2020 O'Brien Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

 

When Barb and Bret at a charity event a few decades ago, their love of wine was a bond that they shared that ultimlately led them to opening their owe winery in Napa.  A quarter of a century ago the duo purchased 33 acres of prime Napa real estate and eventually they began producing Bordeaux and Burdundian styles of wines that promote their sustainably farmed vineyard.  These "estate only" exclusive wines promote not only traditional styles, but also the passion that Barb and Bret share for each other after all of these years.

Today we are tasting the 2020 O'Brien Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.  As one would expect, it is memorable from cork pop to the finish with it's beautiful bottle and striking darker mulberry color in the glass.  Ripe berries, granite, wet stone, cigar paper and spice swim in the nose, creating a mouth-watering introduction that delivers.  Dark fruit, plum, spice cabinet, pencil shavings, cedar smoke and a hint of milk chocolate dance on the tongue, creating a persistent finish against sophisticated tannins.  This wine has only begun to show it's potential and we regret not decanting this prior to tasting.  It is a wine that you need to add to your cellar, not only to lay down for fifteen or more years, but to prove to yourself what a fine Napa Valley Cabernet should taste like.  It's beautiful!

ABV:  15.2%

AVA:  Napa Valley

Winery:  O'Brien Estate

Suggested retail price:  $120.00

Drink The Bottles score:  94/100

2020 Bells Up Winery Jupiter Pinot Noir

 

Rounding out our tastings of samples from Bells Up Winery is their 2020 Jupiter Pinot Noir.  This comes from an estate vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains.  Three words.... It is fantastic.  Too often we have been slightly underwhelmed by Pinot, often getting the "same old" dusty, overly sweet rose petal vibe.  But not with this.  This Pinot Noir is built differently and if this is testament to the Chehalem Mountains AVA, then we can't wait to visit some day.  Cherry pie, tobacco leaf, graphite and forest floor on the nose.  Solid medium purple color makes an introduction to rhubarb, cherry pomegranate and a subtle hint of pepper, leading to a finish that leaves you yearning for more.  This wine should be in your cellar and with such a low production, you'd better act fast.  This is drinking wonderfully now and should for another 5-7 years.

ABV:  13.5%

Chehalem Mountains, OR

Production:  94 cases

Suggested retail price:  $48.00

Drink The Bottles score:  94/100

2020 Penny's Hill Malpas Road McLaren Vale Merlot

 

Situated in McLaren Vale which happens to be one of Australia's most exciting wine regions, here are things you would want to know about the Penny’s Hill Winery.

History

Established in 1988, this promising winery is named after the hill at the base of which it is located.

Considering this winery has all the elements of a great vineyard in place, the vines were planted in 1991 at the property in a unique narrow-row configuration to amplify vineyard productivity along with grape and wine quality.

In the year 1993, the newly-planted Malpas Road property was purchased, followed by an adjacent highly prized hay-producing paddock in 1996 that was planted to vines and named Goss Corner.

After wo years, the original Goss family homestead, ‘Ingleburne’ was added to the Malpas and Goss properties to reconnect to make it an entire holding.

Ownership & The Team

Founder Tony Parkinson passed on the ownership and management of the business to his good friend and fellow South Australian winemaker Warren Randall.

The team at Penny’s Hill is committed to growing outstanding fruit across their vineyard sites to deliver the finest wines possible. They reflect upon the site where the vines are planted. They are passionate enough to make sure that optimum flavour, balance and ripeness are present in the fruit during harvest time.

Winemaker at Penny’s Hill

A passionate and experienced winemaker, Alexia is a group winemaker for Penny’s Hill, The Black Chook & Thomas Goss brands, and a champion for the McLaren Vale wine region; in particular its Shiraz and Grenache varietals.

She has been in the winemaking in McLaren Vale since 2004 and has undertaken vintages in both France and Italy. Accountable for the production of many acclaimed wines, and no stranger to medals, trophies, awards and accolades both domestic and international, she has the ‘World’s Best Cabernet’ in 2016 for Penny’s Hill 2014 Edwards Road Cabernet accredited to her name.

She works closely with the viticulturist to maximise fruit quality and vine health. Her style includes crafting elegant, fruit-driven, single-vineyard estate-grown wines to best express the varying terroir of the three key sites: Penny’s Hill, Goss Corner and Malpas Road, with more company-owned vineyards now being used to source more fruit.

Winemaking at Penny’s Hill

The winemaking process at Penny’s Hill includes each fruit parcel harvested separately in small batches and individually nurtured throughout. The proximity of the vineyards to the winery ensures the selection and hand-picking of particular fruit parcels for a “small batch” approach to winemaking, enabling more options at final blending.

At each step of the winemaking process, the wines are gently guided to bring out the ultimate balance of texture, complexity and interest.

The Malpas Road and Goss Corner vineyards have black Bay of Biscay clay that helps produce wines that are rich and luscious with a soft, round finish. However, the Penny’s Hill vineyard with sandy loam over clay soil produces wines with a perfumed bouquet and a high level of fruit intensity and fine tannin structure.

The red wines at Penny’s Hill are natured in the finest French oak barrels before blending. The presence of optimum quality vineyards in the nearby Adelaide Hills allows the creation of fresh, vibrant, balanced white wines of aromatic intensity and regional expression.

Sustainable Winegrowing

A proud member of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, the Penny’s Hill winery contributes to the sustainability program which minimizes environmental impacts and encourages best viticulture practices.

Remember, it all begins in the vineyard.

Now that you know how this winery is going above and beyond to make the experience count for you, here’s a recommended wine from them. Give it a shot.

About the Wine

This vibrant Merlot unfurls aromas of plum, dark cherry, black olive and tar, with nuances of chocolate.  A medium-bodied wine with zingy minerality, light acidity and silk tannins leads to a smooth finish.  This splendid red wine tastes great with food such as light meats, chicken or slightly spiced dark meats.

ABV:  14.5%

McLaren Vale, Australia

Article contributed by guest writer, Hugo Brown

2020 Fieldhouse 301 Red Wine

 

This was our first experience with the wines offered by Scout & Cellar of Texas.  They seem to have a little bit of something for just about everyone, especially if you are budget-minded, as most of their offerings are in the $19 - $36 range.  At those prices you can find a daily drinker, no doubt!  This wine is the 2020 Fieldhouse 301 Red Wine (blend) from California.  You would typically find Cabernet Sauvignon in a red blend, but this one is a combination of Zinfandel (48%), Merlot (23%), Petite Sirah (12%), Carignan (9%) and Barbera (8%).   You don't find Carignan in too many California wines, even as a blending grape, so that was interesting to us.  This wine had a great medium purple color with blackberry, coffee bean and menthol nose.  With a lighter-to-medium mouthfeel, flavors of sweet blackberry preserves, roasted coffee beans, pepper and red licorice.  This is not a sugar bomb (if we have given that impression) but it is on the sweeter side.  The really cool things about this wine is that it is vegan, unfined and unfiltered.  Scout & Cellar prides itself on offering wines that are more "hands off" and clean.  We like that idea and we enjoyed this wine!

ABV:  13.9%

California

Suggested retail price:  $24.00

Drink The Bottles score:  87/100

2020 Knights Bridge Winery Rosé

When we taste a wine, we always taste it "solo" so we can truly appreciate what is in the bottle.  When we find a wine like this rosé, it can be fun to also pair this with some food.  That was a great choice here with the 2020 KB by Knights Bridge Winery Rosé.  Soft and soothing at first taste with loads of fresh strawberries, this wine also welcomes suggestions of lilac, peach and rhubarb.   Those aromas carry through to the tasting and there is a little kick at the end that allows this wine to cut through the Asian-inspired BBQ meatballs that we paired this with during a second tasting.  The color on this wine is without a doubt stunning and very welcoming.  It is reminiscent of autumn foliage and this wine would be a lovely accompaniment to your lighter fair during the holidays.  Nice light alcohol content. Drink now or hold this one for a couple of years.

ABV:  13.5%

Sonoma County, CA

Suggested retail price:  $30.00

Drink The Bottles score:  89/100

Rodney Strong Wine Estates REJUVENATION Virtual Wine Tasting

 

It was a great day for a wine tasting.  But then again, isn't any day perfect to gather for some vino?  

Our group of six gathered at our home (aka DrinkTheBottles HQ) for a virtual wine tasting provided by our friends at Rodney Strong Wine Estates.  This tasting was promoted as a media tasting and we invited our friends to enjoy some new wines.  Whenever we have a virtual tasting we always try to include others.  It would be a shame to "waste" six bottles of wine on two people.

The folks at Rodney Strong Wine Estates have been going through a makeover, or a REJUVENATION as they call it, for the last 3 years.  They have touched every part of the business from the estate, the vineyards, the tasting room, the personnel and, as you may notice, the logo/label!

The lineup consisted of six unique and flavorful wines.  The winery proves that you don't have to be expensive to enjoy quality wines.   We tasted these wines in order:

• 2020 Rodney Strong Rose of Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley:  $25.00
• 2019 Rodney Strong California Chardonnay:  $17.00
• 2017 Rodney Strong Sonoma County Merlot:  $20.00
• 2018 Rodney Strong Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon:  $22.00
• 2018 Rodney Strong Alexander Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon:  $28.00
• 2018 Rodney Strong Old Vine Zinfandel:  $25.00

Everyone had the chance to taste all six wines and choose their favorites.  Jeff took notes.

We started off with a bang!   Collectively and unanimously our group thought that this Rose of Pinot Noir got two thumbs up!  Strong strawberry finish with a medium acidic finish.  At only $25.00 suggested retail, this is an incredible deal.

Melissa and Jeff tried their hands at their first charcuterie board.  You simply cannot have a proper wine tasting without charcuterie.  This is only a small sampling of all of the food that we had!

Great golden color and bright Chardonnay.  Some people tend to look down their noses at Chardonnay, like Merlot.  But this one full of flavor and you won't believe it is only $17.00 when you taste it!

The nearly hour-long virtual wine tasting presented by Director of Communications Christopher O'Gorman and Director of Winemaking Justin Seidenfeld started out with a history lesson and background about the winery and vineyards.   Rodney Strong (or "Rod" as they referred to him) started off as a dancer and became a wine pioneer not just in Sonoma County, but throughout California.  The winery has been active for over 60 years and Justin is only the 4th director of winemaking in those 6 decades.  

RSV is a Certified Sustainable Winery that believes heavily in conservation, water management and solar energy.  The focus is now more on micro farming while they also plan extensive vineyard replanting over the next 7 years.  

The original tasting room at the winery was opened in 1970 under Rod's watchful eye and just went through a complete remodel.   The focus now is flighted wines by appointment, which will give wine lovers a better tasting experience.  

I really have to applaud the entire Rodney Strong Vineyards (Rodney Strong Wine Estates) team for their vision.   While it may have been a bit overdue to some, they clearly have the right people making decisions both aesthetically and with their winemaking.  Change can be difficult.  But change is inevitable and often necessary to survive in business and to attract a new or emerging audience.  

If you haven't tasted any wines from the Rodney Strong portfolio recently, we would encourage you to do so.  You might find a new favorite.  While they do offer more expensive and exclusive wines like Alexander's Crown or Rockaway Cabernet, the bulk of their offerings are in the $20 - $30 range and affordable for most people.  FYI, our favorites of the day were the Rose of Pinot Noir and Old Vine Zinfandel.  Thank you for Alicia, Christopher and Justin for spending some time with us last week and sharing your labor of love.  Cheers!