint of Blueberry note that I detected as well. Wow, this wine folks is seriously shaping up to be a very "in your face" (which I love) red wine blend. As I said the deep Black Cherry is the first note to hit your Palette however the other notes I  have already mentioned come along for the ride almost instantly and are almost, but not quite equal in their presence on your Palette. Some pretty nice notes of slightly chewy Tannins also  managed to creep their way into this wine. I totally love the way the Tannins and that note of Cassis create a sort of chewiness in my mouth, we are talking about a fairly complex tasting wine. I happen to love a wine that is not shy but is instead so bold and flavor packed that it almost screams "look at me". Yeah, this is a slightly fruit forward wine but it has so much more to offer your on your Palette that it is almost easy to overlook for those of you who are put out off by fruit forwardness in a wine. Simply put, this is a wine that doesn't request, it demands distinction, it screams suit & tie on one hand and casual steak dinner at home on the other. The notes of BlackBerry and the others I mentioned carry's this wine trough nicely to the finish and complete this outstandingly superior wine you won't regret it you bought it. This is another wine that is in the same family as the last few reds I have been reviewing meaning that it is not for the weak of heart.
   It was rather interesting I thought while I was reviewing this wine that this is the first release of this label and I couldn't help but think what would happen if this wine hit it big with the so called professional wine reviewers. What if this wine in three months was unavailable on the market anymore becaus eit took the wine world by storm and happened to win best new wine of the year? What, it could really happen :) Here I was having the great fortune of tasting this wine before it was released to the general public, I just thought that was really cool. I also want to give credit where credit is due. Zac Brown himself of course did not make this wine but he deserves a lot of credit for hooking up with the man who did, So you ask, who did make this wine? Well none other than John Killebrew. John also made wine at Pareidolia Wineworks and Havens Wine Cellars in the Napa Valley. By the way this isn't Johns first venture in combining the music and the wine industry into one. In 2012 John and the Spanish artist Gabriel Moreno also along with the Delicato family joined together to create "Juxtapoz" which is another red wine blend from California's North Coast (as is the "uncaged") that seems to be getting very nice reviews.

John Killebrew (left) And Zac Brown (Right)

If I may I'd like to make a suggestion to all my red wine fans. Here is another wine that is in the same category as the 2012 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-desert-wine-guy-2012-franciscan.html) that I recently reviewed. For both of these wonderful wines I am going to be purchasing a couple of bottles for my wine cellar and who knows perhaps just to say I have them. The one fortunate thing for you is that unlike the Franciscan, the "Uncaged" has just been released and is available in enough quantity (for the moment) that you can try a bottle for yourself before spending the money to buy two more bottles later to put away. Who know s this might even become one of those "cult wines" that everyone must have. I think that whether it becomes a cult wine or not this is a wine that you are going to love and is more than capable to be both a wine for that steak night or the wine for that special event, either way it will surely stand out as a wine of respect.

   You must be a dark, Red wine drinker in order to appreciate this Red blend. This is A big wine too die for essentially. There is the very slight note of sweetness that I detected but nothing too overbearing and the other notes work well in attempting to cut down on the sugary notes. Unfortunately this is where the one negative item I found in this wine came to the forefront I am sorry to say. While the sweetness to the wine is really for the most part negligible it does tip to the slightly pronounced side and is enough for me to be forced to take away a couple of points from this still wonderful wine. We will discuss the sweetness level a little further in the review when I give you my rating. This is a truly awesome wine and one that I think is going to make a big splash in the wine industry. The Delicato Family should once again be proud to claim this label as another winner that will continue to put the family on the wine map and do them proud.

The Indelicato Family

   O.K lets put this all together now. This is a full bodied, powerful, in your face, yet smooth and impressive at the same time Red blend of a wine. The Delicato Family Vineyards have done it once again, they have managed to  impress this wine reviewer with another of their wines.  The 2013 Z Alexander Brown "Uncaged" propitiatory Red blend is a wine that I feel needs to be poured in wine glasses throughout the wine world and judged as possibly a "best in class" by some reviewers. I can't speak for Zac Browns music because I am not a country music fan but I can speak for his (John Killebrew) wine. This wine while having the notes of Cassis and Tannins is for the most part smooth as silky in your mouth. I highly recommend it.  SO let's get to my scoring of this wine. Originally this wine was headed for 94 points on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale but unfortunately that just a hair over the top sweetness that it seemed to exhibit in my book brought it down 2 points in the overall score. The wine ends with a rating of 92 very respectable points.

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The Desert Wine Guy - 2012 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Today I want to talk about about a particular wine that I found simply fascinating. The wine I want to discuss here today is the 2012 Franciscan Estate (http://www.franciscan.com/Story/Estate-Vineyards) Cabernet Sauvignon. Let's start talking about this absolutely amazing wine and exactly how I came across it which I almost think was an error on Costco's part. First though,  a little bit of bad news, as far as I know it is no longer available anywhere. I have searched online and have been unsuccessfully in locating this vintage.  So the bad news  (the only bad news) is out of the way so  I guess I should start from the beginning here and just how I came across this wine.

Franciscan Estates Winery

So Desert Wine Guy exactly how did you come across this wine? Well here is the story. The other day I was sitting around at home and this thought just came into my mind. The thought was that I needed to head to Costco and buy a bottle of wine. I know, weird huh? Why Costco I thought. Yes, it is true, I do love Costco for their wine selection but in reality it is a rather small selection in general. Besides, there is a store near me that is almost as big as a Walmart that sells every type of wine, Liquor or Beer you could ever possibly want or need. I really don't know the answer but I am glad I followed thru on that thought. So anyway Mrs.Desert Wine Girl and I got dressed and we went to our local Costco here in Las Vegas to do some wine buying for me and some shopping for her. When we got to the store I of course headed over to the wine section. During my wandering around in the wine section I happened to come across a wine varietal from a label that I haven't had for a long time. That label was the Franciscan Estate and the varietal was the Cabernet Sauvignon.  The particular wine was the 2013 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The Franciscan winery is located in the Oakville AVA of the Napa Valley. Franciscan is actually one of those winery's as is the Peju (http://www.peju.com/) winery that has always stood out in my mind as making one of the wines that has a special note on my Palette. I don't know exactly what it is but I can always spot the Cabernet Sauvignons from these winery's. I don't know if it's something in the soil or what but they definitely stand out on my Palette. So there I am looking at the wooden crate that is holding the 2013 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and I happened to see at the bottom of the crate the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon. Having done some previous research on that particular wine and vintage I knew that I had to grab not just one but two bottles of this wine, I left two for some other lucky individual.  One bottle I bought was already marked to go into my wine cellar, that is provided the bottle I did a tasting on was as great as I was hearing it was. I am talking about a wine here that is composed of 85% Cab, 9% Merlot, 3% Malbec 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc. The wine is put through a pre-fermentation cold soak of 4 days with a macceration time of 22 days. The wine finishes up being aged in small Oak Barrels (25% new) for 20 months. Well anyway, after grabbing the two bottles I met up with my Wife and helped her finish the rest of the shopping. The very next day was review day so I brought a bottle of the 2012 Franciscan Cabernet up to my Loft and proceeded to do a review of this wine. So now the big question is did the other bottle end up in my Cellar after all?  That is a good question and one that I could answer in one word but that wouldn't be fair to you nor the wine itself for that matter. Wines such as this need justification for the review you are about to read. Folks this is going to be one of those reviews that simply cannot be done in a few lines. In order to justify the rating this wine received I do feel that I must justify it and that I will need more that a few lines. While I could in reality jot down a couple of lines and get my point across that really wouldn't allow you to share my experience sufficiently enough to put this wine in the category in which I have it. Besides what kind of review would that be.  I want to really let you know why you should try your hardest to find a couple of bottles for yourself. Now that my little teaser is done I want you to sit back, relax and lets get into this review. We will start with a little bit of information on this winery.

   The Franciscan winery owns about 240 Acres in the Oakville AVA of the Napa Valley. This is the same AVA that wine greats such as Opus One, Swanson as well as Silver Oak own vineyards. The Franciscan winery was founded in 1972 by a group of Lawyers & Doctors from San Francisco. Today the Associate Winemaker is Justin Myers who has also worked for Stags Leap Winery and Beaulieu Vineyards to name a few. They released their first vintage in 1975 and that was also the first vintage released that included fruit from the Oakville property. Having now given a little background into the selection of the wine and the winery itself it is time to get into the heart of the review so lets do that.
   Let's begin at the top. In my glass this powerful 2012 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon poured a deep, dark Burgundy. A wonderful, rich looking, powerful dark Burgundy at that. The wine actually looked very formidable in appearance visually and showed some nice legs on the side of my glass as well.
   As for the Bouquet there was the semi sweet enticing aroma of Caramel with Cedar and Cocoa which appeared to blend rather nicely when it reached my nose. The Bouquet itself seemed like a complete meal to the nose (weird huh?). To me this wine seemed to exhibit an elegance combined with a dominating power in it's bouquet that I haven't smelled for some time in a wine. To say that I was rather impressed with this wine from the start is an understatement. Now, whether the wine would carry on as far as how the real test was which was on my Palette remained to be seen.
   I don't normally Decant my wine and sometimes I find the wine changing as my tasting goes on which is fine with me but in this case I decided to Decant and see from the beginning what this wine was really about. Having opened this wine and having it Decant now for almost 2 hours I must say that I don't consider this wine to be a fruit forward wine. I'm really happy about this fact because it seems that lately the Cabernet that I have been tasting are rather fruit forward and while that is OK and I have had some excellent wines in that category it is however nice to finally get a wine that is a little more down to business. I think that this wine is also far to busy with other notes to put fruit at the top of it's presentation anyway. This wine as I said IS all about getting down to business. This is simply a good old fashioned Cabernet Sauvignon. You folks who have taken the time to learn the difference between a fruit forward Cabernet and a non fruit forward Cabernet should be able to identify that this wine spends it's time worrying about other more important things. This truly is the reason why the varietal known as Cabernet Sauvignon is still the king of Reds.
   Those of you who love a fair amount of Tannins in their Reds will most certainly be happy here as this wine is loaded with Tannins and at just the perfect levels that seem to coat lightly coat your tongue. Now, I know there are those of you reading this that will determine simply by this review using the word "Tannins" in relation to this wine that his wine is not for you. Those of you who like a wine that is made for a relaxing Patio / pool day or for a mid morning get together should look elsewhere, this is not the wine you want. If that is you there are many other wines out there that will please you and many that I have reviewed and loved myself. If you are interested here (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-black-stallion.html) is one of those wines. Sipping on this wine you know you have now tasted a Cabernet the likes of which your parents probably drank. In this wine perfect levels of Cocoa mixed ever so slightly with a smooth Mocha nicely manages to subdue any idea of this wine being fruit forward. A wonderful Dark, Black Cherry note is very prominent here as well. This Dark Black Cherry is like the Cherry's that you would pick from a tree that you would find on the most fertile land. When mixed with the Cocoa & that smooth Mocha the wine simply present a perfect combination of notes of each. There is a medium Chocolate here as well. If you are starting to fear a wine that has no fruit at all take heart because of what comes next. Notes such as a deep, Dark Plum with just the right amount of sugar, pop up. Just when you think a wine in general couldn't provide much more I tasted a lovely Black Berry. A medium weight Black Berry that explodes from almost the beginning of it hitting your Palette. On the classy side there is a sense of Cigar and Oak that really belong here in this wine. These last two notes are what propels this wine above anything else. The combination / blending of all the listed notes make this a truly incredible wine in my book. There is fruit in here and you do taste it but thankfully it is at the perfect level where it does not place these notes front and center but confidently lets the other notes take the lead. This wine is a seriously big, bold and in your face, Red . From the very first sip that you put into your Palette you will notice that this wine is way different from wines that you have probably been tasting lately. From the first sip all the other Cabernets you have ever tasted will pale in comparison. Your mouth will be bathed with aggressive Cassis that meshes every so nicely with the Chocolate type notes. I promise that your tongue will be given a workout over this wine.  I guess you can probably guess that this is not a delicate wine or one for the faint of heart, you simply MUST be a Cabernet Sauvignon drinker to enjoy this wine. The Tannins are not what you would call "smooth" but also not what you would say is overly aggressive either. They certainly make their presence known and you will notice that they are there. Everything that in my opinion places this wine at the pinnacle of it's varietal is bold and "in your face" so to speak. If this wine would attempt to do anymore it would most certainly be to over the top and lose it's high score. Luckily for us it stops and maintains itself at the point it level does. Black Berry explodes in your mouth but somehow manages to avoid the sugar trap. The simply cultured taste of Cigar and Oak are also prominent here.
   So lets try to wrap this up now. The 2012 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a simply OUTSTANDING wine. A simply INCREDIBLE wine. I think that the Cocoa / Chocolaty type notes play a big hand in the unique Franciscan flavor. Perhaps the note comes directly from the terroir from where the grapes are grown. Big, bold flavors are in abundance here. The wine can be a drink now wine and you will enjoy it should you choose to. You on the other hand can put this wine away for another 8-10 years if you wanted to and it will grow even larger that life. which is probably what this big stuck up wine wants anyway.
   On  The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale I respectfully give this wine 96 points.

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