Category Archives: Red Wine

Mollydooker Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz 2022

2 November 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Syrah from Mclaren Vale, South Australia, Australia

Purchase Price: $80.00 (Restaurant)

Wine Spectator 92, Cellar Tracker 90, ElsBob 92

ABV: 16.5%

A deep purple wine of exceptional fresh black fruits and a hint of coffee on the palate. Full-bodied and bold with very approachable tannins and a poignant long finish. You should be able to enjoy this wine for many years to come. This paired magnificently with our meal of medium-rare beef filets, bake Brussel sprouts infused with cranberries, golden fried hashbrowns topped with crumbled blue cheese and bacon, finished off with a slice of Key Lime cheesecake.

An excellent fine wine at a fair price. Current retail prices range from $52-67.

The 2022 Blue Eyed Boyed is at least the 4th vintage I have enjoyed over the years. The previous ones were 2014 that I rated at 94 pts, 2016 at 91, and 2020 at 93. Other vintages carry similar ratings from other sources including the 2018 and 2019 vintages both rated at 92 pts.

Through the Grapevine: McLaren Vale takes its name from John McLaren, a surveyor who mapped the district in the 1830s. The first European settlers were a mix of discharged soldiers, free settlers from England and Scotland, German migrants fleeing religious persecution, and a handful of “ticket‑of‑leave” men; former convicts permitted to work.

The German settlers were Old Lutherans escaping a forced merger between the Lutheran and Reformed (Calvinist) churches imposed by King Frederick William III of Prussia. Those who resisted faced jail, fines, and bans on worship outside the state‑sanctioned church. Martin Luther be damned. These migrants brought with them deep agricultural knowledge, including vine‑growing and cooperage skills, and their influence still runs through both McLaren Vale and the Barossa.

By the late 1830s, vineyards were already in the ground, and by the 1850s the region was exporting wine. Shipments went not only across Australia and to New Zealand, but also to Britain, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong. An impressive reach for such a young colony.

McLaren Vale also attracted a less welcome crowd: feral bushrangers, deserters from whaling ships, and the occasional moonshiner hiding stills in the hills. The most notable outlaw associated with the area was John “Black Jack” Seaver, an escaped convict known for cattle rustling and hut robberies. He evaded capture for months by disappearing into the dense scrub and gullies around Willunga and Sellicks, McLaren’s doorstep, but eventually the law caught up with him. Exhausted or simply out of options, he surrendered without resistance.

Vignobles Marie Maria Greviere Madiran 2020

25 October 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Other Red Blends from Southwest, France

Tannat 80%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20%

Purchase Price: $17.99

Decanter 93, James Suckling 91, Wilfred Wong 91, ElsBob 90

ABV14.5%

A very deep ruby to deep purple wine with aromas of black fruit, oak, and spice. Full-bodied, fruity with expressive tannins, subdued acidity, and a long finish. At a little more than 5 years it is still going strong. It will keep for another 5 years.

An excellent fine wine at a reasonable price. Current prices range from $16-26.

Through the Grapevine: Madiran, a village in southwestern France, is closely associated with the Tannat grape. Situated in the heart of the Pyrenean region where Tannat is believed to have originated, the village has long been considered the grape’s spiritual home.

The Madiran AOC, created in 1948, produces only red wines from vineyards planted to at least 60% Tannat. Under AOC rules, the wines themselves must also contain a minimum of 60% Tannat, a dual requirement that preserves the region’s traditional style. While some producers bottle 100% Tannat, many wines are blended with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Fer Servadou.

Fer Servadou, a traditional grape of southwest France, was likely spread by Benedictine monks and pilgrims traveling the Way of St. James. Known for its hard, “iron-like” wood and bright acidity, it remains an important blending partner to Tannat in the wines of Madiran.

In the 11th century, the Benedictine order, strongly influenced by 910 AD Cluny Abbey in Burgundy, was expanding across southwestern France. One community established the Saint‑Vincent monastery at Madiran. The monks were literate, organized, and agriculturally innovative, and they cared deeply about viticulture. They introduced terracing, pruning systems, record keeping, and cellar management. Under their stewardship, the Tannat grape shifted from a rustic local variety to a deliberately cultivated one.

Madiran lies near the Via Tolosana, one of the four major French routes to Santiago de Compostela (The Way of St. James). The monastery provided pilgrims with lodging and helped establish early wine trade along the route. The monastic vineyards endured until the French Revolution in 1789, when Church lands were seized and dispersed into private hands. While the monastery’s authority vanished, the vineyards did not. The vines continued to produce fruit under new owners, allowing the Benedictines’ centuries of viticultural expertise to survive long after the monks themselves were gone.

Vina Robles The Arborist 2022

28 September 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Other Red Blends from Paso Robles, Central Coast, California

Syrah 52%, Petite Sirah 30%, Grenache 9%, Tannat 9%

Purchase Price: $19.99

Wine Enthusiast 91, James Suckling 90, Cellar Tracker 88, ElsBob 90

ABV 14.0%

A deep purple to deep garnet wine with aromas of red fruit and spice. The mouth feel is dominated by herbs and dark berries. Medium bodied with balanced tannins and acidity. A short but complete finish. Will pair well with chocolate.

A fine wine at a very reasonable price, typically found at retailers between $19–25.

Through the Grapevine: While this wine doesn’t exactly illustrate how modern scoring has shifted from its original purpose, probably just the opposite, but now seems a good time to clarify how I personally rate wines. I use the industry’s familiar terms, 90–93 as “excellent,” 87–89 as “very good”, but I also believe these words have been inflated to the point where they no longer match the sensory quality of the wines. When assigning a value, I return to the original meaning of Robert Parker’s 50–100‑point scale, where wines in the 70s were flawed, the 80s were decent, the 90s were very good, and only wines in the 95+ range were truly excellent. Over time, the language inflated to match the numbers, and the numbers inflated to match marketing needs.

When Parker created the 100‑point scale, or more accurately a 50-point scale, he intended it to be broad, honest, and fully used. Scores in the 70s and 80s were meant to be normal, sound, drinkable wines ranging from “average” to “very good.” These wines were meant to populate the central region of a normal gaussian distribution with the tails reserved for those far below and far above average. Only wines with real distinction, complexity, and character were meant to enter the 90–95 band, and the 96–100 range was reserved for truly profound bottles, and the truly expensive. In that framework, an 88 wasn’t a slight; it was a clear, respectable value that was good but not exceptional: average. The scale was designed to give consumers a realistic sense of quality across the entire market, not just the top end.

Modern wine criticism has collapsed Parker’s system upward. Scores below 85 are almost never published and below 90: rare, even though Parker explicitly defined them as perfectly drinkable. The practical scale now runs from 88 to 95, with 90 functioning as a marketing threshold rather than a qualitative one. Retail pressure, producer relationships, and consumer psychology have inflated both the numbers and the adjectives attached to them. “Very good” has become “excellent,” “excellent” has become “superb,” and the entire 80–89 range, once the heart of Parker’s system, has been reduced to a no‑man’s‑land that critics, and marketers, avoid. The result is a rating culture where words and numbers no longer align with their original meanings, and where the nuance Parker built into the scale has been replaced by commercial necessity.

In the end, a 10‑ or 20‑point scale would have produced far more clarity, but that’s not the world we live in.

Ammunition Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

3 September 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County, California

Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot, and Cabernet Frank (Percentages not given but Cabernet Sauvignon is likely around 90%)

Purchase Price: $19.99

Wilfred Wong 90, ElsBob 90

ABV 14.2%

A nose of dark fruits and oak. Cherry and cocoa on the palate. A bold full-bodied wine with a nice balance between the tannins and acidity. A long dry finish.

An excellent fine wine at a fair price but not a great price. Current pricing ranges $11-25. If you can find it for $11 buy a truck load.

Through the Grapevine: Ammunition Wines appears to operate as a negociant/grower‑partner winery rather than an estate producer. Instead of farming their own vineyards, they source grapes from multiple family‑owned growers across Sonoma County, selecting lots that fit their stylistic goals from each vintage. Once the fruit is purchased, the winemaking is handled in‑house: they ferment, age, blend, and bottle the wine themselves, shaping it into a consistent house style that isn’t tied to a single vineyard site but to their own winemaking approach

(Note: their web page lists the ABV at 14.5% but the label has it at 14.2%. The label percent is the legal value because it appears on the TTB‑approved bottle label. Wineries often use a rounded or strategically chosen ABV on the label, as long as it falls within legal tolerance. The fact sheet ABV is usually based on the winemaker’s lab measurement and is often closer to the true chemical value. For various reasons, all legal, the winemaker is sticking with the label number.)

Enate Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot 2021

4 June 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Bordeaux Red Blends from Somontano, Spain

Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 50%

Purchase Price: $19.99

James Suckling 90, ElsBob 91

ABV 14.5%

A deep ruby wine with touches of cherry, dark fruits, and chocolate. Medium-full bodied with a wonderful balance between the tannins and acidity. Very smooth with a very nice long finish.

An excellent fine wine at a wonderful price. Buy a case if you can find it. Current prices range from $19-24.

Through the Grapevine: When the root‑louse phylloxera devastated French vineyards in the 1860s–1880s, the worst‑hit regions were Bordeaux, Languedoc, and Southwest France. The phylloxera bug is a tiny root‑feeding insect whose saliva prevents a grapevine from healing, and it caused widespread destruction throughout Europe, but French vineyards were hit especially hard. When the insect feeds, it creates swollen, necrotic wounds on the fine roots, disrupting the plant’s ability to move water and nutrients.

A healthy Vitis vinifera vine has no evolutionary defenses against this kind of attack, so the damage compounds quickly. The roots deform, the vascular tissue collapses, and the plant begins to starve from the root up. The insect doesn’t need to kill the vine outright; it just needs to keep feeding, and the point of no return creeps closer with every bite.

Once the roots are compromised, the soil fungi arrive. They’re not really the villains. More like the cleanup crew. Species like Pythium and Fusarium slip into the open wounds and accelerate the decay, breaking down the already‑dying tissue. To 19th‑century growers, this looked like a fungal blight, because the visible rot was fungal. But the fungus was only there because the insect had already done the fatal work.

In courtroom terms, phylloxera is the primary causal agent. The one with the means, motive, and the opportunity. The fungi are merely opportunistic actors who move in after the bug and ‘the damage done’, bystanders partaking in free food. Right place at the right time but innocent.

After the devastation, tens of thousands of growers, merchants, and winemakers lost everything. Many fled across the Pyrenees into northern Spain, the closest safe viticultural zone where they could continue their trade. Somontano was perfectly positioned for the migrating vintners: close to the French border, blessed with high‑altitude vineyards, and full of vine‑loving, crappy soils that were bug‑free at the time. They brought with them Bordeaux grape varieties, winemaking skills, commercial networks, and high expectations.

The French influence permanently changed Somontano. Before phylloxera, it was a local, rustic wine region. With the influx of French expertise, it became more technical, more international, and unmistakably Bordeaux‑centric. Today Bordeaux varieties feel native to Somontano. The only thing that really changed was the language.

La Lecciaia Sassarello 2018

22 May 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Other Red Blends from Tuscany, Italy

Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot (No percentages given)

Purchase Price: $18.99

James Suckling 92, ElsBob 91

ABV 13.5%

A deep ruby and a fainter ruby rim with aromas of dark fruits and herbs. Medium-full bodied with cherries and spice on the palate with balanced acidity and tannins. As with all Sangiovese wines, it needs to breathe.

An excellent table wine at a great price. Current prices range from $15-18.

Through the Grapevine: Fattoria La Lecciaia lies just off the old Via Francigena, the medieval road that carried pilgrims from England all the way to Rome. A traveler leaving Canterbury would walk to the Channel, cross by boat into France, and then continue south on foot through Reims and Besançon, climbing steadily toward the Alps. The most daunting stretch was the Great St. Bernard Pass, a high, wind‑scoured saddle between Switzerland and Italy where snow lingered well into spring and travelers relied on the hospitality of the monks who kept watch there.

Once over the pass, the road dropped into the Aosta Valley and wound south through the Tuscan hills. Pilgrims, merchants, and clerics passed directly through the countryside around Montalcino, moving along the same ridgelines and valleys where La Lecciaia’s Sangiovese vines now grow. For centuries, the drum of footsteps, mule bells, and weary voices shaped this landscape long before Brunello or Toscana IGT existed.

This route was initially recorded by the Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury in 990 AD who walked from Rome back to England and fixed all 80 of his stopping points for his flock to follow. This is the moment that the route became a pilgrimage. Most travelers made the trek in a single season of 3-4 months, one-way, leaving England in spring so they could cross the Alps in summer before descending into the Tuscan hills…centuries before Henry II ever muttered his famous complaint about a Thomas Becket, the ‘meddlesome priest.’

Continuing the over‑trivialization of everything, the St. Bernard Pass was originally known, at least as far back as surviving records allow, as Poeninus Mons or Summus Poeninus, named by the Romans for a local Alpine god. A temple to Jupiter Poeninus once stood at the summit, watching over traders and legionaries who crossed these heights. Only in the 11th century was the pass renamed after St. Bernard of Menthon, who established a hospice there in 1049 AD. The monks began keeping large working dogs several centuries after St. Bernard’s lifetime, breeding them on site for the practical work of rescuing travelers from snowdrifts. Sadly, there is no reliable evidence that they ever dispensed spirits to the distressed or those buried in white snow. The breed eventually took on the monk’s name, making him the eponym rather than the other way around.

Poliziano Rosso di Montepulciano 2023

9 May 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Sangiovese from Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy

Sangiovese 80%, Merlot 20%

Purchase Price $18.99

Vinous 90, Cellar Tracker 88, ElsBob 89

ABV: 14%

 A ruby red, clear wine with vibrant tastes of red fruits. A acidic medium finish that smooths out the tannins. This is meant to be a young wine so don’t overdo it with meal prep. It will go fine with spaghetti in a marinara sauce.

A very good fine wine slightly overpriced at $20. Buy it if you can find it under $14. Current prices range from $14-16. This wine needs to breathe. The first sip from a just open bottle will be rough. Give it 30 minutes.

Trivia: The village of Gracciano, Italy, near the Poliziano vineyard, sits in a Tuscan landscape where everything has happened but nothing that will ever make it to Jeopardy. But it does lie heavily at the crossroads of Etruscan, Roman, medieval, and Renaissance history. Not a place of singular world‑shaping events, but of continuous layers of civilizations that march through and over the land that helped shape the modern world.

From 700 to 100 BC, the entire Montepulciano–Gracciano ridge was Etruscan territory, and they were already cultivating grapes. God bless ‘em. Beyond that, very little was known: their language vanished, their tombs were looted, and Rome’s shadow seemed to erase them…until last year.

In 2025, archaeologists from Baylor University uncovered a sealed Etruscan chamber tomb at San Giuliano, northwest of Rome. Dating to roughly 2,600 years ago, the 7th century BC, it is one of the most significant Etruscan finds in decades. Inside were four individuals laid on carved stone beds, surrounded by more than 100 grave goods: iron weapons, bronze ornaments, ceramic vessels, and delicate silver hair spools, all in their original placement.

This tomb, along with two others discovered recently, is giving researchers an unprecedented chance to illuminate the civilization’s inner life: family structure, gender roles, trade networks, ritual practices, and social hierarchy.

The emerging picture suggests a culture older and more urbanized than early Rome. A society whose religion, architecture, and political symbolism Rome borrowed heavily. Etruscan elites were likely not destroyed but absorbed into the expanding Roman world.

St. Francis Old Vines Zinfandel 2021

27 April 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Zinfandel from Sonoma County, California

Zinfandel 83%, Petite Sirah 17%

Purchase Price $19.99

Wine Spectator 90, Wine Enthusiast 88, ElsBob 88

ABV: 14.8%

A clear, crisp ruby red wine with sparkling flavors of cherries and raspberries. Medium-bodied with a fairly short finish. Will pair well with rich spicy foods.

A very good fine wine but overpriced at $20. A fair price would be $12 or less. Current prices $16-20.

Trivia: The St. Francis Winery sources its old‑vine Zinfandel, 60 to 100 years old, from a mosaic of small, family‑owned vineyards across Sonoma County, including some of its own estate parcels. Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley, and Sonoma Valley are the classic AVAs for old vine Zinfandel, and no single winery holds enough old‑vine acreage to produce a meaningful volume alone. St. Francis relies on long‑standing relationships with these growers, making this wine neither a négociant bottling nor a strictly estate‑grown one, but a true grower‑partner expression.

The winery takes its name from St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the nature. Themes of reverence for creation, harmony with the land, and care for living things shape the winery’s identity.

St. Francis of Assisi founded the Order of Friars Minor, the Franciscans, and inspired both the Poor Clares and the Third Order for laypeople. He embraced absolute poverty as the spiritual core of his movement. In 1224 he received the stigmata, becoming one of the earliest and most famous stigmatics in Christian history. His life remains a model of humility, peace, and solidarity with the poor, a faithful imitation of Christ. This ideal of poverty has deep roots in Christianity. In the early Church, renouncing wealth was a way of rejecting the Roman system of power and status. The Desert Fathers of the 3rd to 5th centuries carried this impulse into the wilderness of Egypt and Palestine, seeking God in radical simplicity. For them, poverty created an interior stillness: freedom from the noise of desire (from material possessions), a state they called apatheia. The word is Greek, meaning “without passion,” but in the ancient world it carried a positive sense of clarity and freedom rather than the negative connotation the modern term “apathetic” suggests.

Vina Real Crianza 2021

6 April 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain

Tempranillo 90%, Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Graciano 10%

Purchase Price: $15.99

James Suckling 93, Robert Parker 91, Vinous 91, ElsBob 88.

ABV 13.5%

A deep garnet medium-bodied wine. Aromas of plums and spice with red fruits and pushy tannins on the palette. A very long somewhat biting finish.

A very good table wine at an elevated price. Current prices range from $15-18. Probably shouldn’t pay more than $10-12 dollars for this wine.

Trivia: Vina Real’s vineyards sit on the Cerro de la Mesa above the historic Spanish Camino Real that threaded Rioja Alavesa, a medieval, early modern route that linked Logrono– Laguardia—Haro—Burgos—the Mesta. It was a royal arterial road of Old Castile that was used for trade and state travel.

Chateau Les Grands Marechaux 2019

10 March 2026 By in Red Wine, Wine Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Bordeaux Red Blend from Bordeaux, France

Merlot, 84%, Cabernet Franc 9%, Cabernet Sauvignon 7%

Purchase Price $17.97

Wine Enthusiast 91, James Suckling 91, ElsBob 89

ABV14%

A medium purple wine with aroma of black fruits and a touch of cinnamon. Medium-bodied, bold, medium tannic with a nice fresh finish.

A very good fine wine at a tolerable price but on the high end. Don’t pay more than $15-16 though. Current prices are around $20.

Trivia: The Right Bank of Bordeaux is all about geology, which dictates the elemental structure for every bottle. Clay and limestone dominate the landscape, shaping not only the vineyards but the very character of the wines. Clay holds water and moderates temperature, slowing ripening and giving Merlot the conditions it needs to develop depth and supple density. Limestone, by contrast, drains freely and raises the natural acidity of the fruit, lending a kind of lifted tension that becomes especially clear in Cabernet Franc. Most Right Bank terroirs are some interplay of these two materials, and the wines reflect that structural duet.

Because the soils speak so clearly, the grape varieties are inevitable. Merlot thrives on the moisture and coolness of clay, producing wines that are plush, dark-fruited, and immediately generous. Cabernet Franc finds its ideal expression on limestone, where it gains aromatic precision and a firmer, more architectural frame. Cabernet Sauvignon plays only a minor role, appearing meaningfully only where gravel becomes plentiful, uncommon occurrence on this side of the river. The blends that emerge from these conditions are less stylistic and more like geological consequences.

Across the region, this soil–variety logic creates a coherent family of appellations. Saint‑Émilion’s limestone plateau and clay-limestone slopes yield vertical, structured wines shaped by Cabernet Franc. Pomerol’s blue clay produces Merlot of unusual depth and velvet. The surrounding satellites share these themes with less concentration but often remarkable value. And further north, in the Côtes de Blaye and Côtes de Bourg, estates like Château Les Grands Maréchaux work with the same clay‑limestone matrix, producing Merlot‑driven wines that are fresh, supple, and structurally clear despite their modest price. Taken together, the Right Bank’s identity is not a matter of marketing or prestige but of geology asserting itself. The wines share a recognizable signature, black plum and violet, fine chalky tannins, a rounded mid‑palate, and a fresh, lifted finish, all because the land insists on it.