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 [...]
Category > Assaggio Minoralus
A new red varietal assaggio minoralus
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 [...]
Bordeaux, affordable, Assaggio Minoralus
We here at The Royal Tannin Bombs are always on the prowl for cheap yet outstanding Bordeaux (an oxymoron in the best of times), and we continually revisit this pair from that most affordable of Bordeaux regions, the Côtes de Castillon:
Contenders
2005 La Fleur de Laussac Côtes de Castillon, 14% abv, $19.97
2004 Château d’Aiguilhe Comtes de [...]
Bad Man Special Cellar Selection ii – Château Haut-Brion 1999 Pessac-Léognan
Another remarkable Cellar Selection from Bad Man’s very own personal cellar. I’ve been sitting on this wine for 7 years now, stored at room temperature in three different un-air-conditioned and relatively un-heated apartment/townhouse/houses, but it was tucked away in a bag inside a box in a dark closet so the temperature swings were kept to [...]
Syrah redux – 20090517
Tally-Ho and I decided to revisit the Syrah varietal.
Layer Cake Shiraz 2008, South Australia, 14.9%, $16.99
Ledgewood Creek Winery & Vineyards 2005 Estate Grown Syrah, Suisun Valley, 14.2%, $16.00
Rosenblum Cellars 2005 England-Shaw Vineyard Syrah, Solano County, 14.2%, $14.99
Rosenblum Cellars 2005 Hillside Vineyards Syrah, Sonoma County, 14.6%, $21.99
Zaca Mesa Estate Grown & Bottled 2004 Syrah, Santa Ynez [...]
Côtes de Castillon Bordeaux, affordable, Assaggio Minoralus
Last night The Shadow and I got down to business. I went down to the only store in the three state area that sells Bordeaux and purchased me some from my favourite region – the Côtes de Castillon. Went back to the old house (a good Smiths song (I have the superior 12″ version)), decanted, [...]
Zinfandel, Tier I, mk iii, affordable (assaggio minoralus)
Well, we here at The Royals know how to beat a dead horse, so we (again) turned to a quick impromptu Zinfandel tasting to see how a few of our favourites stacked up.
The Contenders
2006 Four Vines Winery “The Maverick” Amador County Zinfandel pH 3.88 TA: 0.72, 14.9% abv, $24.99
2005 Rosenblum Cellars Snows Lake Vineyard Lake [...]
The cheapest best Zinfandel currently on the market (assaggio minoralus)
So it’s now a proven fact: BevMo doesn’t know what they’re selling! This time it’s a real jewel of a Zin, and they’re practically giving it away in their 5-cent sale, going on now. If your store has any of the Rancho Zabaco Reserve Zinfandel 2004 Dry Creek Valley run, don’t walk, and buy up [...]
Bordeaux vs. New World – mk ii – assaggio minoralus
Well, Bad Man (that’s me) is not afraid to admit it – I f’ed up!
Contenders
Château Charmail 2005 Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, 13% abv ~$20
Paoletti Vineyards Piccolo Cru 2005 Napa Valley 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec, 14.1% abv ~$15
Tasted by Bad Man and his arch-nemesis The Shadow – tasted BLIND, as always!
Tasting notes
Bordeaux [...]
Random Zin assaggio minorali – year-end, 2008
Okay, so here’s a late post that was meant to go in the year-end review section, but it’ll do fine to be here today because you’re reading it. This is a sellection (combination of “selection” and “collection”) of small focused Zinfandel tastings done at year’s close to fine-out the best valued Zin. I can’t recall [...]
