A blend of 57% Shiraz and 43% Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 2006 Wolf Blass Yellow Label Shiraz Cabernet is a deep, vibrant red with crimson hues in the glass. There are sweet aromas of blueberry and dark cheery supported by a nice backdrop of oak and clove. The palate is full bodied and rich; there are smooth flavors of blueberry, plum and mint with just a hint of green pepper. The finish is soft with nice flavors of oak and leather.

Overall this is a quality, affordable wine; I rate it a very solid B.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to try another Columbia Crest Wine.  This one  was a 2003 Shiraz Grand Estates.  Although this wine is a bit scarce, due to its age;  it is magnificent.

This elegant Shiraz provides a rich perfume of black raspberry, honeysuckle and rose petals. The complex, fresh, and voluptuously textured palate leads to a supple, silky finish. It compares favorably with many wines over $25/bottle. There are lots delicious black raspberry flavors and cherry “forward”, with a wonderfully smooth, almost creamy, finish that lingers on the palate.

Wow!  Buy it if you can find it! (btw. I paid less than $10 per bottle… on a good sale.)

…mark

Thank you very much to the folks at Hook & Ladder Winery!

About 6 months ago these nice folks sent 6 bottles of wine our way for sampling purposes. We have run two separate tastings on their wines and have some very nice news.

Both of these wines come from California and are really nice. Unfortunately, because we obtained these wines ‘gratis’ from the gracious folks at Hook & Ladder, we have no idea how much the wines cost (we have yet to find them for sale in our favorite stores). Nonetheless because of the very special way in which we obtained the wines, and their high quality, we felt it only appropriate to feature them in our BLOG postings (rather than only listing them in our wine database).

The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is quite special. This wine opens with pleasant aromas of leather and berries. The wine itself sports a full, robust body with dominant flavors of black cherry & plum. The wine has a nice finish of lingering berry, oak and leather. Using our rating method we give the wine an A-.

The second wine featured is almost as good (but not quite). It is a 2006 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley of California (a really pretty area). This wine opens with what we’d call a wonderful “Pinot”odorus aroma; if you like Pinots you know what we mean. The dominant flavors are of cherry, blueberries and currants. The one down-side is that the flavors don’t linger as long as we would have them. In our scale this fine wine rates a B+.

Again thank you to everyone at Hook & Ladder.