Three wine reviews

Here are a few relatively inexpensive wines that I tried lately.

1. Norton 2005 Malbec Reserva

I lived in Argentina for five years back in the late 80's and early 90's and I've been a fan of Norton for a long time. Malbec is Argentina's best red wine, with some of them reaching world class heights. This particular wine isn't one of them, but it's not bad at all. Wine Spectator rated it 88 points and that seems about right to me. I served it with some beef empanadas that I bought at an Argentine restaurant in my neighborhood and a green salad. It was the perfect wine for that kind of simple meal. The cost of the wine is about $13.00 at both Costco and World Market. Btw, Norton makes a regular malbec that sells for around $9.00. I'm not sure that the Reserva is worth the extra money. It probably spent a little more time in oak before being released, but the regular Norton malbec is usually a good wine and a real bargain.

2. Screw Kappa Napa 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and Screw Kappa Napa 2005 Zinfandel.

Screw Kappa Napa became popular some years back by, as the name implies, using screw top caps instead of corks. At the time they were one of the few USA wineries that did so. They also (supposedly) made some good wines back then, but these two wines were very disappointing. I tried the zinfandel first and thought it was mediocre at best. Then I tried the cabernet sauvignon and it was even worse. The cab had a very vegetal taste, as though the grapes had been harvested while not yet ripe. These wines retail for around $15.00, but I got them on sale at Ralphs for $8.99. Even at $8.99 I was disappointed.

3. Marquis Phillips 2006 Shiraz.

I saved the best for last. This is an excellent wine, made by one of Australia's leading producers of shiraz/syrah. I'm a syrah fan, so this wine was right up my alley. This has all the fruit and spice/pepper you would expect from a top notch syrah. Wine Advocate (Robert Parker) rated this wine 92 points. The real shocker is the price: I got this wine at Costco for $11.89 a bottle! It just might be the best red wine value I saw all year. I bought a case earlier in the year after trying a bottle. Btw, the 2007 is out now and I have not tried it yet. If you can find the 2006 I recommend you buy it over the 2007, but you may not be able to find any more 2006's.