Step Rd. 2005 Black Wing South Australia Chardonnay

Only $9.99 at my local grocery store and with some great reviews, I just had to try this wine.



The Step Rd. 2005 Black Wing, South Australia, Chardonnay has a medium-light straw color with an ever so tiny hint of green in the glass. On the nose it shows ripe pear, citrus and pineapple. On the palate the pear shows up again with nice citrus and a hint of vanilla. The mouth feel is initially round with a slight buttery creaminess, that is washed away by the plentiful, fresh, mouth watering acidity. This is a medium bodied, to a certain extent ripe, but still "cooling", chardonnay with a really nice finish of lingering fruit and the acidity that holds it's grip until the very end.

I really liked this wine and plan to get some more for summer entertaining.
Find it at Wine-Searcher.com and WineZap.com from $9.99. This is a must try for the dollar spent!

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The Stump Jump

In this months issue of Food and Wine they had an article about 10 great wines under $10. I ran in to one of them today at World Market and thought I would try it. Turns out when I came home and double check that the magazine reviewed the 2005 and I bought the 2004. Oh well, here it is...
The Stump Jump 2004 Grenache, Shiraz and Mourverdre is a Rhone blend from Southern Australia by d'Arenberg. It has red cherries, vanilla and a touch of earth on the nose. Medium bodied with tart berries, raspberry with tannins taking over at the mid-palate ending in a nice finish. Letting this sit for a while in the glass the raspberries also comes through on the nose and the fruit on the palate gets a little sweeter and rounder. According to my taste it should be drunk now, not cellared, as it will continu to loose it's fruit.
This is rated 87 by Robert Parker and 88 by Wine Enthusiast, and cost me $8.99 today at World Market. So head out to your local CostPlus World Market or order it online at http://www.wine-searcher.com/. This is a really nice wine for the price.

Wine Spectator Great Wine Values, Part III

Out of the five bottles I picked up from the list in October's issue of Wine Spectator, it was the Australian Shiraz turn this evening (see Part II from yesterday for the other wines).
Dark ruby red in the glass, the Pirramimma 2003 McLaren Vale shows spicy berries, oak and a hint of sweet vanilla on the nose. On the palate you taste spicy, fat, dark fruit covering your tongue , but before you know it the strong tannins take over to end up in a long finish. This wine was rated 92 by Wine Spectator and I found it at BevMo for $21.99. This is unfortunately not a 92 for me... I do like big, fruity wine but this was just a little bit to much for me. It also had a slight unpleasant "off taste" that I can not put my finger on. But please do not get turned of by me. Give it a chance and let me know what your thoughts are...