Thirsty Thursday Round Up: My Finds in August

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Thirsty Thursday Round Up: My Finds in August

It’s time for another round up of wines and I brought in my colleagues to help me taste them.   I think I’ve been pretty vocal about really enjoying my role with the new company that I joined the end of February.  Because there were so many review wines coming in and I wasn’t happy with my delay in reviewing them, I started #thirstythursdays at the new company.  It was here that I met Randy, one of my most colorful and fun colleagues.  You see Randy doesn’t like wine much at all.  But, after proving I could hang with the boys on a business trip to London, he agreed to come to these tastings and provide classic commentary.  More to come on his quotables later.

 

We tried 17 wines over several Thursday’s in July and August with varying price points.  Below are my favorites:

Whites:

Arnaldo Caprai Grecante Grechetto di Colli Martani – apricot, lemongrass, honeysuckle and lime.  I really enjoyed this refreshing white with a SRP of $14.

Bolla Soave Classico 2011 – For $8, this is a refreshing white with notes of lemon and pear.

Reds:

Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape 2005 – I really liked this wine.  It was juicy and balanced with brambly fruit, pepper and notes of chocolate.

Arcadian Syrah Stolpman Vineyard 2005 – this wine had a nice minerality with notes of Asian spice, raspberry, white pepper and Asian flavors.

Domaine du Terme Gigondas 2003 – this was a soft wine with notes of tobacco, cranberry, licorice, white pepper and soft tannins.

Montefalco Rosso 2009 – black cherry, mocha and one of the tasters exclaimed, “this wine makes me happy” and shouldn’t wine do just that?

Scacciadiavoli Sagrantino di Montefalco 2007 – very earthy, dark fruit, young berries and herbal, but has a lushness.  If the first white listed above, the Montefalco Rosso and this wine are indicative of wines from Umbria, I’ve doing more research on the region.

Matchbook Tempranillo 2010 – notes of blueberry, blackberry, mocha and chocolate make this a very smooth and balanced tempranillo.

Bridlewood Cabernet 2011 – black fruit, chocolate and caramel makes this wine beg for a great piece of chocolate or blue cheese as a great match.

 

Coppola Votre Sante Chateau Red 2012 – cherry with some nuttiness.  The presentation of the $14 wine was quite impressive, but I’m not sure if it was because it was a blogger sample.

 

Tendril Pinot Noir 2010 – one of my favorite samples that I’ve received in quite some time.  Full of black cherry, herbs, blackberry and floral notes, this was a fabulous wine and exactly what I would expect a great Oregon Pinot Noir to be.  I have my eye on Tony Rynders, owner and winemaker, and expect great things from him in the future.

So back to Randy, who I hope will be providing more colorful quotes in the future (to wines that did not make the cut) like “this is not a taste that I like, it’s like sucking on a vinegar bottle” or this tastes “like a wine vampire.”  For the record, he did find a few that he even liked, which is a great thing about the vast differences in wines that are produced.

 

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