Bressler 2004 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon wine review by Billy

Nose:cocoa dust, tobacco leaves and casis with vanilla and oak nut notes.

Palate: elegant and unprepossessing mouth feel while remaining warm and full with a fine balance of firm acid and warm tannin core.

Finish: dark berry mash and pepper tones emerge over the top of more dusty cocoa.

Overall: Asking $200 for this wine which can retail and auction for typically less than $100 (though still in the $70-90 range) is plain thievery. And yet it was the second *lowest* priced option on the Cab wine list at Strip Steak in the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas. It is truly an obscene mark-up. Still, you cannot fault the wine maker for the sins of the seller (and, I suppose, the enablement by the buyer). This wine was wonderful. It is still tight and young and will benefit from continued cellaring.

Raise a Glass, but if you raise a glass of this, make sure you get a reasonable price from your restaurant, wine store or internet retailer.

Brookland Valley 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2004 wine review by Billy and NW

Billy:
Nose: earthy (like wet loam) with some cherry notes and a smoked cedar spiciness
Palate: even balance between structural acids at the core with a nice tannin feel at the edges of the mouth. Not as thick or beefy as other pure cabs or pure merlots. Almost as if the weightiness of each minimizes the thickness of the other yielding a pleasing feel.
Finish: warm and slightly spicy of basil and licorice
Overall: a wonderful treat brought back from down under!

NW:
Nose:currants, olives, dry earth, smokey notes
Palate:full bodied and dry on the palate
Finish:more currants on the finish with woody and mineral tones.
Overall: Here is a well made Margaret River red that is interesting and dry, with layers that unfold seamlessly in the glass.

Thoughts: This Brookland Valley Cab Merlot from 2004 is from the Margaret River area in Western Australia. Even though I was in Perth the week before I bought this wine, I found it in Sydney. I brought it back as a special memento. Tonight seemed like a great night to open it with NW in town and the fetching Mrs. Billy with us to try the wine and is enjoying it. I believe I bought it for about $45 AU. I've not seen it here in the US. It is one advantage to being able to travel for work.

Paul Hobbs 2004 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Review by Billy

Nose: Rich cedar, smoke, cracked pepper and blackberry/plum compote
Palate: incredibly smooth and silky feel. Soft structure, malleable.
Finish:warm blueberry compote finish with some spiciness and wet tobacco notes.
Overall: very nice and soft. A softer Napa cabernet sauvignon with full flavor and elegance. A Romantic wine. A high end steak house listed this at $160 which is probably 60-70 higher than a wine retailer can get it for.

Ribeauville Vin de l'A. Grand Reserve 2004 Bergheim wine review by Billy

Nose: Spicy, steely with Honeyed tropical fruit, lemon grass
Palate: supple and rich with a delicate structure but a feel that spreads throughout the mouth for a delightful summer time refreshment.
Finish: beautiful and lingering stoney textures, creamed honey and melon, sweet grass and sugar cane.
Overall: This special bottle was given to me by a friend in Europe recently. It is a blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer from Alsace but the Bergheim region specifically which sets the bottle apart from other Alsacians. It is a pretty gold gilt in the glass. Gorgeous.

A beautiful bottle shared with my parents enjoyed with gratitude and fond memories of my friends.

Barolo Beni di Batasiolo 2004 wine review by Billy

Nose: Hazelnut husk and acorn aromas spiked with truffle (wonderfully earthy!), black cracked pepper, spicy plum and blackberry
Palate:big mouth feel with chewy tannins and a structure that is firm though short-lived
Finish: juicy berries with a long lingering oaky elegance that slowly decrescendos to a woody character.

Overall: let this breathe after opening. It will open up with berries and more layers on the palate and finish. As it breathes the nose opens up with a rich spicy cedar blackberry profile with smokey hints while the tannins soften on the palate and the finish becomes more of a uniform cedar. I paid about 75 swiss Francs for this on a recent trip to Switzerland and shared the bottle with colleagues. Wonderful!

Heath Wines Southern Sisters Barossa Valley 2004 Shiraz wine review by Billy

Nose: earthy, jammy prunes, black pepper.
Palate: bold fruit-forward in the mouth. Very light tannins and acid are in good balance but definitely resting on the fruity core. Hints of oaky spice tease at the back of the palate and segue nicely to the finish.
Finish: Lingering with ripe strawberry and red apples.

Overall: a well crafted wine. Not as spicy or intense as some other shirazes but more elegant than other Australian's at this price point of about $18. A nicely accessible shiraz. It is fruity in the mouth without becoming a bomb. The 2004 Southern Sisters shows earthy character on the nose and has a pleasing finish.

Raise a glass!

Gallo Family Winery Sonoma Reserve Zinfandel 2004

Nose: big fruit, stewed cherries and cola, small toasted coffee, basil

Palate: Thin but balanced. Not overly tannic. More of an old world style construction. Elegant. The mouth feel does not follow on the expectations of the nose. This isn't bad but it is unexpected.

Finish: thin fruit finish, green leaf parsley.

I paid about $10 for this and for that $10 you get a decent California Zin that presents first like your expected $10 fruit bomb, but the mouth feel is anything but your typical jammy fruit bomb. This is a sit down and drink me with pizza on movie night wine.

If your going to buy wine to impress the girl this Valentines day, spring for two bottles, make this the second one.

PB reviewed the 2003 back in '05. Read that review here.

Raise a glass

Dornier Pinotage 2004 wine review by Billy

We paid about $11 for this South African Pinotage. It was tasted blind against the Pinot Noir and Barbera D'Alba reviewed below. Of the three it was the worst.

NOSE: TOBACCO, SPICE, BANDAID TASTE, PLASTIC
PALATE: SMOKEY, STRONG ACIDS AND TANNIC STRUCTURE. ALMOST ROUGH
FINISH: SMALL GREEN PEPPER TAIL

Overall, the plastic smell on the nose was described by PB as "bandaid thrown into a fire". I think that's accurate. Raise a glass of something else.

Cabernet Sauvignon 3 Way Head to Head wine review by Billy

NW, PB, and I are all together and tasting for the post Christmas holiday. This evening it was a Cabernet flight. The goal was all cabs in the $15 range from different regions of the world. We selected a California, Argentina, and Australian Cabernet Sauvignon. NW and I liked the Australian while PB liked the Californian best. I liked the Californian second while NW preferred it least of the three. Thus proving that wine tasting and drinking is *really* about what you like.

Here are my notes on the three Cabernets we tried:

HAYMAN & HILL 2004 NAPA VALLEY RESERVE SELECTION
Nose: SWEET JAMMY FRUIT, CLOVES
Palate: SPICY, WEAKER TANNINS THOUGH NOT FLABBY, OK BALANCE
Finish: LINGERING, SOFT

VS
(2002 pictured, 2003 reviewed)
SALENTEIN 2003 MENDOZA VALLE DE UCO ARGENTINA
Nose: STINKY MUSHROOM
Palate: PRONOUNCED ACIDS AND TANNINS WEAK BALANCE COMPARATIVELY
Finish: SMOOTH AND PLEASANT. LINGERING TOBACCO MAKES THIS NICE

VS

GREG NORMAN 2004 LIMESTONE COAST AUSTRAILIA
Nose: SPICY EARTH, CEDAR
Palate: DENSE, FRUITY INCREDIBLY EVEN STRUCTURE
Finish: FRUITY AND SOFT SMOOTH

Overall: I preferred the 2004 Greg Norman Cabernet Merlot. The depth of flavor and spice and structure was far and away above the rest. The Hayman & Hill was my second favorite with its balance and fruity structure. The Salentein while having a beautiful nose and finish had a weak structure that was poorly constructed in my opinion (though NW preferred this over the Hayman & Hill and PB preferred the Hayman & Hill over the rest).

Anyway you measure it though, for about $15 these wines are good exemplars of the varietal and affordable.

Raise a Glass!

VEO Grande 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon wine review by Billy

Nose: cherry cola, socks, warm spice
Palate: even, not overly tannic, berry
Finish: warm, soft

Overall, meh. I have to be honest, lots of folks like this and I am interested to try it again but I was not impressed by this wine. It is not bad, but, to me, it was not great either. However, and this is a big however, when considered in light of the price point, it is a really great deal. It is not a "wow me" cabernet sauvignon, but it is certainly enjoyable and well made. It cannot be beat for the price.

Raise a glass!