It really is unusual for me to open Cabernet Sauvignon on back to back nights. But that happened Friday/Saturday.

Friday night I had a friend over for wine, cheese, crackers and Chile’s Odfjell Armador’s Cabernet Sauvignon.

This wine got 90 points from Wine Enthusiast and is a real bargain at around $12 a bottle. I picked mine up at Grapevine Cottage in Zionsville

This was smooth, drinkable Cabernet with easy to handle tannins. It had ripe and flavorful fruit without being overpowering. I’d call this a good Cabernet for those looking for something a little different than the powerful/tannic California Cabs.

It isn’t for big wine drinkers but darn good wine at the price point. I have contemplated adding a 100-point or four star system when writing about wine, I don’t think this one is a 90 but maybe an 86-87 wine.

I’ve always thought some description of the wine is what for those who read Grape Sense are looking for. If you have tried a few of the wines I’ve written about in a year and a half – you decide if our palates match!

Wine number two is from Washington State’s iconic Chateau Ste Michelle. It was a 2006 Columbia Valley Cab. Prunes, dried fruit and a little spice with much bigger fruit highlight this $15.99 wine.

This wine is a blend of predominantly Cabernet with some Syrah and still other grapes in some vintages. But this wine had the big fruit-forward and richness I’ve experienced in other Washington State red wines.

I picked up this bottle at Bar Berry in Lafayette – not one of my normal spots but I stopped by on a visit to Village Bottle Shoppe in W. Lafayette.

Duck Pond, Milbrandt, and Chateau Ste Michelle are all Washington Cabs I’ve enjoyed in the last year and I’d heartily recommend to Cab drinkers.

Now I’m doing points – well, tonight I’m doing points. I had this wine with some nicely pan seared, then roasted, beef tenderloin with lots of cracked black pepper. The wine held up nicely. I’d call this one the 90-point wine!

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

There’s a really interesting wine story out there today if you hit a few internet sites that carry such things.

There has been an on-going dispute in France charging 12 growers and businessmen with selling – what we shall call ‘fraudulent” – Pinot Noir to U.S.-based Gallo. Fraudulent Pinot because it wasn’t 100 percent Pinot at all! The juice shipped to Gallo included smaller amounts of, much cheaper, Merlot and Syrah.

Gallo marketed the wine as Red Bicyclette, which is widely available in liquor stores and supermarkets. Gallo says that wine disappeared with the 2006 vintage and there was nothing wrong with the wine but you weren’t getting what you thought was supposed to be in the bottle.

This week a French tribunal (do the French take wine seriously – a tribunal?) found the group guilty and imposed substantial fines.

Here are a couple of takes on the story from Decanter.com and wine writer Edward Deitch.

I found it interesting the European report took jabs at Gallo for not knowing any better. While Deitch, a respected media voice on wine, pointed out how this hurts France worldwide at a time they’re trying to better market French wine.

But read for yourselves at the links above.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

The proliferation of wine sites like www.cinderella.com and www.wtso.com has helped to illustrate the wine glut that’s happening in the U.S.

I posted a link to a story about that glut just two entries down. It’s surprising how slow some companies have been to change their marketing and prices.

Here is a link to a really good New York Times story on that topic. Some wineries have just refused to lower the prices on wine they’re sitting on, many others are jumping into social media seeking ways to get their juice direct to the consumer.

It’s great reading for anyone interested in wine.

Oh, and I intend on writing more about the two websites mentioned in the first paragraph soon. I have bought from WTSO (Wine Till Sold Out) but not yet from Cinderella.

Both are offering mid- to high-priced wines at significantly reduced prices. I have not seen big drops anywhere yet except for a recent visit to Cincinnati’s famous Jungle Jim’s market. During a visit to Fairfield, Ohio, and JJ’s about three weeks ago I saw quite a bit of Bordeaux down 50 percent or more.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

I’m not a big fan of Merlot. Okay, that makes me a cartoon character in a bad animated wine movie I guess. But I’ve never been a fan, even before seeing “Sideways.”

But last summer I was in Kahn’s, Indianapolis, and they were tasting French wines. I tasted this particular blend and thought it was pretty darn good.

I dug it out of the wine storage cooler the other night because I was doing some beef tenderloin. I knew it was largely Merlot-based when I bought it but liked the taste poured for me.

Apparently, from my research, it does come from a very respected producer – Cap des Faugeres Cotes de Castillons. It was a 2006, not a classic vintage for those who track such things, but it was a nice red wine.

It was well balance with pretty strong tannins the first night – much better on the scond night. It had the big ol’ heavy blackberry thing going that seems to go hand-in-hand with Merlot. Wine Spectator gave the juice 89 points so they liked it.

Kahn’s was having a special on the wine the day I bought it. I recall paying about $17 and it was normally $23-$24. I found it online at %16-$20.

If you like a big smooth Merlot, you’re going to like this wine.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to add more wine news and such here. Today I saw a story that really is a must read for real wine enthusiasts.

There are lots of interesting things happening around the world in wine with the economic downturn and the glut of grapes available on the market.

Read this story I found on msnbc.com written by Corie Brown for entrepreneur.com

I saw a lot of Bordeaux in Cincinnati recently marked 50 percent off. I have recently found two online wine sites, which I’ll write about soon, selling higher end wines at significantly reduced prices.

Give the story a read and you’ll gain perspective!

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

I tend to fall in love with certain wines every few months, but I think this one will last.

I have gone through a Cotes du Rhone period before but never found as many great, great wines as I have recently. The beautiful thing about these grenache-based wines is even with one dominant grape they can still be very different.

Wednesday night I shared a bottle of Alain Jaume 2007 Rasteau Cotes du Rhone Villages. We had it with some crackers and a couple of different cheeses. It was just awesome red wine for good conversation, good cheese, and easy drinking.

The wine is mostly Grenache with a little bit of Syrah and Mourvedre. It had a deep red color and was very fresh on the palate. The young friend I was sharing it with has a developing palate and we both got a bit of a candy like sensation on the back of the palate. I thought it was a little like a cough drop and he looked at me like I was silly – and suggested, ‘yea, candy maybe!’

Do you dare disagree when the other guy is buying the wine?

It’s aged in stainless steel so it has that uber-smooth texture that is great to sip with a log on the fire!

The point is it has big fruit and incredible balance. I liked this wine a lot. It comes from a prestigious producer in the southern Rhone area. This is a classic $14.95 wine that could easily fool you to think it was more like $25.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

I like to find good value wines that I can go back to time and again as well as recomment to others.

I’ve added another to my list: ‘Este’ de Bodegas Alto Almanzora from Almeria Spain. The critics love this wine. I didn’t care whether they did or not when I sat down to write this one up, because I thought it was dynamite.

It turns out its a favorite Spanish value wine of many. It gets high praise from Robert Parker and others. It is a blend of a bunch of things, research revealed, but it’s not on the bottle. Apparently it’s largely Monastrell (Mourvedre), with a little Garnacha and Tempranillo, plus smaller amounts of Cabernet, Merlot and Shiraz.

Wine Advocate gave the wine an impressive 90 points! I would heartily agree!

It’s a big flavorful wine that has a clean fruity taste – certainly some bold raspberry is what I got. It has a huge rich nose where I got a little vanilla.

Here’s the best part, you can often find this wine under $10. The various vintages range from 13.5-14 percent alcohol. Anyone looking to expand their palate even a little and/or looking for a good house red that’s great with food or by itself should give Este a try!

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

One of the latest ways to taste and enjoy different wines has landed in Indianapolis. Tastings, a wine bar in the Conrad Hotel downtown, opened late last fall.

I haven’t had the chance to check it out yet but hope to soon. Here is a link to part of the Conrad site that gives a brief description.

The cool thing about Tastings, and I’ve seen similar setups elsewhere, is their wine serving system. You buy credit onto a card then you can choose from nearly 100 wines. For a low of $2.50 – up to $50 – you get a two ounce pour of the wine of your choosing.

I hope to get by there soon and check it out. I’ll be sure to write about the experience.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

This sample for review certainly surprised me a bit when I opened a shipment of Montes Alpha. I was expecting the respected Chilean winery’s Cabernet, Syrah, and Carmenere. But there were two more bottles in the shipment. They included a bottle of their highly-regarded premium Carmenere Purple Angel and this 2006 bottle of Folly.

Why was I suprrised? The Purple Angel, which was the top scoring wine at a Palate Press grand tasting, sells for a suggested $65 a bottle. The bottle of Syran sells for a suggested $98. I found the wine online ranging from $79-$110.

I opened the Folly on my birthday. The name comes from some of the ridicule the winery came under when they decided to plant Syrah on the upper slopes of Apalta Valley. The grape had never been grown in the area before. Well, Montes Alpha gets the last laugh for sure!

This is a really dark purple wine with lots of spice and some definite pepper. It’s not for anyone who doesn’t like their wine really big and really bold.

This is a wine that’s only going to get better and better – but hey, Saturday was my birthday! 29 again! AND again! Ok, maybe more than a couple times!

But back to the wine. This was big and jammy with huge tannins and bite. It was still pretty darn good with some beef tenderloin I roasted Saturday night.

Another of the unique aspects of this bottle of good juice is the art of Ralph Steadman. He worked frequently with Hunter S. Thompson and has been doing the artwork for Montes Alpha.

This wine is a keeper if you love big Syrah and can afford the price point. It’s beautifully crafted, but just needs some more time in bottle I think. I decanted it for nearly two hours and it was wonderful, but with the big finish it’s easy to see how this wine will really come around in a few more years.

For most of us, getting to drink a wine like this is a real treat. But it’s also further evidence on price structure and the quality you get for the bigger buck!

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

Nearly everyone helps out when it comes to a good cause. Sometimes you can get a tangible return beyond the satisfaction of being part of the solution.

I’ve had the “Wine for Haiti” logo on the left rail of my blog for several weeks now. I hope you’ve checked it out. And if you haven’t done that yet, this is just a short plug asking you to do so. Just click here and go directly to the auction catalogue.

As you scan the auction items click on the image to get more detail. At the bottom of that window, you can bid on the wine items. Payment, shipping and all of the other details are explained at the top of the page.

It’s a great cause. And Palate Press publisher David Honig has put together some great wine items. Check it out.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com