St. Julian Founder's Red Table Wine
United States of America: Paw Paw, Michigan (Lake Michigan Shore)
Blend: Chancellor, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Marechal Foch (red)
A Non-Vintage Wine
$8.49
88 pts
In the spring of 2012, Michigan began to blow my mind. First there was the delicious White Pine Dry Riesling from St. Joe's, and then this St. Julian red blend called Founder's Red, honoring Mariano Meconi, the 19th Century Italian immigrant to Windsor, Canada, who founded this family winery almost 100 years ago. Meconi was born in Faleria, Italy, about 20 miles north of Rome, but once in the New World, ultimately settled upon the Lake Michigan shoreline as the place to pursue his wine-making. And his descendants' Founder's Red--including two hybrid grapes from Michigan, Chancellor and Marechal Foch, bridging the Old and New Worlds just like Meconi--offers an amazing value at eight bucks a bottle (available online at http://www.stjulian.com/Founder%27s%20Red). While fruit forward (leans New World fruity, not Old World earthy), this delicious table wine offers a variety of flavors, including black cherry, sour cherry, SweeTarts candy (fun!), coffee, a hint of vanilla, and, like a playful wink to Meconi and the winery's roots in Lazio, a flash of earthiness. The length on this wine (an everyday table wine, mind you) is well above-average. Although my palette tends toward earthiness--a bit more spice and dirt would carry this wine even further, for me--the St. Julian Founder's Red is a versatile fruit-forward wine with character, priced for everyone to enjoy, the epitome of a great Tuesday night wine: tasty, interesting, great with food or alone, and inexpensive. Highly recommend!
+MUST TRY+
Abbot's Table Wine (by Owen Roe Winery)United States of America: Columbia Valley, Washington State
Blend: 25% Zinfandel, 20% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah, Grenache 13%, 7% Blaufrankish, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec,1% Merlot (red)
2009
$21.99
89+ pts
Received this bottle as a gift from a friend (thanks Jessica!), which always makes reviewing awkward--that is, when the wine sucks. But in this case, it was an absolute pleasure to taste. This Washington state gem is a complex blend of nine varietals, and is no ordinary table wine. The color is a rich plum, and the mouth-watering aroma offers red fruit (raspberries definitely, but also cherries, maybe), along with some intense white pepper and, after opening up a few minutes in the glass, even a hint of old barnyard on the back end. As for taste, the initial attack is a rapid, lively and bright shot of red fruit (mostly raspberry), that transitions very quickly (a good thing for my palette) to subtle dancing white pepper on the tongue. And then, for the finale', some good Washington state earthiness takes the stage and lingers pleasantly for an encore, with an above average length. While it is certainly true that so-called "table wine" seldom reaches breaches the twenty-dollar mark, I'll say it, again: the Owen Roe Abbot's Table Wine is no ordinary table wine. Soon I'll be enjoying a glass with turkey and stuffing (Dana's cooking up a post-Thanksgiving storm...and no, I haven't tired of turkey), and I suspect this wine will prove to be very food friendly, as the name suggests, with good but not overpowering and oppressive fruitiness (when it comes to fruit-forward wine--and Zin does make up 25% of this wine--I prefer a meaningful cameo to gross over-exposure). This one fits my play bill perfectly, and is a MUST TRY!
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