We seem to keep coming back to this small winery because we just like the style of these wines. The winery makes several different varietals and a myriad of red blends, and we just like the style of the winemaker.
The ‘08 Lodi Chardonnay is no exception. It was pasta with Alfredo night and our friends for some reason brought red wine, so we brought out a bottle of Chardonnay and had a wonderful evening. This wine is big on apples and pears both in the nose and on the palate. Somewhere in the background you get a lemon-citrus thing lurking like Santa on the roof waiting for the children to go to sleep. It’s there, you know it’s going to be pleasant, but you just can’t quite touch it. Some vanilla at the mid-palate tips us off to a bit of oak aging. Our guests thought they found creaminess indicative of malolactic fermentation, but we disagreed on that point with them. The jury was split, and you will have to judge when you drink the wine for yourself. All in all, it is a wonderful example of small California winery Chardonnay that is made to be consumed today, and at least two more times this week. Just do it.
With it’s under $12 price point, we give it a very solid 3 Stars — Recommended. Under $10 would boost its rating, but we still think this is a wine that you should have in your cooler all the times, and you should not hesitate to drink it anytime the food would go well with a Chardonnay.
Stray Dog Zinfandel has got to be our favorite economy priced, daily drinking Zin. There is no pretense in this wine, you don’t have to think real hard about it when you drink it and it just goes so well with any kind of food off the grill. We served this to friends at a small wine tasting that we hosted because we had soooooo many wines that we wanted to go through that week. Although our normal choice would have been red meat with this wine, we really liked it with the shrimp cocktail as the spice laden finish of the wine complimented the horseradish in the cocktail sauce beautifully. Next, we went to the chocolate fondue pot (oh yeah!) and the hot fudgie chocolate over strawberries was just wonderful with our glass of Stray Dog.
A wonderful blend of Merlot, Cabernet & Syrah. Merlot’s dark fruit scents, chocolate, vanilla and cherry. Cabernet’s coffee, cassis, plum, black licorice and dark chocolate. Syrah’s plum, black pepper, blackberry and black cherry. This is a lovely wine to have with a weekday grilled supper at home or with friends. 4 STARS — RECOMMENDED
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