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The Winery:  Gran Oristan The Wine:  Gran Reserva 2000 Red Wine The Price:  $11.89 at Safeway Gran Oristan is a Spanish winery, with the grapes sourced from the La Mancha Denominación de Origen.  The wine is a blend of 65% Tempranillo and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The wine is aged in American and French Oak for 24 months before bottling.  The bottle was sealed with a natural cork and decanted an hour before tasting. The wine is dark red in color.  It has aromas of black cherry, prune, vanilla... Read Full Story

The Winery:  Columbia Crest The Wine:  2009 Horse Heaven Hills Merlot The Price:  $12.99 at Safeway Those who regularly read my reviews may have noticed that I don't usually review Merlot.  That's because I'm really not much of a Merlot fan.  But this wine was recommended by a wine seller recently, so I thought I'd give it a try. As the name indicates, the grapes for this Merlot were grown in Washington State's Horse Heaven Hills AVA.  The wine is a blend of 96% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon... Read Full Story

The Winery:  Quinta do Portal The Wine:  2007 Mural Reserva The Price:  $8.69 at Costco Quinta do Portal is a Portugal winery, located in the Douro Valley in Northern Portugal. The bottle was sealed with a natural cork, and the wine was decanted an hour before tasting.  The wine is a blend of 40% Tinta Roriz, 40% Touriga Franca and 20% Touriga Nacional, with 25% of the wine being aged in French oak barrels for nine months before bottling. The wine is a deep, dark burgundy in color.  It has... Read Full Story

The Winery:  Chehalem The Wine:  2007 Stoller Vineyards Pinot Noir The Price:  $23.99 at Costco Chehalem is an Oregon winery, located in the Willamette Valley's incredible Dundee Hills AVA .  Chehalem was founded in 1990 by Harry Peterson-Nedry and Bill & Cathy Stoller. The bottle was sealed with a natural cork, and the wine was decanted an hour before tasting. The wine is ruby in color with a slight brown cast to it.  It is a bit thinner in appearance than I prefer in a Pinot Noir. The wine... Read Full Story

The Winery:  14 Hands  The Wine:  2009 Hot to Trot Red Blend The Price:  $14.99 at Albertsons 14 Hands is a Washington winery, located in Patterson.  In addition to the Hot to Trot Red Blend, they make Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Reisling and a Hot to Trot White Blend.  The Hot to Trot Red is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Petit Verdot, sourced from several AVAs throughout Washington State.  The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork and decanted an hour... Read Full Story

The Winery:  Bonny Doon Vineyards The Wine:  2009 Contra The Price:  $16 at PCC Bonny Doon Vineyards is located in Santa Cruz, on California's central coast.  They have a quirky website, and they do not take themselves too seriously.  Their website, besides being quirky, is irritating to navigate and does not adhere to typical web design standards.  But I'm here to talk about wine, not websites. The wine was sealed with a screw cap, as are all of Bonny Doon's wines.  On their website they... Read Full Story

The Winery: Seghesio Family Vineyards The Wine:  2008 Sonoma Zinfandel The Price:  $23.99 at QFC Seghesio Family Vineyards have been around since 1895.  The Seghesio history is pretty interesting.  Rather than recapping it and leaving out a lot of details, you can read it here if you're so inclined. The wine is a blend of 89% Zinfandel, 8% Petite Sirah and 3% Syrah.  They barrel age the wine in 75% American Oak and 25% French Oak for 10 months prior to bottling. The bottle was stopped with a... Read Full Story

The Winery:  Don Miguel Gascon The Wine:  2010 Malbec The Price:  $12.99 at QFC Don Miguel Gascon is a part of the Ernest and Julio Gallo family.  I knew E&J was big, but I didn't realize just how many wineries they own .  It's pretty astounding.  Gascon is located in Mendoza, Argentina.  They have been producing wine since 1884, and they focus solely on making Malbec.   The wine bottle was stopped with a natural cork, and decanted 2 hours before tasting. The wine is very dark purple in color... Read Full Story

I have had a fair amount of wine shipped to me over the years, but my experience has been limited to either wineries wanting me to review their wine or wineries that have clubs that I belong to.  I have never before ordered wine for delivery through an online retailer.  So when I saw a Groupon offer for Wine Insiders , I just had to bite.  What follows is a chronological account of my experience.  Neither Groupon nor Wine Insiders have any idea that I review wine, nor that I am writing about... Read Full Story

The Winery:  Conn Creek The Wine:  2006 Cabernet Sauvignon The Price:  $16.44 at Safeway Conn Creek is a California winery located in St Helena, which is in the heart of the Napa Valley.  Conn Creek has been around since the early 1970s and focuses primarily on Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes sourced from 9 of the 15 Napa Valley AVAs. The bottle was stopped with a natural cork and the wine was decanted an hour before tasting. The wine is medium-dark... Read Full Story