Suggested review format

18 years ago

Lail Vineyards (CA) 2001 Meritage ($11)

We had a bottle of this Meritage tonight, a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, without the Cabernet Franc you often see in many Meritage blends. It was fairly good and not too acid with undertones of chocolate, dill, and olive, with a finish that was redolent of free-range blackberries, rich Corinthian leather and dryer lint. It did benefit from breathing. Color ranged from deep azure to a light ruby red at the rim. Our verdict was that, while drinkable now, it will improve over the next few years. We still prefer Meritage blends that include some Cabernet Franc or especially Petit Verdot.

Comments (13)

lindac
18 years ago
Are we reviewing?
Really glad to see this forum!
Linda C
mitchdesj
18 years ago
spewey, is this just a format suggestion or your true review of this wine ?
The dryer lint undertone of this wine would turn me off, lol.....

I hear that the wine industry will be turning more and more to plastic corks; I'm having a hard time getting used to that..... I'm too traditional I guess. I associate those to screw top bottles.

Your wine sounds friendly and approachable though; a waiter once described our wine choice that way; we had picked a not so expensive one.
I think he was trying to snub us in a polite way.
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lynxville
18 years ago
There was a program on TV where they were saying they are trying to go from cork to twist off. Claim the wine is fresher and no chance of an off taste from the cork. Might take me a while to get used to that.
centralcacyclist
18 years ago
Having worked at Mondavi for many years and one year right next to the packaging tech folks, I can tell you that yes, more plastic corks. Not a bad thing really. Plastic corks (a kind of foam, really) aren't subject to shrinking or other deterioration problems. I would not expect to see fake corks on high end boutique wines that one will age, though. If you look at New Zealand wines, you will find that most of them are in screw cap bottles. Even the more expensive ones.

Here is a link that might be useful: wine closures
alisande
18 years ago
Gee, Spewey, your English has improved a great deal since you put up your Web site! :-)

When I started reading your review, I thought, did he really taste chocolate, dill, and olive?? Then I got to the dryer lint. LOL

Thanks. That was fun.

Susan
riverrat1
18 years ago
I recently received several bottles of wine with the screw cap and one with the plastic foam type cork that Barnmom speaks of. I opened one of the screw tops last night and had a few glasses, it was quite good. It is a little strange after popping corks for years.
lindac
18 years ago
To me screw a cap speaks of Ripple....and I still have a bit of a problem with the foam stuff....
But I do know from bitter experience of losing a bottle here and there due to cork deterioration.....that the foam corks are likely a "good thing"...
Chocolate, dill and lint eh?? LOL!
Linda C
adrienneliq
18 years ago
Funny you all should mention that...I received a bottle of wine from my supervisor for Christmas...and was laughing about it when I got home because it has what appears to be a beer cap on it! LOL I said to DH, "and I thought screw caps were bad...got a beer opener?!?" LOL Seriously, though, I haven't tried it yet and really the bottle itself looks intriguing...I'll let you know how it is!

Great new forum BTW!

Adrienne
viburnumvalley
18 years ago
So far, I've tried New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with the screw cap. No bad reviews there; very crisp racy citrus fruits evident and fine with seafoods and Caesar salad.

The only bottles I've had recently with a beer cap were some Prosecco from northern Italy. Not high dollar items ($10-$15 range) but tasty and a hit at a party with finger foods. Not sure why the bottle caps, but not hard to serve the bubbly.

I want to see the serious wine review here, with nuances of ginkgo fruit, anaerobic compost, and cat pee.
lindac
18 years ago
I dumped a one time wonderful Freemark Abby something red.....either Zin or Cabernet.....pained me so I couldn't look!
It got lost in the back of the fruit cellar.....was a 1972...
I hate when that happens!!!
Linda C
mary_md7
18 years ago
"redolent of free-range blackberries, rich Corinthian leather and dryer lint"

Okay, you made me spit my 2005 Diet Coke on the computer screen.
riverhawk
18 years ago
I think i had a bottle of his wine tasted strangly of belly button fuzz
cecilia_md7a
18 years ago
Spewey's "dryer lint undertone" (and riverhawk's "belly button fizz") reminded me of a wine that I bought once for a couple of oenophile (sp?) friends. I asked the Cork Dork at a wine store for something a little unusal. He steered me to a South African Pinotage that he said was both unusal and tasty. He then went through the usual type of description of the various flavors, ending it by saying the the finish tasted of gasoline - and that this was a GOOD thing. Well, of course, that sold me, as I've never tasted gasoline. I had to get a bottle for my friends AND a bottle for myself. (The fact that it cost about 12 bucks or thereabouts was another deciding factor.)

And you know, the guy was right - the wine was delicious!

Don't worry - I'm not about to drink a mug of gasoline anytime soon, as it's so expensive nowadays.

Suggested review format

Comments (13)

lindac

mitchdesj

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