Category Archives: Rated C+

Review: 2011 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

I don’t know where the rule is written that Beaujolais Nouveau labels have to be more garish each year, but Duboeuf is doing its best to follow that rule to the letter. 2011′s labels aren’t quite horrific, but they’re getting there. The good news, of course, is that they’ll be gone by the time New Year’s rolls around.

We tasted both of the 2011 releases, which are officially hitting the market tonight.

2011 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau – Exceptionally pruny, with a thin body. The finish is underwhelming, funky. Very similar to the candy-coated 2010. C+ / $10

2011 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau – A modest improvement, with a (very welcome) bigger body and more of a sense of balance. Still, it’s overwhelming in the jammy fruit department. This year it’s more cherry than strawberry, but it still has a ways to go toward hitting true drinkability. That said, it’s fun to try once a year, though. B- / $12

duboeuf.com

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Posted in Rated B-, Rated C+, Reviews, Wine

Review: Lights Out Relaxation Products

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

Relaxation mania continues with Lights Out, a whole series of products designed to help you sleep more evenly, fight stress, anxiety, jet lag, and all that other bad stuff.

Lights Out contains chamomile, skullcap, rose hips, valerian root, L-theanine, and GABA, but it’s probably the 5mg of melatonin that really does the trick.

The 2-oz. shot comes in two sucralose-sweetened flavors — tropical and, oddly, cloud berry — and both tastes are fair enough. The cloud berry version is largely innocuous and vaguely citrus and apple in character. The tropical is stronger, primarily redolent of coconut.

Strangely, the product is unique in that it also comes in a solid form: a chocolate brownie and a chocolate chip cookie. Both were exceedingly dry and crumbly, and hardly the delicious dessert confection you might be expecting.

As for the effects, with both the shot and the dessert products, I found myself falling asleep relatively quickly, with vivid and rather intrusive dreams to follow. Both times I woke up around six in the morning and had difficulty getting back to sleep — though the six-hour release time of Lights Out may have something to do with that. Still not sure how effective these are, though I felt fine and productive the following day. That said, I’m not exactly clamoring for another brownie.

C+ / about $4 per product / lightsoutshot.com

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Posted in Bar Food, Mixers, Rated C+, Reviews

Tasting Report: White Wines of Australia’s Old Bridge Cellars

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Previously we found Australia’s Old Bridge Cellars red wines to be hit and miss, so we turned our attention to its whites, a wide variety of varietals representing white wine’s greatest hits. Still hit and miss, but on the whole a solid improvement over the reds. Thoughts on each — reasonably affordable, every one of them — follow.

2011 d’Arenberg Riesling The Dry Dam McLaren Vale – A tart and easy Riesling, with distinct grapefruit notes. Good balance, some minerals, and a lightly (and lightly pleasant) sour finish. B+ / $15

2010 Plantagenet Hazard Hill Sauvignon Blanc Semillon Western Australia – Also quite tart, with good tropical (pineapple) notes and a very long, lasting, lemon-flecked finish. B+ / $13

2010 Brokenwood Cricket Pitch Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – As simple as this wine looks — both in the bottle and the glass — it unsurprisingly follows through on the palate: refreshing and clean. Lemony, lightly grassy, and with good acid, it isn’t a challenge but it’s quite delightful. A- / $19

2009 d’Arenberg Viognier Last Ditch – Very easy for a Viognier, including lighter nectarine and lightly sour gooseberry character. Unusual. A slightly meaty nose is the only failing here. B / $23

2010 Leeuwin Estate Riesling Art Series Margaret River – Lots of lemon, big mineral character, moderate body, and a good balance. Nice for a Riesling, but nothing fancy. A- / $25

2009 Plantagenet Chardonnay Mount Barker – The sole bomb in this group, a sour and unripe Chardonnay that tries to cover up its grape problems with oak. C+ / $16

oldbridgecellars.com

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Posted in Rated A-, Rated B, Rated B+, Rated C+, Reviews, Wine

Review: Haras Wines

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Haras de Pirque, or just “Haras,” hails from Chile’s Maipo Valley, where it produces a series of very affordable wines, inspired by the winery’s love of horses.

Tasted twice. The first round of wines were clearly damaged by heat in shipping.

2010 Haras Sauvignon Blanc Maipo Valley – Tropical nose, with a touch of lemon character. Slight vegetal finish, but otherwise quite drinkable, particularly at this price. B / $10

2010 Haras Chardonnay Maipo Valley – Simple and inoffensive, with a mild body compared to most Chilean Chardonnays. A bit buttery, and a bit of lemon, but not a lot of nuance or, surprisingly, fruit character beyond that. B / $12

2009 Haras Carmenere Maipo Valley – A big licorice thing, funky on the nose with raisin and prune notes. Incredibly over-jammy, with some black pepper, but not really in balance. C- / $12

2008 Haras Cabernet Sauvignon Maipo Valley - Similar character, but with a slightly better balance than the Carmenere. Just too much fruit.C / $12

2007 Haras Character Cabernet Sauvignon-Carmenere Maipo Valley (pictured) – A blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Carmenere, 10% Syrah, and 13% Cabernet Franc. Easily the best red in this crowd, but still intense with prune and cooked fruit character. Mildly better balance than either of the prior two wines, but still has room for improvement. C+ / $20

harasdepirque.com

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Posted in Rated B, Rated C, Rated C+, Rated C-, Reviews, Wine

Review: 2010 Budget White Wines from McManis

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

McManis Family Vineyards is a budget outfit with vast vineyard holdings in inland California. A step above ultra-cheap wines, McManis aims to offer quality while keeping prices as low as possible. We sampled three whites from the 2010 vintage, with generally acceptable results.

2010 McManis Pinot Grigio California – Extremely tart but overall fairly pleasant. Intense lemon/lime notes. A bit sour on the finish, and better on its own than with food. B / $11

2010 McManis Chardonnay River Junction California – Simplistic, with overly buttery texture and that meat-like finish that mars so many inexpensive Chardonnays. A touch of peaches and lemons somewhere in the mix. Hints of cinnamon on the finish. Basically drinkable. C+ / $11

2010 McManis Viognier California – I love Viognier, but this might as well be Chardonnay, it’s so lacking the peach/apricot character that solid Viognier should have. That said, the more balanced body actually makes it an improvement on the Chardonnay. A good Viognier if you’re not usually a fan of this style. B- / $12

mcmanisfamilyvineyards.com

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Posted in Rated B, Rated B-, Rated C+, Reviews, Wine

Review: Baileys Mudslide

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Few cocktails in the panopticon of chain restaurant beverages imbue the spirit — the very heart — of panty peeler so thoroughly as the Mudslide. A chocolate, creamy, boozy frozen concoction, this is dessert — and usually drunkenness — in a glass.

Now Baileys brings the Mudslide to ready-made status, or as near as is humanly possible. Just take this 1.75-liter jug of “vodka, chocolate, coffee, and cream liqueurs,” pour into a blender with an equal amount of ice, and pulverize until it’s smooth. You can make it as thick or as thin as you’d like. The more ice you add, the more you cut down the (admittedly weak) 25 proof alcohol level.

When complete (I didn’t even try to taste this unblended and sans ice), it’s a credible beach beverage, but hardly a knockout. The booziness comes off as much harsher than the alcohol level would indicate — more rum-like than vodka-like — and the sweetness is cloying. Chocolate and coffee are almost afterthoughts to the raw sugar notes, and the mass — which separates after about 10 minutes into a creamy tan-and-foam cocktail — is tasty enough in a sorority sister way, but it just doesn’t come together as a composed whole.

Frankly, I think you’d get better results from putting regular Baileys, a squirt of chocolate syrup, and some ice into a blender, and you wouldn’t spend much more, either.

C+ / $16 per 1.75-liter bottle / the-baileys-lounge.baileys.com

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Posted in Liqueurs, Mixers, Rated C+, Reviews

Review: Hpnotiq Harmonie Liqueur

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

You can put “A refreshing blend of premium French vodka, infused natural fruits, flowers, and a touch of Cognac” on the label, but Hpno is always gonna be Hpno.

An icon of the hip-hop crowd, the electric blue Hpnotiq is an icon of da club. It was only a matter of time before it spawned a sibling… or rather a “stylish BFF,” as the company terms it. Hpnotiq Harmonie, put simply, is a pinkish purple, and if you’re looking for the girliest drink on earth, you have arrived.

The flavor is equally pinkish purple. While Hpnotiq insists that lavender, violets, and berries set it apart from standard Hpno, it’s as overwhelmingly sweet as the original… just, different. Lavender is actually noticeable if you push past the sugar. There’s a sort of floral earthiness on the nose that is intriguing and promising. But a sip reveals Harmonie’s true intentions: To mask a moderate amount of alcohol in a candy-coated glaze. Harmonie is even sweeter than (my memory of, anyway) regular Hpnotiq, which is a shame, because there is some curious flower character under the surface here. It’s just too bad that with that mountain of sweetness what comes across is a thickened version of grape Kool-Aid.

34 proof.

C+ / $25 / hpnotiq.com

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Posted in Liqueurs, Rated C+, Reviews

Review: Hardy Vanille Cognac & Vanilla

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Flavored cognac is not exactly a big market, but let’s run with it (particularly since a reader requested coverage of this very spirit): A. Hardy blends authentic, French, 8-year old Hardy VSOP Cognac with natural vanilla (plus caramel color) to come up with, well, a vanilla-flavored Cognac. Bottled at 80 proof, if nothing else it sure does look enticing in its frosted glass.

Initially mild, as the cognac character is at the forefront of the spirit. But give it just a couple of minutes and, wham, the vanilla takes hold. It’s hugely sweet and dessert-like, almost like a big vanilla milkshake. While reasonably authentic in flavor, it’s ultimately just too much. As any baker knows, a little vanilla goes a very long way in a dish, especially in liquid form. Here it completely overpowers the cognac character, especially on the finish, where the vanilla becomes cloying and uninviting. One is not encouraged to take sip after sip but rather to switch to a straight, unflavored brandy in short order. Likely better as a mixer or, come to think of it, as a substitute for vanilla in your favorite baking recipes.

C+ / $22 / ahardyusa.com

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Posted in Brandy, Cognac, Rated C+, Reviews

Tasting the Shiraz Wines of Australia’s Old Bridge Cellars

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

Old Bridge Cellars, “The Face of Australian Wine,” is a consortium of sorts spanning more than 20 wineries sprawling across the entire continent of Australia. The focus, of course, is Shiraz, and recently the company sent a range of its offerings — in TastingRoom.com sample bottles — to experience how Shiraz varies from the eastern shores of Oz to the west. Some notes follow.

2007 Brokenwood Shiraz Hunter Valley / $36 / C+ / (Hunter Valley, on the east coast near Sydney) overwhelming, pruny, and a bit astringent; difficult despite a light (13.5%) alcohol level

2007 Innocent Bystander Shiraz Viognier / $20 / B+ / (Victoria region, near Melbourne) a blend of 94% shiraz and 6% viognier; easier and full of life, good acid level, with a touch of herbs on the finish

2007 Plantaganet Great Southern Shiraz / $29 / B / (Western Australia region, near the southern coast) from the far west of Australia, this is a brash and hefty, traditional shiraz; good fruit but a bit like being hit with a 2×4

2006 Kilikanoon Covenant Shiraz / $40 / B- / (Clare Valley, South Australia, inland from Adelaide) 15% alcohol, big and extracted, showing some premature age

2007 d’Arenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier / $29 / B+ / (McLaren Vale, in South-Central Australia) another “big” wine, with lots of fruit and some pepper notes

2007 John Duval Entity Shiraz / $40 / B / (South Australia, near Adelaide, perhaps Oz’s most reknowned wine region) again a very extracted wine but one with some guts; could use some bottle aging

oldbridgecellars.com

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Posted in Rated B, Rated B+, Rated B-, Rated C+, Reviews, Wine

Review: Tres Agaves Tequila

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

The spawn of some old-school tequila execs (and a spinoff of the Tres Agaves restaurant, now just called Tres), Tres Agaves burst on the scene last year as another producer of high-quality, 100% agave tequilas. The company also makes a very good agave nectar and naturally-flavored margarita mix, with key lime and agave nectar as main ingredients.

We tasted both the blanco and reposado tequilas. Both are 80 proof.

Tres Agaves Blanco Tequila - A very archetypal blanco, with a big agave nose, punchy agave on the palate, then a finish that soothes that beast with a touch of sweet vanilla and lemon. Some lingering bitterness follows. I was a bit curious that this might have actually seen a week or two of barrel time before release as a way to rest the spirit, but that seems not to be the case? All in all, a solid margarita tequila. B / $28

Tres Agaves Reposado Tequila - Aged in ex-Bourbon barrels (a variety of companies’ barrels are used) for 6 to 9 months. This tequila is a total surprise. Very green in character, perhaps more so even than the blanco. Big agave notes remain surprisingly prominent, punctuated with black pepper, lemongrass, and wood. But the sweetness of the blanco is inexplicably gone here, leaving you with a punchy and quite bitter finish. C+ / $33

tresagaves.com