this heaven gives me migraine

2003 Napa Creek Merlot

Notes: I had this at our occasional company-sponsored it's-friday-stand-around-and-drink-and-chat deal. It's a kind of running joke at these that the wine is terrible but we pretend it isn't. The beer served is also not great, but I think the wine might especially suffer, given the budget and knowledge of the people doing the purchasing. Anyway, it's one of those things and you don't really expect to get delicious drinks, nor should you.

Well, hooray to my company for bringing the Napa Creek last week, just because I have wanted to try it and I finally got a chance to without having to buy the stuff. I know I've talked about it before. I've been meaning to pick some up, but first didn't remember, and then when I did remember, couldn't remember if it was the right Napa-whatever wine when faced with it in the store, since I had a mental block on the actual winery name. This is Fred Franzia's wine that says "Dear Napa Vintners, bite me". Fred said he would make a good bottle of Napa wine for under ten dollars, partly because he wanted to prove that it could be done and partly to piss off the Napa vintners. I see that it is 4 bucks at Trader Joe's and up to 10 or so elsewhere, so prices vary, and you can also get it in the Chardonnay flavor.

This was tasted out of a big plastic Solo cup, which was at least one of the clear kind and not the red or blue kind, so I could tell that the wine is dark purplish-red, with ruby-red highlights. It has a pleasant nose full of bramble, black plum and blackberry, and toasty vanilla and oak. When tasted, it starts out with an initial velvety vanilla-plum flavor but then finishes with a harsh and astringent wooden note that is slightly acrid and rough. The lingering flavors are of wood and spice (clove, cardamom, pepper) and there is a slight bitterness. The wine has not much by way of tannins, substituting this rough spice. Overall, it isn't bad, but the finish makes me not enjoy it very much.

Cost: Free for me but I think my friend who bought it said it was $8 at Mollie Stone's (where we get all our Friday wine and beer). If you get yourself to Trader Joe's you can probably get some for half that.

Overall: C+. It didn't kill me or anything, but it wasn't particularly great, and for 8 bucks I think you could do better and find something more interesting and with a better finish.

Magnificent Wine Company "House Wine" (Lot 2)

Region: Washington, US

Composition: 52% Merlot, 46% Syrah, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon

Background: We all know that I love Charles Smith of K Vintners. I was very sad that he was not at the tasting the other week (he had to go to the Masters of Wine down in Monterey that day), but his distributor Ted was there and we got to taste a handful of wines, some of which I hadn't had before, so it was well worth the trip. Including this one, which I had had before, but it was still nice to revisit.

The Magnificent Wine Company is Smith's second label, and this is the second release (referred to as the second lot, since it is technically nonvintage) of "House Wine" (MWC also makes "Pinot", "Merlot", and "Syrah"). The actual composition varies depending on what grapes Smith gets and his mood at the time, but both lots have been pretty good. And the label is great, reminiscent of K Vintners' labels but funnier. You can't miss this bottle in a lineup.

Notes: Dark opaque reddish purple in the glass, this has a nose dominated by what I always think of as "hot fruit": really ripe fruit out on the vine on a hot summer day. It's got a big nose, lots of raspberry and blackberry with hints of toast and resin. I call this a wine that smacks you around a little... Smith likes fruit here, but he also likes structure, and in the mouth it has more of that huge fruit but that isn't the only thing... it's tempered by toasted wood and earth and a lot of soft, fine tannin. It's a bruiser of a wine for only ten bucks, and very drinkable. I enjoy it a lot and even bought a case of it to keep around, because it is fun and guilt-free. It's not as complex as Smith's Syrahs, but it's still (as he describes it on his site) "a steal" and "you must call the cops".

Cost: $10

Overall: B+