Region: Napa Valley

Price: $13.99 at Harris Teeter

Sight: Dark ruby

Smell: Coffee, cherry, plum, earth

Taste: Black cherry, thyme, coffee, firm tannins 

Overall:  This was a handsome wine with a somewhat complex range of flavors, involving ripe fruit, vegetal spice, and a solid tannin structure.  It was a wine of integrity, as it didn’t collapse at all on the second or even third day that it was open.  I was surprised to find a 2004 on the shelf, because most of the other cabs in the store were well into their 2007-2009 vintages, but I think this wine took advantage of that extra time to integrate and mature.  The flavors were very comfortable with each other—big personalities, but all friendly.  It was full-bodied, very easy drinking, and a great wine for a burger or a steak.

I would like to dedicate this post to my friend Hannah.  She is crazy, and I love her, and we laugh a lot and have great fun together.  This post would not have happened without her—we were having a girls’ night last week & she suggested we crack open a bottle of organic wine, and of course I couldn’t refuse.  It is a 2008 Greener Planet Shiraz-Merlot-Cabernet Sauvignon from the south of France, and the label boasts a complete lack of pesticides, industrial fertilizers and herbicides.  Even the bottle and label are made from recycled materials.  Let’s see how fresh and natural it tastes!

Region: Vin de pays de l’Hérault

Price: $15.99

Breakdown: 40% Shiraz, 40% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon

Sight: Vibrant purple

Smell: Earth, vegetal, black cherry, blueberry

Taste: Cherry, forest floor, firm tannins, black pepper, medium-bodied

Overall: This wine was incredibly fun to taste!  I can’t say I could “taste” the organic, but as far as this blend is concerned, this wine contains the best of all worlds.  This young wine is robust and could benefit from being decanted if you prefer calmer tannins, but it was exciting to taste right after opening.  More vegetal than fruity (although cherry is clearly present), the greenness of the flavor plays straight into the teeth-coating tannins, which add a fullness to the mouthfeel without making it too heavy. And for all its concern for saving the planet, this wine tastes like the earth itself—I got a lot of dirt, forest floor, and herbaceousness, and a little bit of black pepper to spice things up towards the finish.  I would definitely drink this wine again, and maybe even pair it with a hearty beef soup.