Herculodge

First Time in a Year I Spent More Than $10 on a Bottle of Wine Pays Off: The 2008 Stonehedge Reserve Zinfandel

 

I think I paid about $18 for the Stonehedge 2008 Zinfandel Reserve several months ago and forgot about it when Carrie said let's celebrate our week off teaching and open it up. Amazing. I won't go into pretentious wine-speak. I'll just say I like my red wines huge, full-bodied, and fruity and the Stonehedge fits the bill. Worth remembering this one. 

2008 Apothic Red Gets a 9 on a Scale of 0-10.

The 2008 Apothic Red, which I purchased for about $10, is a blend of Syrah, Zin, and Merlot. Huge with lots of black cherries and strawberry fruit, the wine deserves a 9, especially for its price. 

A "$50" Bottle of Red for Under $10: The Valentin Syrah, 2008

 

I like my red wines big, supple, rippling, layered, exploding with dark berries and black cherries. The Valentin Syrah, from Argentina, is the best under $10 red I've had in a few years. Highly recommended. 

A Wine to Die For: The Menage a Trois California Red Wine

Vinted and bottled by Folie A Deux winery, the 2007 Menage a Trois is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet. 

I don't remember what I paid, about $11. Nor do I remember if it was Trader Joe's or Costco. What I do know is that I would buy this again. Full bodies, rich strawberry flavor, a lot of fruit, this blend is easy to drink. 

You can tell by my forgetting above that I need to start taking wine notes. An even more egregious example is that I had a Syrah at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill in Las Vegas. It was about $15 a glass and I almost died it was so good. The name? Forget it.

At $48 a Bottle, the Benson Ferry 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel Is Worth Every Penny

This evening I had dinner at Brix restaurant in Hermosa Beach. Everything was good, but what stands out is the Benson Ferry 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel. 

I like huge, jammy, well balanced wines without a lot of pepper in the background and this one fits the bill. The only Zin that I've had that's better in recent memory is the Brown 2004 Zinfandel, which according to my brother is impossible to find. 

McLaren Vale Kangarilla Road 2005 Shiraz Is a Winner

Yesterday at Costco I purchased the Kangarilla Road 2005 Shiraz, which usually sells in the low $21 range, for about $14. After breathing for a half hour, the Kangarilla proved to be a winner--an explosion of black cherries, blackberries, and black licorice, complex, supple. Highly recommended.