Time to catch up on some wine samples and share a few thoughts. I’ll also do a little update at the bottom of the blog on my Savino wine storage testing!

But let’s get to the juice first!

Oakley Eighty-Two California Red Wine – This is a product of Cline Cellars. Cline has been a big player in California value wine. The family’s roots date back to the 1800s but Cline got into the winery business in the 1980s. There family label – Cline – is widely available and  a great value wine pic.

Oakley Eight-Two is an under $10 fruity wine that is sure to please the palates of those who like more sweetness or specifically really big fruit. This bottle has a little bit of everything in it: 30 percent Syrah, 27 percent Merlot, 15 Barbera, 7 percent Zinfandel, 5 percent Alicante Bouschet, 4 percent Cabernet Franc, and 12 percent mixed red (whatever that is).

Did I mention it’s quite fruity? It does have 1.57 percent residual sugar – that’s not a lot. But the jammy fruit flavor overpowers a bit of vegetable I also found on the palate.

Neat peel-back label!

I think this is interesting wine – not for the taste but for its position in the marketplace. Many wineries are getting into sweeter wines. This qualifies on my palate because of the jam and toast qualities! (And I’m not talking about toasted oak!)

All of that said, it’s not my palate – but I can see how many sweet wine drinkers, and value drinkers would gobble it up.

I also got a white blend from Cline under the Oakley Eight-Two label that I couldn’t recommend.

Oakley Eight-Two California Red Wine, Trade Sample, $8.80 on website, Recommended (if you read above!)

Guglielmo 2008 Petite Sirah  – If you like ’em big and rich, you’re going to love this wine!

This estate grown wine from Morgan Hill in the Santa Clara Valley of California is bigger than many of the Petite Sirahs I’ve tasted lately. It is a 100 percent varietal wine with big bold acid, tannins, and dark fruit, leather, plus earthiness!

From the description you might guess big alcohol but it comes in at just 13.2 percent. This is a wine that could use big time in your decanter. I liked it, but would have liked it more after it had more air.

It’s a small production wine of just 405 cases so you know it got lots of love from the winemaker.

Guglielmo 2008 Petite Sirah, SRP $25, Trade Sample, Recommended.

Savino Update

Tonight is the third night for my bottle of Frescobaldi Tenuta Frescobaldi Di Castiglioni 2010 Toscana. I loved it the first night and decided to try out the new Savino wine preservation/decanter I’m testing.

Last night, as I wrote in the first post below, the wine had changed very, very little. It tasted identical to the night before. I was impressed.

Tonight, the wine has changed some – 48 hours after opening – but is still pretty close to night one. I notice the soft fruit is not as prevalant as night one but the acidity and tannics are nearly identical. So, it’s lost just a little – very little – from Tuesday night. I remain impressed.

I want to run a white through a couple of days and a couple of different reds before writing extensively about the device.

But its easy to say after a couple of days, the Savino is very promising way to keep your wine for 24 hours or so!