2006 Gainey Pinot Noir

Type Red
Producer Gainey
Variety Pinot Noir
Designation n/a
Vineyard n/a
Country USA
Region California
SubRegion Central Coast
Price $30.40 from Bin Ends Wine, tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live.



The Big Wooden Guy tries the "Dancer" Yoga pose, not an easy feat after a bottle of win that is best drunk all in one night.

This was tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live.

Night One

The nose was big right out of the bottle. It offered up a whole mix of cherries, from tiny clear native to big Bings, with allspice, and an echo of nutmeg. It was not over-oaked over-fruit, but not quite Burgundy in depth, either.

The palate bears almost no relationship to the nose. A lot more wood shows on the palate, a couple of scoops of vanilla. Spice is there, too, but more peppery, less exotic. It has a shift from cherry on the nose to raspberry on the palate, but the bigger shift is exotic sweet spice to pepper, nose to palate.

This is very good wine on Night One.

Night Two

The nose is far more muted on Night Two than on Night One. The fruit is softer cherry plus some strawberry. Most of the spice is gone.

There are loads of strawberry on the palate, but not really in a great way. It is more like artificial strawberry soda than fresh strawberries. It has a touch of white pepper, and some raspberry on the mid-palate.

The bottom line is simple- this wine was good, not great, but good, on Night One. On Night Two, not so much. That does not necessarily mean it won't last a bit in the cellar, but if you do open it, plan to drink it all that night.





This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

2006 Campo di Sasso Insoglio del Cinghiale Toscana IGT

Type: Red
Producer: Campo di Sasso
Variety: Red Blend
Designation: Insoglio del Cinghiale
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Appellation: Toscana IGT
Price: $48
From: Bin Ends Wine for $38.40. This was tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live sponsored by Wilson Daniels.




Night One

Cabernet Franc is obvious in the blend, as the tobacco leaf scent leaps first out of the glass. Just as the bottle is opened it also has the curious smell of dried tangerine rind, which blows off after about half an hour. The nose is rich with cocoa and dark fruit.

The first impression on the palate is of how smooth the wine is, even with a strong tannic structure. Cherries, leather, and some clear licorice also make up the initial attack. This continues to evolve, not just on the mid-palate, but from minute to minute. It is probably not fair to try to judge this wine until it has had some time to decant.

This is a real candidate for Night Two improvement.

Night Two

Classic Cabernet Franc tobacco is the first aroma out of the glass. A deeper whiff brings sticky dates and figs, and behind those, blackberries.

Tobacco also leads on the palate. The fruit is all black, dates, prunes and blackberries. A solid mid-palate adds pencil lead, and the dates turn to figs. The finish is very long. The tannins are smooth and silky, leaving a sense of suede, not merely leather.

2005 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Blanc Kritt

Type: White
Producer: Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss
Variety: Pinot Blanc
Vineyard: Kritt
Country: France
Region: Alsace
SubRegion: Andlau
Appellation: Alsace AOC
Price: $23.00
From: Bin Ends Wine for $18.40. This was tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live sponsored by Wilson Daniels.



The Big Wooden Guy finally gets a turn, and has big hugs for this Alsace gem.

Night One

The first impression was thickness on the palate. This was not a dry, tight, acidic summer afternoon quaff. This was a thick serious food wine. Next was the creamy softness of it. Immediately out of the bottle it was sweet and creamy, giving a first instant impression of coconut cream. Some time out of the bottle allowed that to soften, first to banana, then finally settling on pears, and very obvious pears. I expect nobody could drink this wine, thirty minutes or more after opening it, without saying "oh, pears!" out loud. It had one other flavor that was a bit unusual, first hinting at toast, but too flavored to just be dry bread. No, the best description was Zweiback, the old crackers that parents gave teething babies, but that are the real secret behind the crust of genuine New York Cheesecake (graham crackers started with cafeteria lunch ladies and condensed milk "cheesecake," but the real thing has Zweiback). The wine also had some balancing acidity and tartness. The tartness was more exotic than typical lemon, and is best described as somewhere between, or even a blend of, key lime zest and starfruit.

Night Two

Pears were the predominant, perhaps even overpowering, aroma, modified a little with a bit of tart apple and toasty Zweiback.

Pears continue to dominate the palate, as well. They are joined by exotic soft citrus tastes, something akin to ugli fruit, with a slight ginger bite. Night Two sees a bit of bitterness on the mid-palate, a bitterness reminiscent of almond skins. The finish is long, highlighting ginger and a little white pepper.

This is very good wine.

2005 Marc Kreydenweiss Costières-de-Nîmes Domaine des Perrières

Type: Red
Producer: Marc Kreydenweiss
Variety: Red Rhone Blend
Designation: Domaine des Perrières
Country: France
Region: Rhône
SubRegion: Southern Rhône
Appellation: Costières-de-Nîmes
Price: $17.00
From: Bin Ends Wine for $13.60. This was tasted as part of Twitter Taste Live sponsored by Wilson Daniels.



The Little Wooden Guy applauds any Rhone that comes in under $20 and delivers classic flavors.

Night One

The nose opens with huge barnyard smells, layered smells of animal, dirt and hay. Applewood-smoked bacon is also in the forefront, a strong classic smell. Fruits are intense, like dried cherries and raisins.

The palate opens with surprising mineral flavor, like walking through a limestone quarry and inhaling fine dust as you drink. Fruit is just as intense on the palate, tannins are very tight. The same applewood-smoked bacon shows up on the mid-palate as the limestone softens and darkens into pencil lead.

This is a terrific candidate for big Night Two changes, so stick around and see what happens.

Night Two

Most of the barnyard is gone from the palate. It opens, instead, with medium red fruit. It is not big juicy cherries. Instead, it offers pomegranate and cranberry. It is nowhere near as intense as on Night One. There is some pencil lead on the mid-palate. A clear smoked bacon flavor pops out on the finish. The wine s less intense, but far more balanced, on Night Two.

This is good wine at a great price. The explosiveness right after corking is interesting, but the greater delicacy and balance is even more delightful. To me, that is a clue that this will benefit from some time in the cellar, a couple of years before it really hits its stride.

Twitter Taste Live- The 89 Project

This review is just of Night Two from the weekend's Twitter Taste Live, sponsored by The 89 Project. For Night One with all the Wine Twitters, watch the video, courtesy of 1 Wide Dude:

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The Wooden Guys had a good time, but the consensus was that the Rivola was not in the same league as the rest of the wines.

2007 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis Domaine Sainte Claire Vieilles Vignes

Type White
Producer Jean-Marc Brocard
Variety Chardonnay
Designation Vieilles Vignes
Vineyard Domaine Sainte Claire
Country France
Region Burgundy
SubRegion Chablis
Appellation Chablis

Night Two

The nose has tart apple, lime, and some minerality. From Night One to Night Two this lost a lot of fruit on the palate. It is tart and stony. There is some apple there, but it is the tart and green. Butter makes an appearance at the very end of the mid-palate and echoes lightly on the finish.

2005 Abadia Retuerta Vino de la Tierra Castilla y León Rívola

Type Red
Producer Abadia Retuerta
Variety Tempranillo Blend
Designation Rívola
Vineyard n/a
Country Spain
Region Castilla y León
SubRegion Sardon de Duero
Appellation Vino de la Tierra Castilla y León

Night Two

Oak-city on roller skates. Oh wait a second, there's a single teaspoon of blackcurrant jelly there. Unfortunately, it was crushed when the lighting struck and felled the oak tree. The lighting gave it that toasty smell.

Okay, let's take a sip, shall we? Blackberries, lots of blackberries, some cedar, and lots of vanilla. It devolves into a brown sugar/vanilla mess. The finish is short and sudden.

Honestly, I have no idea how anybody ever rated this 89.

2006 Clos La Coutale Cahors

Type Red
Producer Clos La Coutale
Variety Malbec Blend
Designation n/a
Vineyard n/a
Country France
Region Southwest France
SubRegion n/a
Appellation Cahors

Night Two

The nose has nutty, meaty smells underlying some dark fruit. Hiding behind it is a small hint of cherry, probably from the little bit of Merlot blended in. On the palate, black fruit dominates, but there is a lot more there. There is a meaty flavor like a crisp end-piece of prime rib, beefy and smoky. There is also a bit of vegetal taste, tobacco, like whole leaves hanging in a cigar shop on Calle Ocho. Tannins and acid are well balanced and pronounced, suggesting some more cellar time might be possible. Tannins are not quite smooth. "Dusty" would be a better description.

2006 Kilikanoon Shiraz The Lackey

Type Red
Producer Kilikanoon
Variety Shiraz
Designation The Lackey
Vineyard n/a
Country Australia
Region South Australia

Night Two

Bright red fruit, plums, spices, pepper and a touch of cedar all are on the nose. The palate has dark fruit, pepper, and some meatiness. At first, it was reminiscent of bacon, but a better comparison is actually Bresaola, Italian dried beef. It has the same nutty cured dried meaty flavor, especially at the back side-edges of the tongue. Tannins are smooth and sweet. Finish is long. This is nice, quite nice.

Humanitas Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2006

Type- Red
Producer- Humanitas
Variety- Cabernet Sauvignon
Country- USA
Region- California
SubRegion- Central Coast
Appellation- Paso Robles
Alcohol- 13.8%



I received this as a free sample from Humanitas Wines, as part of Twitter Taste Live.

Night One

Toast and hazelnuts open the nose. Black fruit appears once you get all the way into the glass, along with some vanilla.

On the palate, the fruit is very jammy up front, full of plums and blackberries. That is followed almost immediately with chocolate, a lot of chocolate. Tannins are fine and dusty. It sweetens significantly on the mid-palate. It turns to brown sugar and vanilla, clear evidence of a lot of oak. Is it too much oak? Let's give it a second night before we decide.

Night Two

The nose changed completely from Night One to Night Two. Now it showed blackcurrant, eucalyptus and a little cinnamon.

The palate was different too. There was still plenty of dark fruit, blackberry, plum skins, and a little blueberry. The chocolate was still there, too, milk chocolate. Tannins were very fine and added leather to the mid-length finish.

This was a nice bottle of wine. It was not, on Night Two, overpoweringly sweet and sugary. With significant decanting, or even better some years in the cellar, this promises to be a nice wine.

Twitter Taste Live for Charity

My friend, Lenn Thompson, of Lenndevours, will be hosting a Twitter Taste Live with Humanitas Wines and Twitter Moms on November 21, 2008. Click the logo for more information.