I was presented the opportunity to taste some wine from Wine Chateau, a retailer with both a brick-and-mortar presence in Metchuen, NJ & South River, NJ and an online storefront as well. I was sent three wines, an Italian Cab/Merlot blend, a California Cabernet Sauvignon and a California Pinot Noir.
The first wine was the Ca de Rocchi Cab/Merlot blend from Italy. This is a 50/50 blend that is *very* easy to drink. On the nose, there’s fig and cocoa. The fig carries into the palate, but there’s also dark fruits and cassis on there. My note on this reads “Recommendation: stormy night, warm fire, cozy blanket, good book”. And it’s true. This is a wine to curl up with.
Next up was the 2008 William Hill Bench Blend Cabernet. This had tons of different flavors & aromas going on in the nose. Strawberry. Chocolate. Herbal notes. Blueberry. It was a magnificent wine. The chocolate carried over on the palate, which gave way to a lovely mix of dark fruit. It was silky and beautiful. My recommendation on this? Your favorite movie and a bottle of this. Seriously.
Last was the 2011 Murphy Goode Pinot Noir. Now, mind you, I’m a Pinot lover and live a hop, skip and jump from the heart of Oregon’s Pinot country, so I’ve been exposed to some really kick-ass Pinot Noir. I was actually excited to try a California Pinot. This didn’t disappoint (even though I found out while researching for this post that there’s 5% Syrah in there). There was a lovely black cherry and sage nose, that carried through to the palate. The Syrah added a bit of kick (which I actually appreciated).
I tried this after having a lovely conversation over lunch with my dear friend Lidia (who’s blog you can find in my blogroll under “Nubian”) about the 2011 Oregon Pinots and how we both really hadn’t found one that knocked our socks off. This one…yeah. It’s totally ready to drink. It just goes to show how different each area can be. 🙂
All three of these are definitely wines to consider if you see them hanging out on the shelf at your local wine shop/grocery store/liquor store.
