Saturday, August 25, 2007

2004 Barboursville Cabernet Sauvignon

In honor of the launch of this blog, I’ve decided to do two wines this week. Since I’ve already talked about a white wine, I’ll go to the other end and mention a quality red wine. The 2004 Barboursville Cabernet Sauvignon is a top quality cabernet that will entice both those just getting into the drier reds, and those that have established a long relationship with them.

Barboursville is a Virginia vineyard and winery
located just outside of Charlottesville, or UVA for those not familiar with Virginia geography, and has a tradition of producing quality wines in the New World that respect their Old World ancestors. Their Cabernet Sauvignon is no exception.
While I have visited the Barboursville Vineyard, the bottle of wine that I drank for this review was purchased at a local wine store for $14.99, and for those that live in Virginia, Barboursville is available at most ABC locations. While I have long been a fan of the cabernets, this one has quickly become one of my favorites for its versatility. The tannins work well with red meat and pasta, but the bite that you get on the back of your tongue with good cabernet isn’t so overpowering that this wine can’t be enjoyed without a meal.


The meal I prepared to go with this wine was a baked pasta including ground beef, Prego brand spaghetti sauce with garlic and sausage flavoring, wheat penne pasta, and a splash of the wine itself into the sauce to add a bit of flavor and to help compliment the actual wine itself. You will find that I usually cook with wine…and sometimes I even put it in the food.

While the meal was delicious, something I make rather frequently, the Cabernet Sauvignon did an excellent job of bringing out the richness of the meal without overpowering it. Even after the meal was over I found myself sipping at an extra glass of the wine as a nice way to end the evening. In fact, as I write this I am finishing the bottle in the middle of the afternoon, and still find the wine to be an excellent sipping wine for when I have a taste for a red. This is one of the few straight Cabernet Sauvignons that my fiance will drink, so I can’t help but give this particular Cabernet a good review.

I give the
2004 Barboursville Cabernet Sauvignon 4 stars out of 5 because it’s a great red wine that will compliment most meals…and I reserve the final star for the Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve that Barboursville also makes…even though it doesn’t fit into my $20 budget.

Friday, August 24, 2007

2006 Santa Rita Reserva Sauvignon Blanc



For my first wine I begin with the 2006 Santa Rita Reserva Sauvignon Blanc. A pleasant white wine from Chile (that’s in South America), this Sauvignon Blanc has a nice mix of citrus flavors, most notably grapefruit.
I purchased this wine at a local wine & beer store for $15.99, a good $4 under my budget of $20. To go with this wine, I had a salad for dinner which included baby spinach, romaine lettuce, feta cheese, a fat-free sun dried tomato dressing, and grilled chicken. The grapefruit and citrus flavors of the Sauvignon Blanc was a nice compliment to the slight salty flavor of the feta cheese and and the earthiness of the dressing.
While it was certainly a quality Sauvignon Blanc, it probably could have used another year of aging to take away some of the fruitiness of the wine. If you do try this one I’d say sit on it for 6 months to a year to let it really age.
I give the 2006 Santa Rita Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 3 stars out of 5.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

A Call to Wine

After years of bartending and watching people struggle trying to find a quality bottle of wine that was within their budget, I have set out to find good, quality wine that’s available at many of your local stores, but that won’t set you back three months rent. Each week I will set out with a $20 budget to find wine to compliment a meal that I will prepare. It may go well, it may go poorly, but I won’t know until I try.
Also, I will begin to accept requests for reviews of different wines. This is your opportunity to have somebody just like you try a wine for you so that you don’t have to waste your money if it turns out to be a less than quality wine. Why waste your money when you can waste mine? All you have to do is ask at:
The $20 Sommelier, or post a reply on this blog. It’s just that simple.