I am seriously f'd up right now. Had one glass. This won't be a coherent post. Took me three tries to login. Seriously.

Not bad tasting. Not smooth, that's for damned sure.

Evidently it needs to breathe. A lot.

The husband unit is having a second glass. I'm not that brave.

What can I say about this one? I would have bought it if I'd seen it in the store. It's a dark red zinfandel. Didn't know they came in anything but the lighter colors like blush and white. Had my glass with the pork roast. Not the best match for this wine. You will most definitely want to eat something with this. And not some insipid cracker / cheese combo. Real food. Red Meat. Hearty fare.

Now I really want mashed potatoes and gravy.

There isn't a website but a google search will show reviews that cover the spectrum. One review described this as watery and flat. That was for 2004, I think. Well, 2007 isn't watery and flat. It's strong and peppery and will knock you on your ass if you don't let it breathe properly. We've never decanted a wine properly. This Zin is a prime candidate for that test. Wowsers. You would not believe how many times I've had to correct my typing so far.

I guess I'll give it a 2.5 out of 5.

The bottle are is pretty cool in a Halloween vibe. The taste isn't bad. Not great. I'm drunk off of one glass. Even my notoriously low tolerance to alcohol shouldn't leave me this bad off. It is a pretty purple/red color. Each year appears to vary wildly and there isn't a website. To be honest, I should have known Zombies would find a way to eat my brains, even if they had to do it one brain cell at a time.

Zombie Zin. (Zinfandel) 2007.

First, let me say thank you to my friend Andrew for giving me this wonderful gift. Oddly enough, I traded him a bottle of wine that We had made at Vine Park Brewery.

This is the Zombie Zin 2007 Zinfandel. Made by Zombie Cellars, in Healdsburg, CA.

The warning label as per the surgeon general talks about impairing your ability to drive a car.

What it neglects to tell you is that it will impair you ability to think clearly, type coherently, and most of all, negotiate a flat hardwood surface (The Floor).

It boasts on the label a 14.9% alcohol content. I've had Vodka that had less alcohol in it. In fact, I've drank paint stripper that had less ability to kill brain cells. So what is it about Zombie Zin?

Well, I'm pretty positive, that this wine is made from Concentrate. Why would I speculate that? Well, because going back as far as I can find, the reviews have been incredibly broad for every year they've produced wine, and their reviews vary in description. Not to mention it says on the label, Rich in Concentrated Fruit Flavors.

There could be crayons in this stuff, and I'd probably never know it.

The color of this stuff is literally black blood red. Very pretty, very flattering. The aroma, very nice, very pleasant. Could I tell you what is in it? Well, grapes. I'm pretty sure there's grapes in there. Battery Acid? The enzymes from an electric eel, and I think perhaps a hefty dose of cayenne pepper, just for spite.

As a guy who likes a cheap bottle of wine, and I'm guessing that this batch wasn't exactly cheap to make, bottle, and of course ship, I have to wonder why it is that Chateau Diana vineyards would neglect to put their name on a bottle of wine, and give credit to Zombie Cellars?

You see, that's where this stuff is made, and I'm pretty positive that since its from concentrate, and not from freshly pressed grapes, they'd probably rather keep their name off of it. Now, how do you think it compares to 3 Buck Chuck?

Well, here's the thing. Sometimes you can uncork a bottle of wine that's 2 years old, and realize that this bottle simply is NOT ready to be drank. I pulled the cork, and when that hard smell of alcohol hit my nose, I knew immediately that this is the case.

Fresh pressed wines take time to create their character. Wine made from Concentrate...? Try about 3 years at the minimum for it to realize full potential, and that's only if the concentrate came from a good place, and wasn't a second pressing.

I'm willing to bet, if I were to rack 10 bottles of this 2007 Zombie Zin, and hold it til let's say October of 2010 at the earliest and then uncork one, I'd say that would be enough time for this wine to loose some of it's anger management problem, and develop the right kind of flavor.

Underneath the horrifically acidic taste, is a flavor of plum, and black currant that needs to be realized. The finish on this wine is reprehensibly bad, however, the aftertaste is actually quite pleasant. Which tells me that this wine has some growing to do in a cellar.

I'm not sure if Chateau Diana needed the cash this year to produce something else, but I think that if they are going to venture into the cheap wine from concentrate business, they probably should start by putting a halt to their shipments until the wine is actually ready to be served. Right now, this wine has all the potential in the world, but it won't be realized until about another year or so passes. It doesn't have a date when it was bottled, but I would wager that it was probably bottled late 2007. They sat on it for a year, thinking it was ready and then shipped it out the door.

I wish they'd waited.

At any rate, on my scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 1.5. The color, is beautiful. The flavor? Well... I'll buy another bottle and save it for next Halloween and revisit this post. The aroma was actually not bad, once you got past the alcohol burn. The packaging, Bleh... As a guy who can actually draw, I could have done better. The price? Well it was free, but I think it sells for about $8.00 a bottle at a couple of different liquor stores.

The thing is, for a Halloween Wine, where people are going to drink this and party, it's not a bad thing. I drink wine to enjoy it, not to get plowed off my behind. As it stands, one glass was enough to make me forget a decade of abuse at the hands of my parents. I'm not even sure I can remember my parents. Do you have an idea of how heavy duty this stuff actually is?

Seriously though. If you want to get absolutely trashed out of your mind, with One Bottle or less, THIS, THIS IS YOUR TICKET TO ZOMBIE LAND.

Casillo Del Diablo Merlot 2008.

Chile apparently is becoming a pretty good place to have a vineyard, as well as produce and bottle a pretty decent table wine.

I've come to the conclusion that there are three or four regions in the world that will produce a better tasting red, and a lot of it has to do with the soil. In California, most of the vineyards in a borderline drought / desert area. In Italy, and France, where they have the best land, the land is dry, but not so dry that the vines struggle as much as they might in the US, or Australia. Australia is essentially No Man's Land, where grapes really have to struggle to survive let alone be cultivated, and the last place I think is South America where the temperatures are fairly similar to the US, but the terrain and humidity are different. Hence, the different taste and body of the wine.

I've been reading a lot about grapes, and how they are cultivated, and it seems that the more a vine is stressed, but cared for, the better the flavor of the grape, and the more intense the flavor. A lazy vine that has no problem feeding grapes with water, and minerals produces bland flavored wines. I think the reason for this, is that the more moisture that is pulled in, the more minerals get pulled up the vine, therefore the wine has more minerals which retard the taste.

With that said, South America has fantastic soil for just about everything. The problem that I can see with Chile is likely the abundance of water, either in the air, or rainfall. Those are two things that really can't be controlled, except through hot house growing, which essentially defeats the purpose of cultivating a particular lineage of vine in the first place.

So where are these vines grown? Well, it says Rapel Valley, which is in the heart of their wine making country. Judging by the aerial views, I'd say it's a very lush area. Which explains why the flavor to me seems a little on the flat side. Happy vines, happy grapes, blah flavor, however...

Plums, which were added to the mix, don't suffer from the same issues as grapes when they are getting sunshine, water, and plenty of nutrients from the soil, which is where the majority of the flavor in this wine comes from. You can really taste the oak cask in this wine as well. I'm guessing they probably buy their casks out of California, or possibly Minnesota. What I know is that by the taste, I'd say they've spent the time to put the right materials with the right wine.

The aroma of this wine is very sedate. Meaning it belies the flavor that's underneath the surface. It plays off your tongue, and when it hits the back part of your throat, the true flavor erupts into something very heady, with the taste of a peppery spice that for now I cannot readily identify, Raw dark cocoa, with a hint of coffee?

After having the first glass, you realize that this is a wine that is meant to be had with a meal. The reason why I say this, is that there seems to be a pretty good alcohol content for what it is. Like another wine we've tried this one sneaks up on you. It went well with the pork steaks we had. I think it would have been better with some fish or chicken tacos. Either way, it was meant to be a table wine, not something you simply drink to get plowed.

On my trusty scale of one to 5, I give this one a solid 4. The label art, and bottle were conservative, which is something I always prefer. The aroma, flavor, and alcohol content were all superb. The color of it was a bit odd, but I think that's largely in part to the fact that there are plums in the mix, and that always tends to take things to the blue.

I enjoyed this foray into the unknown. It's a wine fit for the Devil's Cabinet, that is for sure.

Casillero del Diablo

Ah, Halloween. My favorite time of year.

We'll be reviewing a spooky little number to keep up the ghastly festivities.

Casillero del Diablo is Chilean Merlot circa 2008. This was my first Chilean wine. It was good. I've come to realize that region doesn't guarantee good or bad. It really depends upon the art of the vintner. This was a nice spicy little number. Not a huge flavor, but I am coming down with a cold so take that with a grain of salt. Not the best Merlot we've had but it was nice and it's appropriate for Halloween. We've reviewed worse.

I think we paid about $12 for it. Good bargain, nice price, seasonally appropriate.

Normally I'd say the label art was bland but I really like the old fashioned calligraphy font used and the devil faced seal. Adorable.

So if you're looking for a bottle to pick up for a spooky little get together, I recommend Casillero del Diablo by vina Concha Y Toro.

Dona Paula Malbec 2008

Dona Paula Estate. Malbec 2008, Grown, processed and bottled on the estate in Argentina. (From the label)

Ever buy a bottle of wine and think to yourself, Should I be drinking this? Well, this is one of those wines. We picked up a bottle of this and gave it a try. My first thought, was that this wine Really hasn't developed any real character, or flavor. On the surface, it was a fairly bland tasting table wine.

When I say bland, I mean that where wine is concerned, every bottle should have some kind of remarkable feature. Such as color, clarity, smell, taste, and of course finish. Finish is a fancier word for After-taste.

I opened the bottle and noticed there seemed to be no particular smell at all. Sniffed the cork, and in all honesty wasn't really smelling wine at all, just cork. I let the wine breathe, and of course one would think it would have improved. Nope. Poured the first glass. The color was decent enough, but wasn't particularly dark, and typically a wine with a 14% alcohol content would given me some kind of indication as to what kind of wine I was about to imbibe. The first few sips were nothing serious. A few hints of either raspberries, or blackberries, mixed with a few different spices such as cinnamon, or clove. I think they flame clean their barrels as there was a definite carbon taste to it. It was about half way through the first glass that I noticed the alcohol. Yep. Definitely not for the faint of heart. In fact, after one glass, I was pretty severely impaired. About an hour or so after that first glass, I had my second, and I can tell you all with absolute certainty that I had no desire, or ability to drive.

It's funny how quickly alcohol can catch up to you, when the meal you're eating consists of corndogs. State Fair brand corndogs from Sam's Club no less. The extra cheap kind that will sooner kill you than being exposed to radioactive materials.

I'm sure someone is thinking that I drank this wine with the wrong food. I whole heartedly agree. I think this wine would have made a fine compliment to any kind of dessert, or a good steak, served with Chimi-Churri sauce, fried red potatoes in garlic butter, and fresh cut corn with red peppers. Freshly baked bread would also have been necessary to complete the meal.

However, I stuck with corndogs because in all honesty I didn't feel like grilling anything, and am above all else lazy. This blog is for people who want to know about wine, not about setting the perfect placesetting or planning the perfect meal.

I am new to Malbec styled wines, somewhat. I was given a bottle of a brand that I cannot remember and it was exceedingly good. Of course I had that with something other than Corn Dogs. Yep, Fish Sticks I think. This Malbec is okay, but again it could very well be that by eating corndogs, it ruined my palate as to what the wine's potential could have been.

Given what I know of both corndogs, and wine, I imagine had I eaten the corndogs with hormel chili with cheese and sourcream on the top, it might have made for a more interesting meal.

So, how does the Dona Paula Estate, Malbec 2008 rate?

For starters, wait til 2010 to enjoy it. I think that this wine needs to sit someplace in your celler for another year for it really to show its true potential. It also needs to be served with something other than junk food. Twinkies might have been an okay choice.

On my scale of 1 to 5 it shakes out as follows.

I give it a 1 for the label. Boring, unimaginative, and as much as I like conservative labels, this one was just too boring.

I gave it a 2 for smell, 2.5 for flavor, and a 4. for the alcohol content. For the price, I gave it a 2, because I've had wines that were half the price, that were decidedly better than this one.

So what is the over all tally? I give it a 2.3 on my 5 scale.

I would definitely buy another bottle of this though, and put in my cellar for at least another year before giving it another try. Will likely do so, and write about it in a year. Better write this down someplace.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

337, Not just a number, but a wine. I need 336 more bottles.

Last week I opened a bottle of 337 that we picked up at Sam's Club. It's a Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 from Napa Valley. Apparently they cloned these grapes from some vines in Bordeaux, which is why they call it 337, as that was the batch name. They are in Lodi, California, in the middle of wine country, which seems to have a knack for producing wines of extraordinary quality.

I've had 337 before, and bought it from all places, Sam's Club. For $9.99 a bottle, it's not a bad bottle of wine at all. It has an exceedingly pleasant aroma, that has more berry smell, than grapes. Wen you taste it, there's a myraid of flavors ranging from grapes, to berries, to some kind of chocolatey finish. I think there's some coffee flavor to it as well. It's an even balance of fruit, that isn't overwhelmed by the spiciness of something that is elusive at this time. I know it will come to me, but probably not tonight. I'm writing this later than normal due to the fact that when I drank this, the wife was working and she and I usually post our articles together. I was actually drinking wine, and working on projects, and got sidetracked.

Drinking a glass of this has some definite perks. One of which is the feeling one gets when you've tasted something refined. For being only $9.99 a bottle, it strikes me as being a little more refined, and pulled together than let's say some of the wines I've had that were considerably more expensive. Coppolla makes a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, but for half the price, you can buy this and be twice as pleased.

The subtle hint of spice, perhaps Cardamom, or some other variant, along with the blackberry, gives this wine a wonderful flavor. Especially if you're eating something like Chicken, or Cajun food. The color is also beautiful. It has a fragrant aroma that masks the alcohol content, and of course, there's the conservatively labeled bottle, which I thoroughly enjoy.

On my scale of 1 to 5, I give this wine a 5 for the bottle, 5, for the flavor, 4 for the aroma, and a 5 for the price.

Over all, I give it a solid 5. Why? Because for the money, you are getting something better than what you deserve. Seriously.