Wine Blogging Wednesday #19, Rhone Varietals

This WBW we're are giving our reviews on Rhone Varietals. I chose an Eric Solomon Selection that I am enjoying. If you follow my blog you can see I have a liking for his imports from Spain. His wines always seem to hit the excellent value mark for me.

Marco Real, 2001 Garnacha, Navarra, Spain
~$10.00

This wine has a nice dark color with some signs of aging on the edges. Out of the bottle it has a funky nose that blows off with some aeration. After about a half hour the wine exudes berry fruit and violet aromas. The finish is long and tannins are ripe, leaving a slight bitter coffee taste in the mouth that makes it even better with a zesty tomato based pasta sauce. I like this wine a lot and give it a B for good value. I believe it can be found in many outlets for under $10.00.

Raymond 2001 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena

This was a phenomenal wine. I got to take an opened bottle home after an industry tasting and after two days it was amazing. An opened bottle can give you a glimpse at what the wine will age into and this one showed great promise. The nose showed vanilla, cedar, and pencil shavings from the barrel and good varietal character of violets, potpourri, and leather with dark berry undertowns. In the mouth the tannins were soft and gave a long rich finish with a coffee mocha aftertaste. All of this wrapped up in a beautiful, deep, garnet purple makes me give it an A. The price at about ~$35 isn't too bad for a St. Helena Cab either.

Yes, this is the Napa Valley Label not the St. Helena label, which is the wine that I had. Its the best that I could do.