Tag Archives: wine review

Jan 21 2014
13 Comments
2010, California, USA

2010 Bargetto Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot

2010 Bargetto Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot

2010 Bargetto Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot

Last summer, we spent about 10 days with Nina’s grandmother who lives in Santa Cruz, California. During that visit, we had the good fortune to attend a tasting at Ridge (for the report and an awesome photo of me see here – at the bottom of the post). While I love visiting producers that are widely known and appreciated, I also get a kick out of visiting smaller, less well know, more local wineries. For one weekend, we decided to go and hit up Bargetto Winery, a winery I had never even heard of. It’s located in Santa Cruz and was established in 1933. It was founded by two brothers that migrated to the United States from the Piemonte region in Italy. From 1918-1933, due to prohibition, the winery was only making wine for family and friends, until in 1933 they cranked up production with the end of prohibition. It is the oldest continuously operating winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation.

We went to the tasting room in Soquel on a Saturday afternoon, and had a great time. It was a rather quiet day, we paid the California obligatory tasting room fee, and then proceeded to try their Merlot, Pinot Noir, and other varietal wines. We got to talk to Michael Sones, the winemaker who is a great guy, and got a tour of the estate. The winery claims to try to follow the Northern Italian wine making tradition, which seems to entail trying to express colder climate flavors in their wines. For us, that approach seemed to work. Grandma signed up for the wine club, and we took home a couple of bottles of this Merlot, and one of their high end Pinot Noir, which I really enjoyed.

Another note to send ahead: I don’t understand why so many people have issues with Merlot. When done right, it is such an interesting grape, with awesome flavors. Its rather light feel is a much better fit for me than the seemingly heavier Cabernet Sauvignons. In my book, if you are looking for something between Cabernet and Pinot Noir, try a Merlot….but that might just be me.

The 2010 Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot is composed of 90.2% Merlot and 9.8% Petite Syrah grapes with the vast majority of grapes coming from Regan Estate vineyard. The wine has 13.5% ABV and was aged in 33% new oak barrels for 18 months before being bottled in September 2012. 381 cases were produced. Price: $25.

In the glass, the wine showed a bright darker red with hazy rims. The nose was extremely full of berries, mostly crushed raspberries, but also currants. There were floral aromas, and hints of smoke. I thought the nose was terrific. After a while, branch aromas started to show up and the nose got more earthy. On the palate, the first thing I noticed was a healthy acidity, and then what I can only describe as vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce. It was such a cool tasting experience, and definitely not what I remembered from our tasting room tasting. The mouth-feel was silky and fresh, and some wood aromas shown through. The wine was of good length, with all in all well integrated flavors. If I had one issue, it would be that the acidity was maybe a bit too bright for it to be entirely balanced.

All in all, a cool tasting experience. I enjoyed the flavors, which became more spicy and herbal as the bottle progressed, and it brought back good memories from last year’s visit to the Bay area. Cannot wait to go back. Also, I tried some dark chocolate with this wine, and it was a great pairing. The red berries and chocolate just hit it off! If you get a chance, stop by at Bargetto Winery and give their wines a try.

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Jan 13 2014
27 Comments
2011, Oregon, USA

2011 Argyle Pinot Noir

2011 Argyle Pinot Noir

2011 Argyle Pinot Noir

I ordered the 2011 Argyle Pinot Noir, the Oregon winery’s entry-level Pinot, last spring, and finally got around to tasting it. It has gotten quite the bad rap on Cellartracker with an average rating of 85.3 points, and some pretty scathing reviews, calling it boring, tart, disjointed, unbalanced etc.

I don’t know. This was my first wine from Argyle, but I remembered when ordering the bottle that my Pinot-nut buddy Jeff The Drunken Cyclist has a thing for the winery, the price was right (around $15), and so I ordered the bottle. I bet I should have let it sit for much longer, but yesterday was the night I opened it.

When I poured the wine, I was delighted because it had the right color. Some of you may remember that I tend to open American Pinots with a tad trepidation because I often find it hit or miss. When I open a Pinot Noir, I am looking for a light, brickish red color, not a Cabernet Sauvignon dark. So this was had just the right color for me. Sniffing the first swirls, I couldn’t help but be struck by how much it smelled of freshly pureed raspberries. It was a combination of this berry and quite noticeable acidic aromas that made for a very fresh initial impression. Then, some metallic aromas (rust) crept in, which was a bit weird. I liked the first 2/3s of the wine when I tried it: it was light-bodied, nicely fruity but with a quite strong acidity, again aromas of raspberries. The metallic notes persisted, but not too prominent. The finish was a tad bitter, and disappointing. Not much length there. Over the next hour or so, aromas of dark chocolate started to come to life and there were some herbal aromas coming in.

What’s the take on it? Definitely not a complex or outstanding wine, but also not bad. We’re talking about an entry level wine after all! The $15 seemed a bit high, but then again we are moving in Pinot Noir territory from Oregon, so prices are higher in general.

It did seem somewhat unbalanced with its strong acidity, but then again I am not really averse to higher acidity if it does not turn into vinegar. And this one did not taste vinegary to me. The aromas were good (loved those pureed raspberries), except for the weird metallic note. I think this is a decent drinker, not sure what to pair it with. Definitely would give it some time in the bottle, and also let it air for a while before you drink it. It pulled itself together after a while.

Final verdict? Decent and I welcomed the old world style. Check out the video fellow blogger Jeff of Stay Rad posted when he tasted the wine (which he seemed to like quite a bit!).

@Jeff The Drunken Cyclist: I could have thrown in that it is a mystery to me why some reviews on Cellartracker were so harsh, but that would be trying to cheat my way into the MWWC. Sorry I didn’t make the cut this time around…

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Oct 15 2012
13 Comments
2007, South Africa

2007 L’Avenir Pinotage

Another anniversary companion

As I mentioned before, Nina and I met in Botswana, while she was interning for the National Museum and I was doing part of my legal training for the local human rights advocacy group DITSHWANELO. While there, we had the great fortune of trying a number of awesome South African wines (Botswana does not have a wine industry). The wines were super affordable and I liked a lot of them.

One particular grape we both grew fond of is Pinotage. It is native to South Africa and was first created in 1925 when Abraham Perold, a professor of viticulture at Stellenbosch University, crossed Pinot noir and Heritage vines (Heritage is better known as Cinsault). The first wines were made in 1941, and the legendary Kanonkop winery planted its first vines in the same year. The grape seems to be perfect for the South African climate and growing conditions, but has not really been adopted elsewhere.

Cork and cap top for this pinotage

When I first tried Pinotage in the early 2000s with South African friends in Germany, my friends were very upset. The wines were incredibly hot from alcohol, and they tasted rubbery. This was in line with what I had read prior to tasting the wines. One of our friends, an older Boer lady, was so upset, that she suggested shooting people that make bad Pinotage like this (she also advocated shooting wine columnists who say Pinotage tastes like burnt rubber). The problem back then was, and petty much still is: It is very difficult to get good Pinotage outside of South Africa. There are exports, for sure, but they tend to be not very good. And the ones that taste good, cost a fortune once they reach Europe or the US.

So being in Southern Africa allowed us to develop a taste for Pinotage, and to find wineries that we enjoy and want to drink more of. Nina’s favorite in Botswana came from Laroche’s L’Avenir winery, the L’Avenir Pinotage Reserve. I fancied Tukulu winery’s Pinotage more, but also enjoyed the L’Avenirs.

We acquired this bottle as ransom from a friend of ours who visited us in Germany on his way from Seattle to South Africa for the football World Cup 2010. He was staying with us on his way there and back. When we chatted with him while he was in South Africa, he asked what he could bring for us, and Nina did not hesitate to ask him for wine (always being the wine schemer that she is). And he did bring us back two bottles each of 2007 L’Avenir Pinotage and 2007 Tukulu Pinotage. We had a bottle each in Germany, and two came with us in our move from Germany to Ann Arbor.

It was still our anniversary, so to connect us back to Botswana, I had picked the 2007 L’Avenir Pinotage for consumption after dinner. The wine was decanted for 1 hour prior to tasting. It has 14% ABV.

In the glass, the wine was of dark red color with slight hints of browning. The nose showed berries, plums, leather and tobacco notes, as well as petrol. I detected some eucalyptus, but Nina didn’t find it, so I am not sure. The first thing that struck me when we tasted it, was that this pinotage was surprisingly light-bodied (more medium, but definitely lighter than expected). It had a bunch of acidity and strong tannins, with leather and noticeable bitter notes towards the end. It was low on fruit aromas. Over time, the wine mellowed out and the bitter notes disappeared. The heat of the alcohol was not disturbing its long, lingering, complex finish.

While writing this, I am realizing that this sensoric description does not do the wine justice. Seen as a whole, it was actually nicely smooth, and the tannins were never overpowering. I feel like it was a good member of Team Pinotage, especially because it shied away from the overbearing fruit that some show, and the burnt rubber taste that others espouse. The nose was gorgeous, and the wine definitely pleasing. It was as powerful as I remembered these wines. According to Cellar Tracker, this wine is nearing the end of its drinking window. What I can attest to is that it is still very drinkable!

These two made our anniversary a blast.

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