Very smokey, cedary with mint and dark cherry, dried leaves, plum and some black currants. Palate is gentle and elegant with some oak and ripe notes in a fairly long finish.
Overall: Very fine Cabernet. Bit pricey, but holds its own against comperable Old School Napa Vineyards
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( 3 / 423 )~$35 retail
Very dark and ripe, oak and smoke along with very ripe fruits especially Merlot notes (plum, blueberry), blackberry, tar, licorice, old Napa Oak notes. Palate is ripe, full and lush, tannins are med + but a combo of grape and wood, softening due to age, med + alcohol, med acidity, quite long and nice balance for a forward styled Napa Cab. Bit of spice and alcohol builds in finish after time.
Overall: Well priced Napa Cab that is drinking well now.
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( 2.9 / 393 )~$15 retail
Same color as the Ray's Station 2003 Merlot, cedar and berry seed aromas, some greeness, tighter and more tannic than the Merlot, as it should be, sweet red cherry. Bit thinner than the Merlot and a bit higher alcohol than Merlot. Tannins med+, Alcohol med+, Acidity med, length is decent but a bit hot. A bit thin in the palate.
Overall: Not an overwhelming value
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( 3 / 383 )~$15 retail
Deep and dark, rich aroma of dark cherry, prune, tobacco and later some blueberry and hint of plum. Spice and sweet fruit notes in the palate. Nice balance, alcohol and tannins present, medium + but balanced, medium+ finish.
Overall: Excellent Value Merlot
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( 2.9 / 193 )As a wine student (once one - forever one) and wine educator, I am frequently asked how to prepare for wine exams. This is especially true now as I am about two weeks away from testing my current group of Sommelier students at my Sommelier Society of America/Sommelier Wine Academy venue in East Quogue, NY. This venue is soon to change to the new Riverhead Culinary School run by Suffolk County Community College.
Having taken and taught many wine courses, I have a bit of experience preparing for many individual exams from my first course in 1984 at The Culinary Institute of America to the most rigorous in the form of the Master Sommelier Exam given by those 'characters' at The Court of Master Sommeliers, yikes!
For all but the actual Master Sommelier and Master of Wine Exams, studying for wine exams is pretty straight forward. Taste and learn, and the best way is to do them at the same time every time the subject comes up or a wine is tasted, thought about or brought up in a conversation.
The two Master exams require a bit more...any wine question is game...so if you don't know all the different names of Mourvedre throughout the wine world, what clones of nebbiolo are allowed in Barbaresco or all the new wine laws are of Germany, Austria and Spain - then you better get cracking as that's just the tip of a massive vinous Iceberg! As for the rest of the wine students out there follow these simple steps.
If your passionate about wine, well that's the most important tool for learning, just don't get lazy. It's easy to go to your favorite restaurant and order your favorite wine, but much more fun to explore and order something you've never tried and don't know enough about. Then learn everything about that wine, the wines region, the grape varietal and similar wines or wine regions. For instance...more in a bit.
OK so plenty of people that have taken wine exams recommend flash cards, and I do too, but the most beneficial way to learn and get the knowledge every day is to ask yourself what you know about every wine you ever taste or discuss.
For instance last night I opened a bottle of Costello di Bossi Chianti Classico 2003 so immediately I should begin asking myself, what I do I know about this wine, how much should I know and what should I know about the wines that are similar. And this is even before it is tasted.
So what should we know about the wine?
The label first: who is the producer? Castello di Bossi.
Below that is C. Berardenga, what's that mean? Well that is short for Castelnuovo di Berardenga and represents the sub-region or district of Chianti Classico.
Where is Chianti Classico? Tuscany.
What grapes are used? Sangiovese...but others are allowed in the region of Chianti Classico, what are they? Canaiolo, Malvasia Nero, Colorino and a small amount of International Varieties, but the most important is Sangiovese, which must be a minimum of 80% of the blend.
In the case of Castello di Bossi, the wine is 100% Sangiovese.
Now as long as we're talking about Sangiovese, do we know what some of the clones used are and what the best ones are? We should.
Now, what is that Castelnuovo di Berardenga all about? Isn't this wine a Chianti Classico, which is in Tuscany? How much more do I need to know... well within Chianti Classico there are several communes of which Castelnuovo di Berardenga is the furthest south and also one of the lowest elevations. What's that mean? Riper sweeter fruit characters in the finished wine.
So if you do that with every wine you come across, your wine knowledge will just explode. Think through doing that with a wine from another region, if it's one you don't know much about, get a book or use the internet and learn everything you can about the wine...Try it with a Sancerre.
Other things you could ask yourself when tasting the Chianti Classico above include:
What was the 2003 vintage like in Tuscany and more specifically Chianti Classico;
What does the DOCG designation mean;
What are the other DOCG's of Tuscany;
What are the best Sangiovese clones for Chianti Classico;
What do the following terms mean:
IGT
DOC
Classico
Superiore
Colli
Colline
Riserva
Pergola
Tendone
Brunello
Prugno Gentile
So you can see what a great daily exercise this will be, the things that stump you from each wine should immediately become a flash card.
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