Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler wine thread

Been a long time since I've posted here but have tried a mess o wines that should be tried. These should be pretty available - at least in the U.S.


Woop Woop Shiraz $8 ish- nice blueberry. a hint of pepper to remind you that it's a shiraz - good mouthfeel. A nice every day drinking Shiraz

Jim Barry Lodge Hill - $15 Shiraz - drinks more like a $30. Great Tannic structure, fruit, long finish

Miramar - unoaked Chardonnay - hello! Nice to taste a Chardonnay without over oaky vanilla getting in the way. Sweetish in a tart apple sort of way, but very refreshing.

A couple good Oregon Pinot's that I am blanking on - I will check my notes on those - relatively inexpensive too!

Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot - I know, I know the gag is anything but Merlot - but this is nice approachable, under $10 or around there a bottle. Nice oak, tannin vanilla and cherry - thank you, I will have more!

Silver Oak 2002 Alexander Valley ($60-70)- finally Silver Oak back to tasting like great Silver Oaks of the past. Textbook cali cab boquet - Great tannic structure - long, smooth finish.

Amon Ra Godolphin - Wow! Australian. 80% Shiraz 20% Cabernet Savignon. This is drinkable now. Powerful. A friend and I tried a bottle at a tasting and bought two - one for dinner that night with our families - one to wait until we can all meet up again. This wine derives incredible fruit from the Shiraz and I surmize the Cab help s to give it a velvety smooth finish. Dark fruit on the nose, dark fruit and earth on the pallet. I highly recommend this wine - It's about $50 a bottle, but you absolutley can not go wrong with this wine if you like Shiraz or shiraz blends.

I know I have more rattling around in my head - there are a couple spanish whites - an Alberino and a Savignon blanc that I will have to track down too.

Had a yummy BFC last week - Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay, the 2004. It immediately made me think of bigwill2 and the BFC club! Amazing with roast chicken.

that's funny, i had a Chateau St. Jean chard a couple weeks ago and thought of you, Amie. Seriously.

I had a surprisingly tasty Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Chardonnay a couple nights ago (some of which went into a pan sauce for the seared chicken breasts I cooked up). I picked it up at Costco for $15 and change. Usually I have to spend upwards of $30 to get a California chard that I like. This was a bargain.

A little late, but thanks for the info on port! I'm a fan of port myself, but really had no idea where to turn to try something new. I've been working on a bottle of the Grahams 20 yo for awhile now. I'll try to find some of those others you mentioned.

btw...Justin Vineyards 'Obtuse' is a late harvest cab that I really love. Really worth finding a bottle.

Just checked our liquor control board's website (all liquore stores in Ontario are provincially run) and they have CHATEAU ST. JEAN SONOMA CHARDONNAY 2004 - is that the one? No sign of the Kendall Jackson Peter was talking about though I've gone 'off' our everyday white so it's time to start the hunt for a new one. We do this every year or so, probably right around when the vintages change, and freshen up our house brands.

BTW, Ontario has just started putting a deposit on wine bottles. You return them to the beer store to get your $.20 back.

... even if you bought the wine before the deposit system was instituted. Finally I'm going to get my "sloth dividend" for not having hauled the empties out to the curb on recycle day

We've had that CHATEAU ST. JEAN CHARDONNAY. It was good, but i did not feel it was worth the price we paid here. Give the Bonterra Chardonnay a try. It is 'organic' (add a chuckle and a guffaw here) but quite good. Around $20/bottle.

Kendall Jackson makes pretty decent wines. We've tried several recently and all have been very good quality.

I can't say i've had a late harvest cab but i did try a cabernet franc icewine in Niagara two years ago. Fantastic raspberry flavours.

Spiff, if i come across any other port names worth trying, i'll be sure to post them. I guess i could add to that. We tasted a Peter Lehmann "King" port last weekend. Lots of raisin and tar flavors, light liquorice, light heat, medium body. Ok for $30 but this one might be worth cellaring for awhile to see what it does.

I'm not much of a White Wine drinker, but some friends brought over a bottle of Kim Crawford 2006 Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and we really enjoyed it.

The 05 Kim Crawford Un-oaked Chard is good.

I also like the Bontara Chard.

I'd call both of these Big Fat Bastards.