Category > wine reviews

A new red varietal assaggio minoralus

Whattado royals; whattado? (My homage to raging crush: TV’s Craig Ferguson)! Long time no blog so let’s dive right in, shall we.
A few weeks ago, I was shopping at my neighborhood Trader Joe’s and overheard a clerk singing the praises of an unseen red wine in the Italian section. Ears pricked, I moved in to [...]

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WOTM – Wine of the Month [09/09] – Chateau Moulinat Haut-Médoc 2005

This epistle is late because I was in Japan, where I was fortunate enough to spend time with fellow members Hamakko and his yet-to-be-named-but-definitely-in-the-club girlfriend.  Enjoying a superb wine tasting most every night for my duration, one particular evening’s sampling featured a pair of Bordeaux in an ongoing battle we called the Left Bank/Right Bank [...]

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2004 Flying Horse Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Tonight I’m having another bottle of Flying Horse Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville, Napa Valley.  Stag’s Leap District once upon a time was my favourite Napa appellation, but now I’ve moved over to Oakville.  Now I don’t know where these grapes were grown, but I hear the winemaker is none other than Château Latour’s own Denis [...]

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Merlot, affordable, as in dirt cheap – assaggio minoralus

Always on the lookout for inexpensive examples of my (the Bad Man) favourite varietal, Merlot, I assembled the worthy locally and currently available Merlots that were well under $10.  You’ve seen a lot of lists of wines for “under $10″, but those invariably at the grocer seem to be more like $11 or $12.  So [...]

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WOTM – Wine of the Month [0908] – Rosenblum Cellars Annette’s Reserve Redwood Valley Zinfandel 2005

Look at that!  I’m posting the official Royal Tannin Bomb Wine of the Month (WOTM) selection within the same month to which it belongs!  Will wonders never cease…
So far three of our four WOTM winners have been French.  The only New World entrant was a California Pinot Noir.  Go figure.  I thought it time for [...]

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Chardonnay tasting, mk i, assaggio majoralus

The FIRST Royal Tannin Bomb Chardonnay tasting is now complete.  We’ve been a club for over a year and this is our first sampling of arguably the world’s favourite white wine – Chardonnay.
Tasting Date: 08/15/2009
Tasting Geeks: Tally-Ho, The Bad Man
The Contenders:
2007 Sanford Santa Barbara County Chardonnay, 14.5% abv, $23.99
2007 MacRostie Carneros Chardonnay, 14.1% abv, $15.99
2005 [...]

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Vouvray tasting, mk i – assaggio majoralus

The first major official Royal Tannin Bomb Vouvray tasting is in the can.
Tasting Date: 07/31/2009
Tasting Geeks: Tally-Ho, The Bad Man
Tasting Theme: Vouvray, mk i – assaggio majoralus
The Contenders:
2007 Francois Pinon Silex Noir Vouvray, 12.5% abv, $23
2006 Château de Montfort Vouvray, 12.0% abv, $15
2007 Vincent Raimbault “Les Terrages” Val de Loire Vouvray, 12.5% abv, $16
2006 Le [...]

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WOTM – Wine of the Month [0907] – Château Montfort Vouvray, Loire Valley 2006

Well, a month late again – but the important thing is we have yet another edition of, yep, you guessed it, The Royal Tannin Bomb’s Wine of the Month (WOTM).
This time up bears a strong resemblance to last month’s, as they are both white wines and they are both from the same river region in [...]

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Bad Man Special Cellar Selection iii – Leonetti Merlot 2007 Walla Walla

Pulling from my ever dwindling cellar tonight’s fetch revealed a New World First Growth (according to Bad Man’s (that’s me) classification) from Leonetti Cellars – their Walla Walla Valley 2007 Merlot, 14.3% abv, approx. $80.00 USD.  Good luck finding it – fortunately (as you’d guess) I’m tight with the local merchants so I always tap [...]

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Suave Summer Sauv’s, mk iv – assaggio majoralus

We Royals did our summer kick-off Sauvignon Blanc tasting, with yeah you guessed it the usual contenders and a few new ones.
Contenders
Zuc di Volpe Sauvignon Blanc, Italy, $25
2008 Domaine Ricard Cuvee Les Trois Chenes, Touraine, France, $22
2006 Domaine Henri Bourgeois Haute-Victoire Quincy, Loire Valley, $16.99
2007 Groth Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, $14
Read all about it here [...]

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