Frick Syrah 04

Frick? Um, maybe that doesn't have the same connotation for the vintner, ... his name is Frick. The bottle is one of those painted enamel types with a stylized paint brush and paintball motif. To our eyes, it is ugly (or at least from a past abortive trend), but it is in the "Syrah" shaped bottle.

Syrah, Owl's glide, silence. (Uh, right.... Whooo was drinking during the marketing meeting?)

The bottle was a 2004 Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley, Estate bottled Owl Hill Vineyard. The bottle had a composite cork (not plastic, but not natural) with the signature paintball splot on the top. 12.9% alcohol.

Deep red in the glass. The nose had strong alcohol, berry, and oak. This wine seemed more like a Cabernet than a Syrah and was better with food. It had berry and strong vanilla on the palate. The finish was full of oak and tannin. We were surprised that the labeled alcohol by volume was so low based on how it drank. This is a big, bitter wine.

At $4.99, this was a mid price wine for our local Gross Out. The "elsewhere" price was $20-30, which is the only reason we picked up a bottle that looked like this. This wine needs some appropriate strong food to be enjoyable and should be decanted (to hide the bottle...:)) since it has some sediment and needs to breathe.

Kunde Estates Syrah 05

The wine was a pretty dark red plum in the glass. The nose pleasant with a hint of oak. The taste on the palate was quite smooth and balanced. The wine has a full finish with good oak. It did not have heavy pepper of Shiraz/Syrah. We agree with the label that the wine has floral notes, but we would identify it as raspberry (which also have a wonderful floral taste.)

At $5.99, we rate this as a good value. We had a 06 of the same wine (it has a redesigned label) that we did not enjoy nearly as much. If you are buying this wine, look for the "old fashioned" green label.

Hayman & Hill Zinfandel 2007

At $6.99, this is a more expensive wine for our local Gross Out, so we hoped for a little more from this lottery ticket. It met our higher expectations.

The bottle says it comes from the "famous" Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma. We aren't really up on our map of the micro-climates, but you expect Sonoma wines to be a bit better than the average. The natural cork makes it more risky in a discount wine, but we saw no problems. The wine describes itself like this: "Abounds with classic plum, blackberry, and peppery spice character, with rich stone fruit on the palate and a long finish."

We found the wine to be quite correct for a Zinfandel. The color was deep purple. It had a light fruit nose. The taste was fruity and fairly complex. It was mild on the pepper and had a nice light finish. This wine is not as big as a Cabernet and went well with crackers and double creme Brie.

We rate it as a good value. A winning ticket if you are looking for a $7 Zinfandel.