2008 Vistalba "Corte C" Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon... $11.99

Sorry it took me so long to post the co-pick for June, I was trying to do a bit of research prior to posting and found it difficult to get to the task. Like my football coach used to tell us; excuses are like bellybuttons, everyone has one.

We tasted this wine at the wine event in May at the Mullis center and it was one of the favorite reds. I have even had a couple of folks re-order even after getting a case of the wine from the tasting. This wine is what I call an over-achiever for sure, which means it brings a HUGE bang for the buck. The nose has some interesting old world qualities to it with a blend of raspberries and cherries, wet leather and some definite stinky notes. This is not a bad thing as most of you know as long as the wine doesn't taste that way... (stinky). Nice round ripe fruit on the front of the palate, this wine really gives you a blast of "I'm serious" on the palate. Believe it or not the wine gains in strength on the mid-palate with dark fruits and hits of pepper on the back end. The wine is silky smooth with sweet tannins and a decent to long finish. I did not like this wine last time I tried it which was a 2006. I wondered why, and noticed that the '06 version was a blend of Malbec and Merlot. I definitely like the Cab blend a whole lot better. This wine is a steal for twelve bucks.   90 points

2009 Seven Hills Winery Riesling, Columbia Valley... $10.99

I recently reviewed the 2008 Riesling giving it a very high score, but like all things wine we are suddenly onto a new vintage. There was a lot of buzz going on about the 2009 version so I was looking forward to giving it a try. I believe that on all levels it equals it's predecessor. Winemaker Casey McClellan seems to have mastered Riesling.

On the nose there is a mouth-watering acidity that penetrates the aromas. Notes of mango, lemon drop, minerality and sugar cane fill the olfactory senses. That beam of acidity welcomes the palate driving the fruit flavors to a razor's edge across the mid-palate. Off-dry the wine offers notes of green Delicious apples, mangoes, sweet lemons and a nice minerality. The finish is clean and delicious lingering around the palate for some time. The only element missing from this Riesling compared to the 2008 is the rubber boot aroma that came through on the nose of the '08 that is barely detectable on the '09. For those of you who shy away from Riesling because of the sweetness, I believe that you will find this quite refreshing able to pair up with shellfish. And for those who like the sweetness all I need to say is that my wife loves this Riesling and she prefers them on the sweeter side. What do you know, a Riesling for everyone. With the weather turning warmer (hopefully) , it is time once again to enjoy that wonderful white wine on the deck or out in the backyard while the BBQ is heating up. Why not make it Seven Hills Columbia Valley Riesling... You will not be disappointed.        98 points

2008 Argento Bonarda Mendoza, Argentina..... $9.99

   Until recently, Bonarda was the most widely planted grape in Argentina, now it is surpassed only by Malbec. (No surprise there.) Believed to have originated in Italy this grape is largely used as a blending grape for bulk wines out of this country. I have tasted a few that are varietals and have been pleasantly surprised. I was more then pleasantly surprised by this effort, and especially surprised by the price tag. Are you serious? Only ten bucks for a wine that I would serve to my guests and be proud of! The smoke on the nose and the palate would lend me to think I am drinking a syrah. In fact, in a blind tasting format this one could easily be mistaken for a syrah. Dark fruit on the palate with soft yet sturdy tannins that let you know that this is not a flabby wine. The nose displayed both smokey notes along with pretty floral notes of rose pedal and lavender. On the palate it is quite full with boysenberry and dark plum notes backed by just tiny hits of black pepper. The finish is pleasant and lingers just enough to make you think you spent more then ten bucks. This is a seriously good wine for the price and if I were you I would tuck some away for the summer BBQ,  'cause let me tell you this wine would stand up to anything coming off the grill.  89 points

2006 Tagaris Winery Boar Doe ..... $14.99

   Yes, it has a funny name... Obviously a play on Bordeaux since it is made from four of the five grapes of Bordeaux, 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 5% Malbec and 5% Petite Verdot. The only grape not in there is Cabernet Franc. The label is kind of redneck but who cares. The old axiom... "You can't judge a book by it's cover" is certainly true in this case. If you pass on this one because of the label, you are definitely missing out. This wine is massive on the palate showing creamy rich blackberry and boysenberry notes blended nicely with wonderful chocolate and black licorice notes. What I like about this wine is the vibrant acidity that drives the fruit through the palate giving it a big mid-palate and a pleasing endless finish. This wine is not bombastic so the fruit is not too big. It restrains itself nicely but shows layers of complexity. You cannot drink this red without thinking about it. It evolves nicely as it decants and drinks just as good if not better the next day. It would be hard to find a better wine for fifteen bucks anywhere. Stock up if you can because I don't think this one will be around long. 92 points  Stan The Wine Man.

2005  McKinley Springs Syrah Horse Heaven Hills... $19.99

   March is Washington Wine Month so it would be appropriate to pick an outstanding example from our very own state. The second largest producer of wine in the United States, Washington is fast becoming the new "Napa" especially in terms of quality. Washington wineries produce some of the finest syrah I have tasted. This effort will help you to see exactly what I am talking about. McKinley Springs is a small family owned winery located in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. Not only do they produce outstanding wines, they supply fruit for wineries across the state. Andrew Rich, Northstar, Syncline to name a few.

Just getting a whiff of this wine lets you know you are in for a treat. Notes of Boysenberry, mint, anise and plum come through in layers. On the palate there is a nice viscosity with deep intense notes of dark plums, black olive, warm spices and black pepper that fill your palate and send you into a wave of ecstasy hoping that the experience will not end. On the back end there is a nice toasty boysenberry hit on silky smooth tannins and a persistent finish. My friends, this is what Washington syrah is all about. They are offering this juice at the ridunculous price of only fifteen bucks for the month of March. Get it and as much as you can because it has enough life to go another three to six years.  92 points

2006 Elio Grasso Dolcetto D'Alba ... 15.99

   I may have mentioned this before and I apologize if I am being redundant but it is not always easy finding a pick of the month. It isn't like I don't get to try wines. In fact, January was a great tasting month for me. I caught up on a lot of homework and took loads of notes. The only problem is that I did not get hit in the face with a wine that I thought was worthy for the pick of February. I am not trying to be self-righteous, I just take this responsibility that I brought upon myself seriously. I want the person who reads my pick to be satisfied with the purchase that they make on my recommendation. I mean, who wants to waste their money on a mediocre wine? Certainly not me. I was getting a little worried and thought I might have to go back in my notes and see if there was something I missed until... Wham! I was hit in the face. I met with Karen, a good friend of mine and a wine rep. to taste some wines for an upcoming tasting event at the Mullis Center. She brought along this little Dolcetto and I was really impressed with it. Dolcetto can be a tough sale because many folks have not heard of it and do not know what they are getting into. Dolcetto is a grape grown in Northern Italy, Piedmont to be exact. It is grown in and around the town of Alba (thus the D'Alba name). The grape itself produces a softer more approachable red then the nebbiolo grape grown in the same area. Dolcetto is one of the favorite everyday reds that grace the table of the folks in that region. This wine shows a wonderful dark fruit bouquet with whiffs of vanilla on the back end. The color is a medium burgundy. Very smooth and sexy on the palate with blackberry, red currants and spice that coat the mouth into a bright mouth-watering finish that lingers for some time leaving you with hints of bittersweet chocolate on the sides of your mouth. This wine is wonderful all by itself but would be a perfect marriage with some blue cheese, lamb, spare ribs or a big juicy blue cheese hamburger with bacon. If you haven't tried a dolcetto, this would be a great place to start. The price is right and the wine is fantastic.   90 points

2007 Red Rock Winery Merlot... $10.99

   To start of the New Year of a new decade I decided to buck the trend of the wine world and go with a merlot. I personally love a well made wine no matter what it is. I am happy to see that merlot is making a slow comeback and we will just have to wait and see how long it takes for folks to jump off the anti-merlot bandwagon, (The wine world can be soo trendy). This merlot should help a lot of people become fans of this varietal. Very rich in texture and fruit, this wine shows like a twenty to thirty dollar bottle. Deep dark cherry and boysenberry notes on soft yet firm tannins backed by a nice spicy cedar edge. This wine has excellent balance of acidity and fruit giving it a nice vibrant feel on the palate. The finish is quite amazing with some candied fruit and toast on the back side leading into quite a long finish for a wine that is only eleven bucks. I have been a fan of this wine for some time, but this 2007 vintage has taken it to new heights. Do not miss out on a chance to try this fantastic wine, merlot or not.  Stan

2008 Monte Oton Garnacha (Grenache) By Bodegas Borsao, Campo de Borja Spain

I am going nuts over this wine!!! Usually, not always, you have to go in the fifteen to twenty dollor range to get a grenache of this intensity and spiciness. This baby is loaded and it gets up and smacks you in the face. Very intense on the nose with a lot of raspberry notes. The wine hits your palate with vibrant dark raspberry mixed with black licorice and kirsh. The flavors are well balanced and continue to intensify through the mid-palate where you are in for some nice white pepper and spice notes. the finish is of good length and hard to shake from your memory. I'm telling you right now that this is killer, killer juice and at a redunculous price of only eight bucks. Are you kidding me! I searched this wine on the internet and saw a couple of sites offering it for $10.50.  From one of my favorite importers out of Spain Jorge Ordonez, he has got another winner in his portfolio and if you can get your hands on some, get as much as your budget can handle This will probably only age for about one to two years, but who cares... it won't last that long anyway.     94 points

2008 Goulart Clasico Malbec ... Mendoza, Argentina ... $9.99

Searching for the pick of the month can often be a painstaking process. The criteria for this honor is simply that it has to be a wine that is readily available and an excellent quality to price ratio (QPR) bottle. There are a lot of great wines out there, but sad to say many of them are over-priced and most of us just cannot afford to spring for a bottle unless it is a special occasion. Of course, there are expensive wines that fit the QPR status which I leave out on purpose just because I know that most of my readers want to see the real values that are available on the market. This being said, I try to search for wines that fall in the under twenty-five dollar category with most of my picks being under fifteen bucks. This past month I tasted quite a few good to great wines but none of them surpassed the excellent Goulart Clasico Malbec 2008. I have already posted tasting notes on this wine which many of you have already read. I will simply reiterate that this bottle of wine is outstanding. Vibrant dark fruit notes, excellent finish and nearly perfectly balance. I know it may be desirable for some if my pick were a wine that would match up well with a turkey dinner and for this I will write an article solely devoted to wines to match up with Thanksgiving fare. As for any wine that falls into the QPR status of the Goulart I have been unable to find any better. This is not to say I will not find one in the future, which I am sure I will. You gotta love the wine world for that! So if you are looking for a great wine to drink everyday... to impress your friends... for a power outage during a wind storm... to celebrate your football team's victory... to store away in your cellar for a couple of years, the Goulart Clasico Malbec 2008 for only ten bucks is the wine for you!   92 points   

It’s not very often I get stumped when I Google a wine. I was amazed that I could not find out anything about this wine. When it was presented to me I was told that Charles Smith was one of the Charles but for the life of me I cannot remember who the other Charles is. While writing this review, it was too late to call the sales rep to ask, so I will just have to say that one of the wine makers behind this label is the cult wine dude... Charles Smith of K Vintners and Charles Smith Wines. This particular wine is 50% Syrah and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. If I were to try this bottle in a blind format I would be hard-pressed to guess that there was syrah in it. This is an incredibly delicious red, with rich fruit. Dark fruit on sweet tannins with an excellent balance of acidity that drives the fruit flavors through the mid-palate into an excellent and lingering finish. I am sure that if I really sucked the air through this wine and gave it some intensive thought I would detect some Syrah notes but at first taste I did not get any smoke or bacon fat flavors, mostly boysenberry and plum notes with hints of anise and mocha. This wine stands out as a wine that would go for, let’s say fifteen bucks or more. At twelve dollars it is a steal. A perfect solo, it also is structured enough to match up with grilled meats or a bowl of hearty stew. I love this wine despite the very ugly label, a perfect example of the saying, "Do not judge a book by it’s cover." 91 points