2004 Tablas Creek Côtes de Tablas

Tonight was "leftovers" night while watching Monday Night Football, so I picked this very drinkable wine from the cellar.

It is from Tablas Creek Winery, located just outside Paso Robles on the California Central Coast. Tablas Creek is a partnership of France's Chateau de Beaucastel and Robert Haas. They imported all the vines from France to grow the great Rhône varietals here in California.

The 2004 Côtes de Tablas wine is a blend of four of those varietals: Grenache, Syrah, Counoise and Mourvedre. It has a juicy, berry nose of currants, raspberries, licorice and spice. The mouth is full of rich, sweet Grenache fruit showing good acidity and a long finish laced with licorice.

2004 Bleasdale Cabernet Sauvignon Mulberry Tree

Bleasdale’s vineyards were founded in 1850 by Frank Potts, making Bleasdale one of Australia's oldest family-owned wineries. Bleasdale today is owned and operated by fourth and fifth generation members of the family. Situated 80 km southeast of Adelaide in South Australia, the vineyards are along Langhorne Creek in the Barossa Valley.

Winery notes: The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon exhibits fragrant dark berry characters balanced with mint aromas and hints of eucalyptus. The palate is full flavoured, rich and round, yet displays elegance with fine tannins and a lingering finish. The wine also shows subtle oak from the 15 months maturation in French and American barrels. Although drinking delightfully now, this wine will reward careful cellaring until the year 2010.

This Cab consistently rated in the 89-91 point range by most wine critics. It is a great bargain for a good Aussie cabernet. I picked up this bottle for US$13.98. It taste like a $40 Cabernet, once again proving that great bargains in wine are coming from countries in the southern hemisphere due to lower costs of land and labor.

Served this with barbequed flank steak in teriyaki marinade, snap pea salad, jasmine rice, and mixed berry crumble for dessert.

2005 Eric Kent Cellars Pinot Noir, Stiling Vineyard

I really like this Pinot Noir. Good thing I have a few more bottles of the 2005 and the 2006.

Eric Kent Cellars is a husband and wife team. They have a unique way of supporting local artists. A different painting adorns each wine label.

Wine Spectator Magazine 2007: Winemaker Kent Humphrey purchases Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah grapes from several vineyards in Sonoma County. Each bottling features a contemporary artist's work, and the wines are equally stylish, balancing elegance and power. 94 pts. 250 cases produced.

California Grapevine, June-July 2008. 90 pts. – Medium-light ruby; attractive, elegant, toasty, ripe red cherry fruit aroma; medium-full to full body; plush, supple, bright cherry fruit flavors with a velvety mouthfeel; well-balanced and structured; medium-full tannin; lingering aftertaste. Delicious to taste now though deserving a few more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

The Stiling Vineyard is an old 1500-tree apple orchard in the Russian River valley of Sonoma County turned into a thriving 35-acre vineyard specializing in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

2005 Pazo de Señorans Albariño

Pazo de Señorans is located in the Salnes region of the Rias-Baixis appellation in northwest Spain.

I have no idea what some of the terms mean in this wine critic's review. "Always a candidate for Albariño of the year, the 2005 Pazo de Senorans does not disappoint. The wine is produced from low yielding vines on slate and gravel and is tank fermented and aged on its fine lees with battonage. Light gold-colored, it offers up a refined nose of mineral, petrol, and pit fruits reminiscent of a top-flight Alsace Riesling. Bone dry and crisp, the wine offers intense flavors with superb balance and length." Wine Advocate

I do know from our own tasting that the wine shows fruit tastes like fresh peaches and ripe melons, along with a floral aroma and citrus-like acidity in the finish.

Picked up this bottle a few months ago when I spotted it at Costco. One of those good quality, bargain wines that Costco has one day and is sold out the next. Served it with Sunday night dinner - Endive, Pear, and Blue Cheese Salad, and a new recipe Caren tried for homemade Macaroni and Cheese.

2007 Breggo Cellars Rose' of Syrah

Breggo Cellars is located on Highway 128 in the Anderson Valley in Mendocino County. Doug Stewart and his wife Ana Lucia Benitez-Stewart are the co-proprietors. We stopped by for a tasting last October and wound up spending an hour and a half chatting with Doug about the wine business and sampling his wines. We wish them success.

Breggo Cellars specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, along with a couple of other varietals thrown in for good measure (and hopefully, more business). They have planted some nice vineyards on the land alongside their tasting room. It may be another couple of years before those grapes are ready for making wine, but in the meantime, Breggo is making some great stuff with purchased grapes. Robert Parker gave Breggo Cellars very high marks in his column that occasionally appears in Business Week magazine.

Caren's first reaction to tonight's wine was about the color - very unique - it looked exactly like a ripe piece of watermelon. The aromatics included marmalade, blood orange, white pepper, and rose petals. Flavors of strawberries, watermelon, and a hint of marzipan with a crisp acidity make this a perfect wine for enjoying on a summer's evening with a light dinner.