A few nights ago I opened two bottles of Syrah. The first was one of our old standby’s, Cameron Hughes Lot 105 2004 Sonoma Mountain Syrah. I bought a case of this a while ago and we love it. Mrs. Barbarian and I enjoy this wine and have one likely twice a month. We have never NOT enjoyed it, and it is certainly a pleasing wine. Mrs. Barbarian likes syrah more than I do, and she has no complaints about Lot 105. It is a great value at $12 a bottle.

The second bottle is more than twice that price, at right around $30. Rarely do I spend that kind of money and frequently when I do I’m disappointed. Not so this time!

This is Chatter Creek 2003 Syrah from the Clifton Vineyard in Washington state. It literally blew away Mr. Hughes’ wine. This was a case where the price was justified by the product within the bottle. Especially when compared to the California Syrah (which, I’ll repeat, we LIKE), the Chatter Creek is truly awesome. Much richer flavor. Much more depth. As much as I love it when the low price wine meets or beats the higher priced one, in this case it did not happen.

I recommend both of these wines, but if the occasion warrants it, go with the Chatter Creek.

Horrible photograph of a very nice wine.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately… I came down with the flu a while ago and it utterly destroyed my senses of smell and taste for weeks. I’ve been recovering and along the way I’ve enjoyed a few good wines. This is a fine example, Basel Cellars 2006 Claret. Mrs. Barbarian, her sister, and I enjoyed this at our local favorite restaurant last weekend. “Claret” is a British term for “Bordeaux blend” and this indeed is a blend of mostly Bordeaux varietals, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and the a bit of the Rhone thrown in, in the form of Syrah. Basel Cellars is from that wonderful corner of Washington state that the natives call “Walla Walla”… funny name, great wines.

This bottle retails for right around $20 bucks. You really can’t go wrong at that price. Excellent value, and good enough to be a bit better than an everyday wine.

One of the primary things that attracted me to Mrs Barbarian when we first met was her natural frugality. To say that she is cheap is an understatement. That is a rare quality in a woman, so join that with a nice rack and I was sold. No fancy wedding – we eloped. No diamond rings – just a simple band. No closets filled with Imelda collections. The household finances are always in good shape. We each have our little pet extravagances, but those are not allowed to impinge on the Barbarian cashflow.

After my discovery of Cameron Hughes’ wines at Costco, I joined their Seasonal Red club, which delivers a mixed case, a sampler so to speak 4 times a year. This was several months ago, and we’ve received a couple of those mixed case since. However the end of 2008 brought financial turmoil to the entire globe, and Mrs. Barbarian declared some household belt-tightening. I’m a pretty cheap guy anyway, so no big deal there.

I came home from work one day to find the Mrs looking particularly barbaric as I opened the door. On the floor beside her was a case delivered by FedEx. A case of wine that is. “What is this?” she asked. Of course, she didn’t need to ask… plastered all over the box are large bright yellow stickers saying how the box contains alcohol and must be signed for by an adult, and the “Cameron Hughes Wine” label is kind of hard to miss. “I thought we were cutting back on spending” she said as she stormed off, leaving me to unpack it and put away the bottles.

What I love about CH Wines is their “upmarket wine” quality at “everyday wine” prices. Honestly these are almost always $40 bottles being sold for around ten bucks.

Within this mixed case were several samples of Lot 106, a Syrah from Sonoma County. Mrs. Barbarian likes Syrah, so it was the first one I pulled out of the box. I served it up with a pasta/pesto dinner, with some garlicy bread and broccoli. The Syrah is smooth and flavorful… not overpowering but holds up well amid the strong flavors present in the dinner. Mrs. Barbarian loves the wine… so much so that she pulls out a second bottle to open as dinner is coming to a close.

I’ll be in trouble again in 3 months when the next box comes… until I open a bottle that is. For now however, peace reigns in the Barbarian household.

Time to try something different here at The Wine Barbarian: Mortal Combat!

I ventured into The Cellar today to pick a wine for dinner. While that sounds pretentious let me dash your illusions as my “cellar” is just an unfinished room in the Barbarian basement where our house’s main electric panel and well equipment resides. It is also underground and at the north side of the house, so it maintains cellar temperature quite well. The workshop fluorescent lights and Costco baker’s racks don’t quite live up to the terminology though.

I’ve got a hankerin’ for something cheap & red, so I perused my selection of Chilean reds, and could not decide between these two, so I did what any good Barbarian would do, I grabbed them both! I plan on opening them shortly for an initial taste, the serving them with dinner. Afterwards, I’ll summarize my thoughts while still in a mildly inebriated state. Before that happens, here are the vital stats on the wines in question:

On the left, coming to the fight with Family history and Provenance in conflict with its low price is Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon. Originating in the Colchagua Valley of Chile, it bears the lofty title of Domaines Barons De Rothchild (Lafite), Mis en Bouteille au Domaine. As I picked up a smattering of French during an earlier phase of rapine & pillaging behaviors, I think that means This property is owned by the Rothchild (Lafite) family and this wine is produced and bottled on that estate. The vintage is 2006 and weighs in with a price tag of a mere $9.99.

On the right is the plucky challenger Sideral. It too boasts a French Connection, with some oversight by Château Dassault, Grand Cru Classé of St. Emilion together with Viña San Pedro of Chile. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (84%), Merlot (10%), and Syrah (6%) from the Rapel Valley. With a vintage of 2003 and a price tag of $23.99 it very well could pummel the opposition! The Vinagoth is always pulling for the underdog, but in this case both dogs seem to be purebred and poodley. Who knows which way it will go!

2:15 PM: Cut the foil and open both. The Los Vascos has an artificial cork, which removes with ease and a satisfying “pop!” The kitchen immediately is filled with an earthy wine aroma. A good start! The Sideral has a natural cork, which initially breaks along the top surface when pierced by the corkscrew. It gives up after a short struggle. Pour both into a glass. The Sideral is deeper in color and tone and is more pleasant on the nose than the Los Vascos, which seems to have weakened a bit in the glass.

2:30 PM: Upon initial tasting these are two very different Cabs. The Sideral is big and bold. The Los Vascos more subtle and smooth. The bottles go into hiding now to prevent Mrs. Barbarian from plundering her way through them before dinner. They need peace while they breathe.

3:30 PM Mrs. Barbarian discovers the half-drunk glasses in the kitchen. My lack of attention to detail is once again my undoing. I tell her to try both. She says “the one on the left is a bit flat, but otherwise they taste the same.”

4:30 PM, I’m about to start cooking dinner. Mrs. Barbarian has staretd rooting around the house trying to find open bottles of wine. Finally discovers my hidden cache. Steals some of the Sideral.

5:30 PM Dinner is served. It is a fine meal of chicken breasts, wrapped in a wonderful garlic/egg/herb/flour concoction and baked in a very hot oven. The sides are french fried sweet potatoes and corn on the cob.

Both wines have opened up as far as they’ll go. Both have mellowed and the Los Vascos has lost its weakness and is standing up as a moderately good Cabernet should, but the Cab/Merlot/Syrah blend from Sideral is pummeling it senseless. Much stronger nose and wonderful palate feel has the pricier wine winning the shootout in the end.

The Los Vascos is a fantastic buy at under $10 (by a penny) but the more sophisticated blend won out by a small margin. If paying less and getting more is your goal, you cannot go wrong with the Los Vascos. At$9.99, 40% the cost of the Sideral it almost stood up to the $23.99 wine. Some time spent breathing prior to serving really helped it as well.

Trying things head-to-head is often an enjoyable way to try wines. What made things interesting here was the price disparity between the contenders and how it played out in the end. What do you see as most important: Price or value? In this case the difference between the two was not indicated by the price.

Torbreck Barossa Valley 2005 Woodcutter’s Shiraz $20.99

For a guy who flogs Petite Sirah damn near every week, I rarely consume the similarly named, but completely unrelated Syrah/Shiraz varietal. It isn’t that I don’t like it… I do. In fact there are very few red wines I don’t like. Mrs. barbarian likes Syrah, so I bring some home now and then. I have no idea what caught my eye about this wine in the store. It cost me about a buck more than I’m usually willing to pay. I didn’t take any notes when I bought it… perhaps I grabbed the wrong thing off the shelf. Not unheard of… trust me. I normally have excellent eye/hand coordination but my eye goes on a total walkabout when in the wine section… the hands are on their own.

I cooked up a “mixed grill” on the BBQ, a little chicken, a little steak… you know, the flesh of lesser beasts, while the wife killed some vegetable matter for the table. Since I bought this for the better half of the Barbarian household I honestly expected high praise from her end of the table. I think it has been too long for her under the tyranny of my wandering palette that she’s forgotten what she liked about syrah. She liked it, but didn’t think it was amazing. I on the other hand thought it was fine. Might stand a few more months in the cellar but a pretty damn good shiraz as is.

I spotted this Chilean Syrah in the wine section of my grocer today and had to pick it up. I’ve seen all sorts of varietals from Chile, but never Syrah… until today. Now, being a brutish barbarian, I rarely stay in tune with the fashions of the day, and I know Syrah is THE hot grape of this decade. The Aussies and Californians are pumping it out at a prodigious rate… so much so that it is becoming a tad overwhelming. But, as you know I’m on this Chilean kick at the moment because their wines are generally such a great value. The Vinagoth is all about value.

So I grabbed this De Martino Syrah.

Man… it was worth every bit of the $15.39 paid for it. Awesome. In fact, I’d bet if this wine came from California it would fetch $45. It was smooth, subtle, and very tasty! Go out and buy a few bottles of this one before they figure out how much they can jack the price up.

The sticker on the top of the bottle says that the producer, Marcelo Retamal, won the “Chilean Wine Guide’s Wine Maker of the year in 2004.” He earned it with this one. I don’t know if the Chilean Soccer announcers say this but I wanted to shout: “Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllll!!!!!!” when I tasted it.