Category Archives: Tasting Notes

Bargain Burgundy

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“People who only know the fruit-forward California-styled Pinot Noir will probably not like this wine; hell, they might not even recognize it as being Pinot Noir.”

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Did you know that you can buy alcohol legally in Michigan Costco outlets without a membership? It’s true; Michigan is one of several states in which it is illegal to require a membership for alcohol purchases.

I only mention this because I’m finding good wines in the Detroit-area Costcos we shop in, and reviewing them regularly in this blog. I would hate for someone to miss out on stuff like this next one because they are under the mistaken impression that they need a membership to do so.

While a 1952 Domaine Ponnelle Bonnes-Mares continues to stand out in my memory as one of the two or three best wines I’ve ever had the good fortune to taste in my life, the fact remains that we don’t drink a lot of red Burgundy at our house. The reason for this is simple, really; it tends to be expensive, and we have always gotten better bang for our bucks elsewhere. This is a shame, because the really good stuff is, well, really, really good! 

When we do go in for these oldest and most marvelous expressions of Pinot Noir, it’s usually from one of the lesser villages or even a simple Bourgogne rouge. I’d been eying this, Jean-Claude Boisset’s entry lever red, in the bins of our friendly neighborhood Costco for a while, and last week I finally decided to give it a go. In retrospect, I should have picked one up the first time I saw it, because it’s quite enjoyable.
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Three Hess Collection Cabs from the Cellar

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“These are all good to very good Napa Cabs, made with quality fruit, in a style that depends on the oak barrel for most any personality to be found right now.”

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In a previous life, my wife Kim and I co-owned an alcohol-sampling company with our good friends Shar Douglas and Ken Hebenstreit. One memorable gig we worked was a one-off at a high-end grocery store on the far westside, about 6 or 7 years ago. The presentation included a varied selection from Hess Persson Estates, including three of their premium Hess Collection Napa Cabs. At that time, we purchased two bottles each of these Cabernets for future gatherings among the four of us. We finally decided that, at 10 and 11 years of age, one set of these was ready to try, and so we did.

None of us drink much in the way of Napa Cabs, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like them when they’re good, so we were looking forward to seeing what these were all about with some time in the cellar. They were decanted for half an hour and tasted briefly before dinner, and then enjoyed with thinly sliced, grilled New York strips, tiny potatoes and haricots verts with sliced almonds. We neglected to record what we paid for these at the time of purchase, so I have included current prices.
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Two from Siduri

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“…the Plum Market price makes this a very good buy for anyone
who enjoys well made, fruit-forward California Pinot Noir.”

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After twice posting impressions of Pinot Noirs from lesser-known regions in the last two weeks, I thought it might be fun to give some equal time to versions from an area better known for producing this variety, and these two from Santa Barbara County are as good a place to start as any.

Siduri, named for the Babalonian goddess of wine, was founded in 1994 by Adam Lee and Diana Novy. They would go on to specialize in making highly-acclaimed Pinot Noir from as far south as Santa Barbara County in California all the way north to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. We enjoyed a number of these wines back in our Gang of Pour days, so we were a little concerned when Jackson Family Wines acquired Siduri in 2015, but Lee has remained involved, and Siduri Pinots have maintained a high standard.

We tried the 2018 Santa Barbara Pinot well over a year ago, and liked it well enough to buy a few for the cellar. Based on that, the 2020 vintage was an easy choice, and from our viewpoint, a good one.
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Two from Patagonia

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“I’ve been looking for a good silky middleweight $15 Pinot Noir
for a while now, and I think I’ve finally found one.”

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I like every wine that I’ve reviewed here since reviving and rebooting Tasting Notes from the Underground. Of course, some I like more than others, and two reds in particular (the 2020 Domaine des Pasquiers Côtes du Rhône and 2013 Cantina Sociale Cooperativa Copertino Riserva) have really stood out. They are delicious now and over the next few years and are readily available in the Detroit market. Last week, I found another one to add to that very short list, at our friendly neighborhood Costco, of all places.

Wapisa is the only winery located in San Javier, Rio Negro, Patagonia, Argentina. “Wapisa” is the indigenous Patagonian word for “whale;” the Finca Los Acantilados vineyard is only 25 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and benefits from the cool maritime breezes at night. It is also the only winery in Argentina that ages wines under water. I’ve been looking at their Pinot Noir in the bin at Costco for the last month, and I finally broke down and tried one. I sure am glad that I did.
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A Tasty Michigan Pinot Noir

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“The fruit may have come from the Leelanau Peninsula,
but the winemaking is pure Jim Lester.”

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We haven’t seen our old buddy, winemaker Jim Lester, since before the pandemic. We were big advocates for his Wyncroft wines back in the Gang of Pour years; they demonstrated that world class wines can and are being made in Michigan, in this case, from his estate vineyards in the southwestern corner of the state, in the Lake Michigan Shore appellation. His reds, in particular, showed a depth and intensity rarely, if ever, produced in the mitten previously.

Wyncroft’s 2nd label, Marland (meaning “land near the lake” in Old English), was inaugurated in 2013, sourcing grapes from other LMS vineyards, and grown to Jim’s specifications, with the intent of providing high quality Michigan wines that don’t require cellaring and can be enjoyed every day. We’ve had several of these over the years, and all have been impressive, but this is the first one we’ve tried in quite a while. I found this at Plum Market, and was particularly interested because the grapes were sourced in the Leelanau Peninsula, rather than LMS.
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Following Up

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“A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault, this has good intensity,
making it a food friendly, worthy contender in the $15-20 range.”

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I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting wines, and these two caught my attention during my travels over the last few weeks. Both are connected to others recently reviewed here and measure up favorably to those previous selections.

Trader Joe’s sells a lot of discounted wine, much of which is perfectly acceptable for the casual non-geeky wine drinker. They also carry some higher quality items that cost a little more, but are still priced less than most other retailers charge around here. One of these is a very good dry rosé from Gérard Bertrand, whose Saint-Chinian is my current Best Buy in reds.
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Porch Pounders from Famille Perrin

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“…these three offer great value. I mean, look at that price!”

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My wife Kim* has a pet name for easy-to-drink, value oriented wine; she calls them “porch pounders.” She’s the first to admit that it’s a borrowed term, but it’s an apt one. After all, who doesn’t like a good quality, inexpensive quaffer?

We picked up three such bottles during a visit to Plum Market a few days ago, and they all qualify as QPR (quality-price-ratio) All-Stars. We’ve been fans of the Perrin family’s various product ranges for a long time, so we thought we’d compare these three with their current La Vieille Ferme offerings that we recently reviewed.
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A Classic Provence Rosé

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“Like any good dry rosé, this pairs nicely with a variety of foods,
and it performs quite well as a solo sipper.”

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(Update: I just found a goodly amount of this one at Market Fresh, located at 31201 Southfield Rd, Beverly Hills, MI, for $13.99! Now that’s a value!!! 4/14/23)

I’m always on the lookout for a good glass of dry rosé. It’s a wine for every season here in the underground, and, as it gains in popularity, there are ever more options available. We’re especially fond of Provence rosé, and we’ve enjoyed previous vintages of this one a number of times. Costco was selling it for a while, but hasn’t stocked it for a few years, so when I happened upon a stash yesterday during a scouting mission to Westborn Market in Berkley, I didn’t hesitate to pick one up and see what the current bottling has to offer. It turns out that it’s showing quite well, thank you very much.
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Bastardo’s Best Buy in Bubbly

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“Clean, crisp, fresh and delicious, this hits all the right notes
for this taster when it comes to sparkling wine…”

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I’m a bubble head. I have been for a long time. I got a taste for the stuff back in my early 20s, when I was singing a lot of rock and roll, which can be hard on the voice. The word among some of my fellow singers back then was that, when getting hoarse, Champagne will numb the vocal chords and get you through a performance. That claim could have been BS, but I used it to get through a few gigs, sometimes with real Champagne, from the French region it’s named after, and more often with cheaper knockoffs from places like California and New York.

Sparkling wine has come a long way since then, with variations on the Champagne theme being made in a wide variety of regions around the world. Pretty much everybody knows Prosecco these days; you can buy it cheap at Trader Joe’s, or you can buy it for $40 or more at the chichi joints. Most of the better Prosecco runs in the $15-20 range, but the one I keep coming back to again and again costs 11 bucks at our friendly neighborhood Costco.
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Two Great Lakes Reds From the Cellar

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“These cold climate reds are never going to achieve the kind of ripeness
you’d find in, say, Napa or Sonoma, nor should they.”

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The two regional Bordeaux blends in this report had been resting patiently in our cellar for the last decade, but lately, I’ve been eying them with some trepidation. I was worried that they might be getting a bit long in the tooth, and wouldn’t show nearly as well as they might have a few years ago. The Left Foot Charley Cadia was gifted to me after my first musical performance at LFC by owner/winemaker Bryan Ulbrich. The Tawse Cab Merlot was purchased around the same time from the winery, during one of our visits to our partner-in-crime, Alan Kerr aka Canadian Zinfan, of Gang of Pour infamy. A few nights ago, I finally decided that it was time to pull corks and see what we have been sitting on for so long.

We’ve been fans of Left Foot Charley from the very beginning. We like everything they make, be it red, white, bubbly or cider, but our focus until now has been more on their Pinot Blanc and Rieslings, which have been top-notch. This was the maiden voyage for LFC’s Cadia, which has so far only been bottled in 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2017, according to their online media guide.
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