Hits and Misses on Holiday Hooch

Well the holidays are in full swing through New Year’s Day and that means a lot of wine drinking. Gabriele and I brought some wine up to visit family and also bought some while up there. Here is the report on winners and losers.

First off, a real holiday crowd pleaser that even had my Mom asking for the name and year. Gabe and I brought up three bottles of Thorn Clarke Terra Barossa 2008 Shiraz, Winemakers Selection. An incredibly pleasing wine, it’s got big fruit with balance and a clean, tart finish. It’s a dynamite value at around $16 and on top of everything else it comes in a one liter bottle. 25% more wine will come in handy because this wine will be popular when entertaining. It was the first wine to go at our family Christmas Eve celebration.

Unfortunately, some pretty big names disappointed last week. While doing some wine shopping in Stamford, CT I noticed a Stag’s Leap 2006 Artemis Cabernet on sale for $40, and took the leap. This is a big Napa brand and I was hoping for a big Cabernet experience. Unfortunately the wine was just too tannic, even with decanting. The bouquet was promising and the wine had a nice texture, but it just wasn’t very enjoyable. This wine will probably will be better in 2-3 years.

Another swing and a miss was a perennial favorite of ours, Chateau Gloria Bordeaux. We are big fans of the 2002, which is a delicious Bordeaux at the relatively reasonable price point of around $42 at Total Wine. Right before the holidays we bought a 2006 for a little less than that and brought it up with us. It was nothing like the 2002, reinforcing once again the difference a year can make. The wine started off with a nice bouquet but was thin and rather boring, like Bordeaux can be too often. A very tart finish rounded out an unsatisfactory experience. Big bummer since we’ve also enjoyed the 1996 vintage.

Another miss was the Elk Cove 2007 Pinot Noir. I purchased it on the recommendation of the store owner in Stamford. It’s from the Willamette valley and priced at around $20. It was very light, with decent raspberry fruit and a tart finish. It was so light to be almost watery, and it was drinkable but nothing memorable.

Finally, a fantastic wine to close. As described above we really enjoy the Thorn Clarke Terra Barossa, and in fact we’ve never been let down by any Thorn Clarke wine. So today at Whole Foods we picked up a Thorn Clarke William Randell 2005 Shiraz, their top of the line Shiraz. It was simply outstanding. Robert Parker gave the 2004 92 points, and the 2005 seems the same to my humble palate. It’s a very rich, very flavorful wine that is big while also being very approachable. It’s bouquet has hints of mint, smoke and chocolate, and it’s got one of the longest finish I’ve tasted. The finish is more chocolate, some oak and a hint of creaminess. Its a special wine, and for once Whole Foods delivered a bargain, I paid $40 while the Internet keeps showing me a price of $50. Suggest strongly for a special occasion wine at a great price.

Do you have any holiday wine stories to share? Drop a comment, and have a very Merry New Year.