Back we go, to the Finger Lakes region of New York to sample a bottle from one the area’s most interesting wineries: Bully Hill.

It would be tough to be from upstate NY and to have not heard of Bully Hill, as they are one of the most distributed wineries of the region.  While they don’t claim to have high end, elitest wines, they do serve their wine “with laughter”.  My only issue Bully Hill is that I can only find their sweet wines out here in Cincinnati, and they currently are not currently shipping to Ohio.

I’ve been to their tasting room on several occasions, and I have never had a bad time.  The only tough part about Bully Hill is that their pours can be devastating - I would recommend going on a slow day, you definitely will not be disappointed.

From the start, they ask you to grab your glass in a Genny Light Death Grip and slam their first pour.  They do not screw around at Bully Hill.  Personally, I’ve never thought that this was a bad way to start a tour, but it gets better.  One of the tasting room staff was taking requests to sing songs while impersonating Chad Kroger from Nickelback.  My favorite of the concert was “Come Sail Away”…like Chad Kroger.  Maybe you had to be there after a few glasses - but it was pretty damn funny.

Bully Hill knows their market, and they keep their wines very reasonably priced.  Whatever your taste, from Sweet Walter White, to the Meat Market Red to the Bulldog Baco (noir) - Bully Hill produces some very reasonable everyday bottles of wine.

Their 2005 Merlot weighs in at about $8 and hits you really hard right out of the bottle.  While this merlot is on the lighter side, it has a really intense nose and taste.  The dark fruit cracks you pretty hard right out of the bottle (blackberries?) and transitions to a raspberry on the palate.  While I did enjoy this bottle with a pasta, I would almost recommend pairing it with something a little stronger, like a steak, as it did tend to overpower the meal.

As they say at Bully Hill, a magnum of their Grower’s Blush (chilled) is the perfect single serving size for mowing your lawn.  Some might scoff, but I’m telling you, don’t knock it ’til you try it. It’s even more fun with a riding mower.

-Ryan

This bottle was sweet - I dearly lament its recent demise and I’m already going through withdrawal.

Tonight’s Barbera was picked up at Fresh Market for $13, and was a complete Hail-Mary.  Why so dramatic? I’ve never heard of the vineyard, had only limited experience with barberas (less than 10 - 15 in my life) - I really didn’t know what to expect.

As it turns out, I was very pleasantly surprised.  Out of the bottle, the wine appeared fairly thin as it was being poured into the decanter.  After being decanted, undisturbed for 45 minutes, the wine was liberated and dinner was served.  The barbera was happily paired with homemade “gnocchetti all’ amatriciana”, or to the layman, gnocchi with pancetta in a red sauce.

This turned out to be an awesome dinner.

The gnocchi was so light, I felt like I was devouring a cloud.  The wine complemented the gnocchi very well…so well that I started to think about how spoiled I really am, for one fleeting moment.

On the nose, I picked up strong scents of cherries and vanilla, and down the hatch all I got was bright red berries…and it’s so smooth.  Sooooooo smooth.  The flavor is very vibrant, while still remaining a lighter wine.  I am really impressed with this one - nine-ish out of ten would be my rating.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had any other wines by Michele Chiarlo.  Do let me know if you’ve run across any others worth trying.

Ciao!
Ryan

Guest Review:

It’s gone…a sad but pleasing send off for a fantastic gift from long ago. We finished our last bottle of Mazzocco 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon to compliment our Christmas Prime rib dinner. Having received a case of wine as a gift, this was the final salute to an enduring foundation to my wine collection. But before I talk about the wine, a short dissertation on the vineyard itself. Situated in Sonoma County between the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys , this small family owned vineyard is a pearl hidden amongst numerous larger producers of fine California wines. Best known for its single-vineyard-designate Zinfandels, they also produce award-winning Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and more. I actually visited the vineyard in 2005, a year that the taste room host said was to be declared one of their best ever so take note and pick some up (you can still buy some on line at www.mazzocco.com).

So on to the wine. After decanting it for a short while, we dolled out small pours as the beef was being sliced. Upon first sip, my self proclaimed wine aficionado daughter and son-in-law gave me a look that said it all. Velvety smooth with wafting blackberry and plumb nose hits, it became a conversation piece. At big meals, we usually uncork several bottles and move thru them with alacrity, but we ended up making the single bottle last, between the four of us, for the entire meal, and then some. Notes of cedar, pepper, and cola were reported by those around the table. As the bottle wound its way down, the wine got better and better and every sip was savored like the last drops of water by stranded desert travelers.

So thanks to M&D for bringing the wine back from their 2000 trip. Plan to visit this fine little winery if you are even fortunate enough to travel to the Napa valley area. It is a beautiful drive up from the city of Napa and you will be rewarded with some fine wines. Enjoy!!

-Scott

Pepperwood Grove - My favorite bottle of wine after the first bottle of wine.

I’m not being intentionally cryptic, in fact, I’m pretty damn sure that you all know what I mean.  You’ve had that first bottle and the party isn’t quite over.  You’re not ready to drink anything too hard, but you don’t want to piss away a good bottle after a good bottle.  Enter anything Pepperwood Grove!

This Shiraz happens to hail from down under, like many of the economically feasible shiraz’s available today.  However, I like it better than it’s cheaper Aussie cousins.  The PG Shiraz happens to be as dark as the night itself, and have a very decent taste.  While I won’t pretend that I get anything too specific off of this one, it hasn’t disappointed me yet.  And like most good shiraz, makes a good show of staining your teeth purple.

As many of you know, “Syrah” was originally grown in the French Bordeaux region and was moved across the ocean to Australia and then called “Hermitage”.

Personally, I think this is a load of nonsense and I’m calling BS on Wikipedia.

However, what does seem to be uncontested is the fact that Syrah is the same grape as the very popular Shiraz now grown in Australia.  The US has largely adopted it’s original name, Syrah, and has proceeded to make some very good wines.

As proof positive that I’m fond of this wine, I have purchased one half case.  It’s a nice complement to the other half of a case of Pepperwood Grove Pinot that I happened to purchase at the same time (I’m a big fan of the case discount).  This is a very drinkable wine that I don’t have to feel bad about breaking open, which makes it one of my favorites.

Laters Mates,
Ryan

*Please do not confuse “syrah” or “shiraz” with “petit syrah” which is actually a different varietal.

I’m beginning to get a little sensitive.  I’m beginning to think that all of my reviews are on the positive side.  Where are the bad reviews?  We’ve all had awful wine, where is it on this site? Which wines should I stay away from? 

Truth be told, I try really hard to not drink bad wine.  Life is way too short, and we spend far too much of our busy lives committed to nonsense to add more pain by drinking shitty wine.  Please don’t jump to conclusions, I have (and still) enjoy a good glass of wine from a box.  Every now and again, we all need our fix and sometimes, just sometimes, the box will do.  I will not fall to the ground from the sheer enjoyment of said box wine, but it will do in a pinch.  The wine from a box (or jug) will not be white, pink or anything lighter than a cab - and my bank account had better be in overdraft, but I will not shun a box.  What I’m talking about is genuinely bad wine. 

The Red Bicyclette 2004 Syrah is not this mythical awful wine.  It’s really good, and I’m thinking I’ll start picking this up regularly.  The nose is extremely subtle, but if you really look for it, you can catch a faint hint a tart cranberries.  This almost-black wine is light and smooth, with an incredibly soft finish.  I would definitely by this wine again at $9.  And I take back almost everything that I’ve ever said about the French.

At first I thought that this was similar to a Cline Syrah, primarily because of the price point, but these wines are vastly different.  While the Cline is heavy and rough, the Red Bicyclette is smooth and light.  Think of a Budweiser Clydesdale vs. Seabiscuit and you have the difference in these wines, if they were horses.  However different these wines may be, at the end of the day, they are both better than box wine and not at all bad.  Some days, I may prefer the Clydesdale and others I may lean towards the thoroghbred.  At the end of the day, both of these ponies take you to the same place, but in a slightly different manner. 

The moral of this story: drink the Red Bicyclette, it’s an excellent wine and a good value.  The presentation on the bottle is also good, so don’t feel bad about bringing it to dinner at my house.

Bonsoir mes amis,
Ryan

With Thanksgiving only a few days away, many of you may be wondering: “What wine should I drink with the turkey this year?”  Enter the French: Georges DuBoeuf  vs. Louis Latour in a Beaujolais-Villages showdown.  While this may not be the battle of the century, or even that hard-hitting of a fight (I haven’t met the pinot that was able to take me out), many would agree that a pinot noir is decent pairing for one of the largest turkey slayings of the year.  And with good reason.  The lighter style of the pinot is agreeable with most people’s palettes and pairs well with many of this holiday’s traditional dishes.

(I should note that both wines have been training since 2006 for this fight, and were allowed to breathe for one hour before consumption.)

Georges DuBoeuf: 2006 Beaujolais-Villages

While Georges’ offering appears to be the underdog of this battle with a floral-themed label, he has weighed in at a healthy $12 and has a nose that arguably smells of fresh-cut flowers, possibly even dandelions.  It’s a very light wine, with a quick finish that’s chased by a faint jab of citrus.

While I will openly admit that I tend to enjoy the heavyweight matches a little more, it’s always fun to see what the lightweights can bring to the table.

Louis Latour: 2006 Beaujolais-Villages

Also weighing in at a spry $12 is Latour’s offering, which has a wicked cranberry-right cross.  With a short, soft finish, this wine would also be a good choice for Thanksgiving dinner.  And this may be a ridiculous critique, but I would feel much better about bringing a bottle of Louis Latour’s Beaujolais-Villages to a gathering of friends and family, the bottle just screams old school French style.

The decision:

Latour by a knockout.  DuBoeuf simply lacked the refinement and experience that Latour brought to this match.  While both wines fell safely within the pinot style, Latour was a slightly heavier, more refined wine than the DuBoeuf.  And the DuBoeuf just felt young and unprepared for this battle.

Post-fight analysis:

At the end of the day, pairing wine with anything (especially Thanksgiving) just comes down to what you enjoy.  If you would enjoy a gin and tonic with your Thanksgiving dinner, then by all means, please enjoy a tumbler of your favorite.  And if you really worked at it, you could probably even convince me that it would be a reasonable pairing, as wild turkeys are often found roosting in pine trees.  While this may or may not be utter nonsense, I hope that it serves to prove my point - drink what you like and enjoy the company.  The holiday season is one of the few times a year that I get to raid my father’s cellar, and get away with it.

Happy Holidays!
-Ryan

Guest Review:

Armed with an exciting new recipe in hand, my wife and I tromped off to the grocery store to gather up the yummy ingredients in preparation for a hopefully nice meal. As is usually the case when we food shop together, I become impatient so I get my little assignments and scurry off to find items, only to return for a new assignment. My first stop was to get the wine! The meal actually called for a white, but my eye fixed on a wine produced, as it turns out, by one of the oldest wineries in the states, Concannon. I had never tasted any of their wines and for that matter never really heard about them. I’ll get to the wine itself later but I thought it interesting to share some info about the winery first. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, and of course the web site on the bottle, I found the winery and read thru the site to see what was what. Turns out, Concannon is celebrating 125 years of operation this year, the vines being planted by an Irish immigrant in 1883. Located in Livermore Valley , which is west of the San Francisco area, James Concannon figured that the grapes would flourish with warm days and cool nights, given winds moving inland from the adjacent bay. In life’s unending quest for knowledge, it is always refreshing to learn something interesting and somewhat obscure for strategic use later on. So I have neatly tucked away the fact that the Concannon Vineyard produced the worlds first Petit Syrah from its 1961 harvest, a wine they still produce today. So enough background info and, onto the wine. So I picked up a 2006 Pinot Noir, Limited Release, price $16. Packaged in a cool bottle with a trademark gate embossed on the bottle, I decanted it before sitting down to eat. While the professional tasting notes sport a long list of adjectives (as always), I caught dark fruit right away and a solid earthy aroma. The first glass was good but not great. We finished dinner and then sat on the couch to finish the bottle. The second glass was much better with a smoother finish and was far less biting than the first, indicating that maybe the wine is still a bit young and could be aged a bit longer. This wine would serve better paired with some nice grilled lamb chops and that will be the plan when I go back to cop a few more bottles.

-Scott

Concannon - 2006 Pinot Noir

I was looking for a decent bottle of wine that I wouldn’t have to feel bad about breaking out for no occasion at all, and I think I found it in this old vine zin.  Pepperwood Grove has always been recognized as an excellent value wine.  While I am more familiar with their pinots, merlots and cabs,  I was very excited to stumble across this zin.

Pepperwood Grove has vineyards across California, into South America, in Europe and even out as far as Australia.  And to be honest, when looking for a value wine, I don’t really care where it’s from.  I just want to have a bottle that’s inexpensive, that I can open whenever I want (even on a Sunday morning) and not have to worry whether or not I should have waited.  I just want to drink it. Now.

Moving on to the tasting: My silly father in law thought that he caught some black pepper in his first snort of this old vine zin.  He even went as far as to say that “…it was like opening a jar of peppercorns.”  After ridiculing him mercilessly for several minutes, I did agree with his secondary assessment of dark raisins and plums.  And maybe a hint of pepper, but I’m pretty sure that he just said that because it was all he could read on the label without putting on his glasses.

While there isn’t much that is really striking about this wine, it’s a very safe bet for your $7-$8.

Enjoy!
Ryan

New York wines are back in the game.

Everytime I drink a bottle of old vine zin from California, I tell myself that I am going to hate the wines that I grew up with from New York.  And everytime I drink a bottle from Seneca Shore, my faith is restored.  In a totally no-nonsense review, this is an excellent red from Seneca Lake in upstate NY.

Composition: 50% Cabernet Franc, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot

This is a big red from NY that simply defies reason…I’m just not sure how they do it.  It has an old, refined taste that is not typical of many of the reds from NY.  While at first, the Medieval Red tastes like a well-cellared cab sauvignon, it comes alive on the finish with hints of cinnamon and cherries.

Cabernet Franc tends to grow quite well in the Finger Lakes, and happens to be one of my favorite NY varietals.  While NY state is hustling to unify the region as a being a producer of premium riesling, I have a really hard time getting on board.  From what I can tell, the Riesling in NY tends to be quite good.  However, is a good Riesling really enough to establish a reason?  Oregon has Pinot Noir, California seems to have everything, why can’t NY have Cabernet Franc?  If anyone else has any thoughts on this subject, please post a comment - I’d like some validation either way.

Moving on…

What is truly most bizarre about this winery is that they have seahorses on their label and signage, which to be honest, was a reason that I had put off visiting this winery.

As the saying goes, don’t judge a winery by its seahorses.  They have really good wine at Seneca Shore, if you can find it (which is tough outside of the Finger Lakes), please do give it a shot.  Behind the seahorses lie a really excellent wine.  And in front of the seahorses are pirate ships.

-Ryan